I don’t know what’s the matter with me, but I just couldn’t get into the mood to write this Christmas letter. Oh, well, hopefully, this start will be productive.

I still live at RidgePointe, a 300-resident, independent seniors facility. Now that Covid seems to be over, we’re beginning to get back to a more enjoyable living, like eating in the Dining Room rather that all meals deliver to our rooms. Our very first Dining Room dinner will be January 9^th.

Had a couple of big trips this year. I returned to the city of my birth, Los Angeles. It sure has grown. When I was born there in 1939, there was one freeway from downtown to Pasadena. Now they are everywhere, and each is 10 lanes wide each way. Anyway, I traveled there (and back) with Dan (our eldest son who is now retired) & Dawn by train to attend the annual weeklong convention of the National Railway Historical Society in the suburb of Fullerton. Had a wonderful time. Here’s a link to lots of pictures of the NRHS22 trip.

My 2nd trip this year was to Blue Earth (near our Frost farm) where 4 of my adult siblings (Gary, Jim, Pat, Joe) live. As you may recall from my previous letters, I purchased an electric car (Tesla) a couple of years ago & they’ve wanted to ride in it and answer their questions about EVs. So I saw all of them and had a good time. Stayed with brother, Jim & his wife, Diane.

Our kids are all doing well. They’re all on the cusp of retiring. Dan & Dawn are both retired. Kathy & Cam will in the next couple years. Dave & Beth a few years after that. The 4 grandkids are all beginning their working careers and finding life partners. And our great-granddaughter is so cute. We spent a couple of weekend visits with her. The most surprising experience of all is calling your son, “Grandpa”.

The past 2 years, I have been a Co-chairman of the Residents Council at RidgePointe. It was a good term, but I’m now finished with that.

I’m still a leader of the Minnetonka Seniors Computer Interest Group who meet weekly. And during the pandemic, we continued to meet using a tool which I host called Zoom. And that’s now beginning to wane and we’re beginning to meet in person.

Finally, my last paragraph is a plea asking you all to help me find a person to take over the family genealogy that I have collected and automated. It runs on both Family Tree Maker (an app) and Ancestry.com (a web site), which are coupled together and keep each other updated. So, please, talk to your families and ask anyone interested to contact me. And if any of you would like to view my data, I can easily send you a link to the website.

And thank you for allowing me to use electronic mail distribution for my annual Holiday Greetings.

Merry Christmas & Happy New 2023 Year.