Wyman Family Christmas Letter 2024

Two of our sons’ families had medical issues this year, but those are their stories to tell,
not ours. It is enough to know that these affected us as well, and everyone seems fine
now. We are grateful to know that our love is not powerless even at a distance, and many
of you prayed for these people this year.

Piles of Rocks
If you like piles of rocks, Ireland is the place to go. They have geological piles of rocks,
such as Giant’s Causeway and Cliffs of Moher; prehistoric piles of rocks such as
Newgrange and Carrowmere; castles and abbeys standing or no longer standing. They
also have roads that put you on the edge of death for hours at a time. The R-roads are like
driveways renamed as two-way routes with rocks or hedges brushing the side of your
car…the L-roads are like bad driveways. But people still want to pass you. On the
positive side, we found a variety of GF fish-and-chips, saw CS Lewis sites and the Titanic
museum in Belfast, and Tracy enjoyed the prehistoric sites as much as David did. She
reads every historical marker wherever we go and every plaque on a wall. Librarian,
remember?

“They’re Eating All the Fruit!”
Jocie, Quinn, and Bella went to visit the Philippines two weeks before John-Adrian and
Aurora left Alaska to join them. They had a 110-degree difference between takeoff and
final landing in February. Aurora was envious of her sisters having a banana tree right in
their own yard and feared it would all be gone when she got there. Coming from Nome,
where a single large party in February actually can eat up most of the fruit in town for a
week, her worry is not as crazy as it would sound. They also bought an igloo-shaped
home in the interior of Alaska as well as built a second home in Manila. Jocie is
recognized in public there because of her million-plus social media followers. John-
Adrian is the man of a thousand side-hustles: king crab, salmon, gold detection, poker,
caribou. He has been a guest on “Outdoor Boys” twice, so more people have watched
him catch king crab than any living person. Aurora plays both basketball and volleyball
in 8th grade, while the two younger girls enjoy costuming and appearing on camera with
Mom.

10,000 posts
David has now put up 10,000 posts as Assistant Village Idiot since starting the site in
2005.
 

Foot Clinic
When one ages, one acquires diagnoses, but this was the year of the feet. Plantar
fasciitis, bunions, gout, arthritis, hammertoe, smashed big toenail, extra bones in the foot,
a red birthmark that disguises symptoms, high arches, plus general unexplained
inflammations that come and go… and some more disgusting things. At one point we had
four impaired feet with four different diagnoses. Perhaps we should donate our feet to
science when we go.

Speaking of Side Hustles - Chris and Kyle
Chris has started a side business of renting midrange cars, which he identified as a market
gap in Tromso. Maria works too hard and too long, so no side hustles for her! They have
bought an RV to vacation with, which will hopefully help her relax. Though if they are
bringing the dogs…. I keep telling my children that life is more genteel without animals.
 

Kyle has a new job with Orkin and his photography business is gradually but solidly
gaining altitude. He seems to have a particular magic capturing dog personalities. It’s a
lot of hours and a lot of driving, but he is still very comfortable in Duxbury. His sister
Meg, plus her husband Matt and daughter Penny, are nearby and a great blessing.
 

Director of Communications-ish
Ben continues his job search to land in Northern New England, and Jen is fine with
putting her job in the rearview mirror as well. They keep thinking they must have
replaced everything in the Texas house over the last few years, but it is dangerous to say
such things aloud, isn’t it? Jen’s parents came up go to the Head of the Charles, and we
saw a fair bit of them then.

“Nana, These Kids Are Eight.”
Tracy was obsessing over artistic details at Vacation Bible School, but fortunately had her
granddaughter Sarah along to put things in perspective, as quoted above. Sarah goes with
David to pick up food for the halfway house. Useful and entertaining gal. When Heidi
was unavailable at church one week, Emily was attempting to take over the CE office
because “I’m the only one who knows where everything is!” Emily was thinking she had
the inside track on being Lucia queen next year, but none of the adults want to run it.
(David sure doesn’t. Tracy is wavering.) So Emily is considering doing it herself. I swear
that girl is training to run a small country. Jonathan, Heidi, and Sarah are wondering
whether they would want to live there…