Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It hardly seems possible that another year is coming to an end. Although Ron and I have been living a quieter life for three years now in our "new" home, the days have passed quickly. We are reaching 83 and 82 years of age, which is in itself amazing, and have passed this year faily well. There have been no hospital visits and several good for your age health reports! We both use rollators to get around and manage pretty well. I have finally hired a girl to come in once each week to help with the housework, but I still do the cooking, laundry, finances, and pet care on my own. Ron is still very much "Ron", although his short term memory is fairly short now. He does his own self care and handles his insulin by himself. I only have to manage his medications and dispurse them properly.

We have continued to update this house. I think the outside is just about done. Our last addition was to have a proper porch added to the front of the house. We then moved on to making repairs and upgrades to the interior. Old and new house pictures are on the picture page.

We see the kids, grandkids, and great grandkids from time to time. Frank and his family and Zach and Sky are here more often because they live closer. Our biggest news on this front is the arrival of our 4th great grandchild. Sky gave birth to an adorable baby boy on July 31st.

We did have 2 great visits from Ron's sister, Suzie. It is quite a trip from northeastern Pennsylvania to southern Maryland. Ron and Suzie's nephew, Matt, has been kind enough to do the driving honors. We did lots of talking and catching up, and eating Ron's favorite Pennsylvania hogies!

To end the year, my sister, Dee and her husband Chris, traveled south from Pittsburgh and treated me and brother Charlie, with his daughter Ginger, to a fantastic Thanksgiving luncheon in Alexandria, VA. It was truly a treat, not just for the food, but to be able to spend some family time together. There is hope that in 2026, we might be able to get together again and add sister Sue to the group.

As usual, it is our hope that you have had a healthy and happy year. May 2026 be a great year for all of us!

MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!