2023 Annual Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas! I went to the Lighted Christmas Parade in Deming, NM on Saturday evening. It was a very cute parade with lots of homemade lighted floats and Christmas music that just put me in the mood for the holidays. I love this Season of Joy especially seeing the children’s eyes light up at the parade. Tim had mentioned that we need to get our Christmas letter written and the parade put me in the mood to do just that so here goes!

Well this year has been challenging! We started off the year in Florida, and Tim looking for relief for his back started looking at heavy duty trucks (you know the monster looking vehicles which haul the commercial goods around the country). Well in Ocala, FL, Tim found a 2016 Volvo 630 that had been custom built to tow 5th wheel trailers, with only 30 some thousand miles on so we traded in the Ford F350 and purchased it.

We took the vehicle from Florida back to Pennsylvania, getting a surprising 11 mile a gallon, one mile per gallon better than the Ford F350! While the ride was much easier on Tim’s back, driving it also created pain and issues with his left wrist. Having had carpel tunnel surgery, he was surprised to again experience the same type of pain. Tim feeling unable to continue driving the truck created problems. While I have had two learners permits to acquire a non-commercial class A drivers license, I didn’t get enough driving experience to feel comfortable taking the test.

Then comes the curve ball. If you read the blog posts, you know that I had an accident while taking our dog, Trent, to the groomer at Petco. Trent got excited when another dog entered the store and he pulled me to the ground. I landed hard on the cement floor and knew immediately that my right arm was broken. The girl at Petco called Tim, who found a ride and came and got me and took me to the emergency room.

I spent six hours in the emergency room; the next day spent five hours in the orthopedics doctor’s office; then the following day had surgery where they replaced the ball on the ulna and put a plate behind it to hold it in place. While the surgery went well, at the first therapy session an infection was discovered, which wouldn’t go away, numerous antibiotics over four weeks did not resolve it. Two days in the hospital getting iv antibiotics appeared to help the infection, but caused an allergic type reaction. All antibiotics were stopped, but enough apparently got into my system enough to resolve the infection.

Well, guess what, no more driving lessons on the truck. Yes, with my arm injured and braced, handling a truck that big, driving at all then, was impossible. Given our situation, we decided to change things up. We traded in the truck for a brand new Jayco Greyhawk Class C motorhome. Tim wanted something bigger, but I wanted something that I would not be intimidated driving!

So I have become the primary driver of the motorhome and Tim is driving the car. We may eventually get it set up to tow behind the motorhome but didn’t have time for that before we started traveling. After I finished physical therapy, we started traveling west towards Arizona for the winter. We have now been traveling since mid October and have enjoyed seeing more of the country. I have posted about each location where we stopped so you can peruse the blog and read the posts.

We will be in Arizona and other points west until late Spring when we will head back to Pennsylvania. We left the Fifth Wheel trailer parked at Shady Acres Campground in Linesville, PA and that will be our home base for now. Yes, we now own 2 RVs. The campground has a storage area where we can keep the motorhome. We will probably use it for a few short trips over the summer but will mostly stay in the fifth wheel. I never thought we would have 2 RVs but I think it will work out well for us; at least for now. Linesville is close enough to Pittsburgh that we should be able to spend plenty of time visiting friends and family.

The family is all doing well and enjoying their busy lives. We now have 2 grandchildren who are the light of our lives. Nova Rose will be 2 soon and she is very active and very vocal. She talks up a storm and we can understand some of it. She is very entertaining and video chats make it so easy to keep in touch and still enjoy time with her while we are traveling. She keeps her parents, Jon and Katie, very busy. Jon started a new job this year which he is enjoying. Katie’s photography business is doing well and she has also expanded their rentals with another real estate purchase. Between those businesses and taking care of Rosie, she doesn’t have much free time.

Rosie and teddy are ready for the christmas season

Aleczander is 9 months old and as cute as a button. Every picture of him, he is just all smiles. The couple of times we video chatted with him, he just smiled and laughed at us. So much fun having these little ones in our lives. I think the only issue with little Alec has been adjusting to sleeping through the night which made it a challenging year for his parents. I think he is finally on a better sleep schedule which Whitney and Ian greatly appreciate. I am sure we all remember those days of sleepless nights when having an infant. Ian is doing well and likes working as a carpenter. Whitney is still with the postal service and works a nightshift so they work opposite shifts so one of them is always with the baby. They have also been busy doing some remodeling in their home this year which is coming along wonderfully.

Kim and Greg are still in Cincinnati and have been keeping busy with projects on their house and yard. Greg built a fence in the backyard this summer and they got a dog. Freddie, a very playful black lab, loves the fenced in yard. He and Trent look a lot alike. When they were both playing in the yard, it was hard to tell who was who. Kim is in her last year of her residency at Cincinnati Children’s and recently passed her Pediatric boards. I guess this is a fellowship year where the focus is on Adolescent Psychiatry. After 4 years of college, 4 years of Medical school and then 5 years in residency, she will finally be finished and ready to start her career. She and Greg plan to stay in Cincinnati so she is focusing the job search in that area.

freddie wishes everyone a merry christmas

As you can see, they are all pretty busy with their lives and doing great. We miss them when we travel so it is going to be nice having a home base in Pennsylvania. I am very thankful that we are able to live this lifestyle, travel part of the year and still have plenty of time to spend with the family.

We will be celebrating Christmas this year in Tucson, AZ and are looking forward to the warm desert climate. We hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Deb and Tim

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