{"id":2007,"date":"2023-12-27T16:08:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-27T22:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/?p=2007"},"modified":"2024-12-27T16:20:03","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T22:20:03","slug":"2023-christmas-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/by-rick\/2023-christmas-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 Christmas Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A Year of Growth  <\/h1>\n\n\n
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Four generations: Judy, Theo, Thea, and Anna.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The year 2023<\/strong> represented growth. Our family grew; our faith grew; our garden grew; even our peach tree grew. What? You heard correctly. We planted a hardy peach variety and were blessed with a basketful of peaches in its first year<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The family grew<\/strong> through both birth and weddings. Anna<\/strong> and Alex<\/strong> were blessed with the healthy arrival of Theodora Jeanne Bauer<\/strong>, on June 27. Her older brother John<\/strong> is very gentle and attentive, though it is undoubtedly an adjustment to have a baby sister. Anna<\/strong> stayed home with Thea<\/strong> while Alex<\/strong> went back to work as a teacher. In December, Anna<\/strong> returned to work as a school counselor, and Alex<\/strong> began his period of paternity leave until Thea<\/strong> is old enough to begin childcare in the spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Elise<\/strong> and her girlfriend Jahda Bowes<\/strong> eloped in a civil ceremony, also on June 27. We were very happy to have met her on our visit in December 2022, even though we were not present in Vancouver<\/strong> to celebrate with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The other side: <\/strong>The Wattman family gathered in Lake Oswego (left to right): Emma, Marshall, Marian, Synthia, Margaret\u2019s Eldest <\/strong>(aka Brian), Megan, Doris, Rick, Margaret <\/strong>with Ramona, <\/strong>and Rob. <\/strong>(Not present; Ethan, Emily <\/strong>and Andrew<\/strong>.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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2023 in a Flash:<\/em><\/strong> (top to bottom)<\/em> Elise\u2019 visit in March [3\/18]; touring Toronto with Elise [5\/14]; bucket list at Niagara Falls [5\/15]; Jahda and Elise eloped [6\/27]; Theodora Jeanne joined the Bauers [6\/27].<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Our faith experience<\/strong> is growing as well, with a new church. We are attending a neighborhood church with the Bauers<\/strong>.<\/strong> We are meeting people, participating in a book club, and enjoy sharing the experience with our grandchildren (AND their parents!). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judy<\/strong> was able to visit her mom in San Diego<\/strong> twice (March and May, and has planned a December trip as well); Rick<\/strong> participated in the Brule<\/strong> work weekend, reconnecting with the Swanson clan and helping improve the property. He also made a quick trip to Lake Oswego<\/strong> again this year to spend time with his mom and family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elise<\/strong> came to town in March, upon the occasion of her induction into the Kennedy High School Hall of Fame. One of her work assignments had her in Toronto<\/strong> for a month, so Judy<\/strong> and Rick<\/strong> scurried up to see her there. We even checked off a side visit to Niagara Falls<\/strong> from our unofficial bucket list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October, Judy<\/strong> had work assignment in Florida<\/strong>, so we went together, staying near Orlando<\/strong>. We toured the NASA visitor complex, and were captivated by the Cape Canaveral National Wildlife Refuge. Alligators and birds abound! We also visited with a former workmate and her family. They treated us to an airshow, with the Thunderbirds, so it was a full visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are blessed by almost weekly visits with John<\/strong> as he comes for a sleepover many weekends. In April, while pushing a truck through our backyard John stood and shouted to the sky, \u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be warmer!\u201d He was right!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

A Year of Growth   The year 2023 represented growth. Our family grew; our faith grew; our garden grew; even our peach tree grew. What? You heard correctly. We planted a hardy peach variety and were blessed with a basketful … 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\/2007"}],"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=2007"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2013,"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007\/revisions\/2013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.wattmans.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}