Christmas Letter 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

We are writing this as usual just after Thanksgiving so that we can get it in the mail early with our Christmas cards that are sent overseas. However, we are a little apprehensive about writing with six weeks still left of the year, as there is still plenty of time for the unexpected to happen.

Last Christmas saw Dad back in hospital, which took a little shine off the festive season. We did take our Christmas dinner up Holloway to share it with George before visiting Dad. Dad didn’t make it home until after the New Year, and has been back into hospital over half a dozen times since. In fact, he has spent 8 of the last 14 weeks there and missed out on us celebrating Thanksgiving dinner with him by going back in two days before Thanksgiving.

Sadly, though, 2010 will be remembered for those we lost. In January we baked a birthday cake for my brother George to help celebrate his 57th birthday, and took up a belated Christmas dinner so we could all share it with Dad. This is why it came as such a shock when George passed away suddenly after a heart attack in August. A month later we were devastated to lose our precious Tiny, too. With her ninth birthday a month away, we took the decision to let her go ahead to Rainbow Bridge after the vet found a tumour and fluid on her lungs. Neither one of us could bear the thought of her suffering, so we cradled her in our arms until she fell asleep one last time. But George and Tiny weren’t the only ones we shed tears over in the last year. In the spring we lost a life-long family friend of Dawn’s, Barbara McDaniel, Brady and Jim said good-bye to Chance, and Shelia Neal said good-bye to Patricia Neal. And just last month my sister-in-law Pattie Anderson also passed away. Gone but not forgotten, they will always live in our hearts until we’re together again.

These events will no doubt overshadow everything else that has happened over the last twelve months. And it has been pretty eventful, to say the least.

I started the year by going on a four day week at work while my company struggled financially as the recession ate into its cash and profitability. By the end of May, the company went into administration and everyone was looking at ending up on the dole. Thankfully a management buyout gave us a lifeline. Six months later, I am the only survivor from my accounts department and have been promoted to Financial Controller. And if that wasn’t enough, we recently relocated our office from Enfield to Hoddesdon. At least it’s closer to home.

Dawn, on the other hand, has been working her socks off. Her boss also left earlier this year. She has meanwhile been out and about with visits to universities in Bangor (Wales) in March, Bristol in May, and several visits to Nottingham. Better still, she was instrumental in picking up several environmental awards for City University, including the Sustainable Food and Eating award and the overall medium/large business at Islington’s Giant Green Awards ceremony. However, pride of place had to be receiving the annual Robert Kitchin Award, which was received for being the individual who had made the greatest impact at the university.

Continuing on the environmental subject, we decided to grow a vegetable garden this summer with mixed results. We had a success with radishes that Dawn loved, and courgettes which we ate for what felt like weeks at end. However, the flavourless tomatoes were a failure, as they took almost 3 months to grow using a huge amount of water, and the cabbages and carrots were a complete disaster. Our biggest carrot was no bigger than my small finger.

We did a bit of travelling this year. We celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary with an excellent meal as we enjoyed a boat trip along the River Thames before a ride on the British Airways London Eye, getting a bird’s eye view of London. In June, Dawn travelled back to the US on her own so she could celebrate her 50th birthday early with her family and friends over there. She flew into Atlanta and stayed with Brady and Jim, then accompanied her mum on a trip to Greenville, SC where she enjoyed spending some time with her sister Kelly and niece Michaela, as well as Lee McDaniel (sadly after we had lost Barbara), Shelia Neal, and some old high school friends.

On Dawn’s 50th, the two of us caught a train to York and enjoyed a wonderful day walking around the historical city visiting the sites. And, earlier this month, we flew to Edinburgh to spend the weekend there and celebrate the 14th anniversary of meeting on top of the Empire State Building. It turned out to be as memorable as that first weekend we spent together – this time visiting a historical castle and palace, enjoying the best-ever pub roast beef dinner (and, in my case, haggis). The highlight, though, was making our way to the top of Arthur’s Seat and looking back across the city and the River Forth.

Dawn may argue that her highlight of the year was a visit to a spa the day before her 50th at Champneys in Tring, Hertfordshire. She spent the whole day being pampered and left feeling completely relaxed. Not bad considering she got a flat tire driving there on the way.

However, I am sure she would agree that the highlight of our year, without question, was our growing relationship with my daughter Hayley. We’re all in a new place in our lives and the differences we once had are now history. We are both so thrilled to have her as an integral part of our lives and us hers.

As we close our letter, the TV news is broadcasting images of the first snowfalls of the 2010-11 winter in Scotland and the Northeast…which is really fitting, as we had heavy snowfalls in Hertford last December and again in January when we were almost snowed in after the Christmas break. Perhaps we will have a White Christmas this year. But, if not, then we’ll be more than happy to settle for all our family and friends to give and be recipients of the charity and well wishes that were at the core of the classic Bing Crosby film instead.

So, as we look towards the end of what was truly a sad year for us, we wish you all a Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous year.

Love,
Paul & Dawn