{"id":1991,"date":"2024-12-27T14:51:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T20:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/?p=1991"},"modified":"2024-12-28T14:57:55","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T20:57:55","slug":"2024-christmas-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/by-rick\/2024-christmas-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 Christmas Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Reunion: <\/strong>A visit from Judy\u2019s German \u201ccousins\u201d resulted in a reunion in July (left to right): Rick, Andrea, Mike, Anna <\/strong>with John, Alex <\/strong>with Thea, Judy, Esther <\/strong>with Linnea, Elise, Jahda, Greta, Johann, Max, Reinhild, Ida, Claire, <\/strong>and Erik. <\/strong>We shared a VRBO in Duluth, and visited Gooseberry Falls.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another Year of Growth<\/h1>\n\n\n
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We grow peaches!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The year 2024<\/strong> once again represented growth. Our hearts grew; our bodies grew in new ways; our garden grew; even our peach tree grew. The hardy peach tree we planted last year blessed us with still more peaches. Some of them even survived Judy\u2019s<\/strong> and John\u2019s<\/strong> sampling them as they ripened. (You have to test them for flavor, don\u2019t you know.) We had enough for snacking, and for peach ice cream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Our hearts grew<\/strong> as Thea <\/strong>became part of our lives, revealing her personality and exerting her influence on everyone around her. She and John go to the same daycare so both Anna <\/strong>and Alex<\/strong> can work. We see them often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elise<\/strong> and her spouse Jahda Bowes<\/strong> are doing life in Vancouver, BC<\/strong>. Elise has proudly earned permanent resident status in Canada, so she no longer faces challenges when crossing the border. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Walk among giants: <\/strong>Rick and Judy were amazed by an elevated walk through giant fir trees, over 100\u2019 above the forest floor in Vancouver\u2019s Capilano Suspension Bridge Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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2024 in a Flash:<\/em><\/strong> (top to bottom)<\/em> Airport goodbye as Judy left to visit her mom in San Diego [3\/9]; Rick broke his arm [5\/9]; Saw \u201cA Year with Frog and Toad\u201d again [6\/9]; Rick still thrills harvesting potatoes [6\/27]; Vancouver visit with Elise and Jahda [10\/19]; More invested and more disappointed than any other election [11\/6].<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Judy continued her tradition of visiting her mom in San Diego.<\/strong> The big events this year, however, were her two planned knee replacement surgeries. Scheduled six weeks apart over the summer so she could be ready for school in the fall, the second was delayed by a bout of Covid<\/strong>, which we both contracted during the reunion on the North Shore. Rick<\/strong> also had the complication of falling and breaking his left arm\u2014right before her first procedure, which Judy maintains was intentional to limit his availability during her recovery. Thoughts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rick was also tasked with much of the garden work this summer, and although it wasn\u2019t quite up to standard, most of it survived to harvest. Judy has vastly improved mobility now, though her second knee is often still sore and swollen after she has been on it. She is confident, however, that she would not have been able to enjoy the rigors of our October visit to Vancouver<\/strong> had the surgery not been successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are dumfounded and disappointed by the results of the US election this year. As such, we are clinging to God\u2019s sovereignty and trusting Him for our future. We don\u2019t know how this will all work out, but we are confident that He does know, so we are content to keep following and serving Him with our lives. Rick celebrated his 70th<\/strong> birthday<\/strong> this year; and we also marked our 40th<\/strong> wedding anniversary<\/strong> with a quick trip to the North Shore. Yay us! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merry Christmas<\/strong> and Happy New Year!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another Year of Growth The year 2024 once again represented growth. Our hearts grew; our bodies grew in new ways; our garden grew; even our peach tree grew. The hardy peach tree we planted last year blessed us with still … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1991"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2034,"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1991\/revisions\/2034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}