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2012 Family Holiday Letter

Winter Solstice, 2012

Dear extended family,

The longest night of the year seems an appropriate time to pen this annual missive. Since the world refused to end today, I thought I'd update you on the activities of our brood. In past years I've sequenced these letters in chronological order, reverse chronological order, alphabetically, and in reverse alphabetical order. This year, I thought we'd try geographical order, East to West.

In Berlin, Andrew wanted to have a performance venue to showcase his and his friends' musical talents, as well as his own culinary skills. So, he bought a restaurant, and turned it into Atlas Pancakes, the hottest cabaret/eatery in Kreutzberg. He still tours occasionally (this year he made it to Bangladesh, via Turkey), but Atlas keeps him pretty close to home. Look for the great reviews online, in both English and German.

Aubrey and Haley bought their first home, a condo in Philadelphia. He still works as a bioinformaticist in the molecular biology department at the University of Pennsylvania, and she keeps busy traveling to quilt shows, to help out in her mom's business. Since Haley's parents live less than a mile from us, they also come out our way to visit from time to time. Muriel and Paul also made it to nearby Cherry Hill, NJ for a SciFi convention this year, where they saw Haley, Aubrey, and also Erin, now in his second year at Drexel University, and about to start his first computer science internship.

Devin and Samantha still live in upstate New York, near her parents, and have both started a new job (together). They work for a financial institution affiliated with Sallie Mae, "helping" people to restructure their student loans. We hope they don't feel too guilty about their defacto support of massive debt accruing to their age peers. Their wedding has been delayed until sometime next year.

Here in the Alabama district of Central PA, Muriel and Paul have completed a total refurbishment of our kitchen, flooring to soffit lights. Custom oak cabinets from a nearby Amish family business were designed and built exactly to our no-compromise specifications, and ended up costing less than substandard ready-mades. This allowed us to go with bamboo floors and ramp (which Muriel does not recommend; the bamboo turned out to be much softer than advertised), granite countertops (every bit as hard as promised), leather chairs and bar stools (cushy and comfortable), and some really nice appliances. All this was financed out of revenues from Paul's flight school, which continues to thrive despite a weak economy. (Those interested can read his company's latest Annual Report at http://AvSport.org/docs/report2012.pdf.)

In addition to the Philadelphia area trip already mentioned, Paul's travels for the year included two trips each to California and Florida (which included aviation conventions and further maintenance training), astronautics conferences in San Marino and Naples, and one rushed weekend in Chicago. Next autumn, he's off to China. Muriel's health doesn't permit her to travel much, but she is comfortable minding her lovely nest and enjoying her wonderful new kitchen.

Sharing our cozy house are Curran (who continues to volunteer at the Center for Independent Living, assisted by his wonderful personal care aide Karen), and Bryn (still unemployed, but thankfully paying rent). We also had a nice month-long visit from Paul's second cousin Alex, who came down from Boston to spend his summer vacation with us taking flying lessons. He flew solo after just three weeks!

Out West, Erika and Allen continue to garner awards and critical acclaim for their set and lighting design, choreography, acting, and directing, but that's not their big news. They are expecting their first child (and our first grandchild) in early March! For now, they have given up their San Francisco flat and moved into Erika's mom's condo just north of Berkeley, until such time as they can find a family-friendly place of their own. Paul will be going out briefly in March to meet his new grandson, and both he and Muriel plan a longer visit in June, for the baby's 100-day celebration.

Watch this space next winter, for additional news about our clan (which by then will have grown to number thirteen).

Wishing you all a wonderful year. Peace and love from

Muriel, Paul, Erika, Allen, Andrew, Erin, Curran, Devin, Samantha, Aubrey, Haley, and Bryn.


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