Wyman Family Christmas Letter - 2016

We are concerned that this year's letter is not up to the entertainment level of previous efforts. This might be due to an erosion of writing skills. More ominously, we might be becoming more boring. Hopefully, that is temporary. We might have a definitive answer for that Christmas 2017.

Everyone Moves But Stays Where They Are.

David and Tracy are fixing up their house of 30 years in preparation for moving…nearby.                    

Jonathan and Heidi are house-hunting  -  nearby.

Ben’s new job is in the opposite direction on I-45, at First Methodist in downtown Houston, but he’s still living in Spring.           

Kyle was going to move big-time by going active duty in the army, but elected to simply change jobs and stay in Goffstown instead.

Chris is tiring of Norway, and saving his money in order to move to…well, he doesn’t know yet.    For now, still in Tromso.       

JA and Jocie bought a house, so it looks like they may be in Nome a while.

Change/No Change.  Lots of rumbling, same landscapes.

About Those Coydogs

After learning that the New England hybrid (coyote/wolf/dog) is not that large a specimen and that our local batch doesn't band together, I am no longer that worried about encountering them in the woods with no one around.  I still carry the bear spray (we have one back there somewhere), but I'm thinking ticks and other insects are more of a danger.  Especially as they have sent me to urgent care twice. 

Tracy Graduated, David Is Being Discharged

Tracy retired at the end of the school year.  There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth from both teachers and students, who spoke of her kindness, her remembering everyone's name year over year, and her memorable storytelling and lessons. David is retiring from the hospital January 1 - we'll see if everyone there is quite so distressed about that. Perhaps. Tracy is already volunteering at her granddaughters' schools and tutoring the children at New Life Home For Women And Children. David will return to the hospital part-time after taking January off.

A Year of Change

After bringing Jocie and her five-year-old daughter Aurora home at Thanksgiving last year for our approval (like we were going to say no), John-Adrian married Jocie this year in Las Vegas. Everyone but Chris, who has a lot more distance to cover, made it to a small but beautiful wedding with just family and a few friends from Alaska. Only 48 hours in Sin City, which was plenty for Tracy and David, and way more than enough for Heidi.  It was... interesting. Their daughter Quinn Elena Wyman arrived in October, perhaps the first Romanian-Filipina child in history.  Tracy got to go to Nome twice this year, once in July and then to help out with the baby. She much prefers too much sunshine over too little.  JA and Jocie bought a house, and here's the interesting part:  John-Adrian, whose experience with farming was brutal in Romania as a boy, swore he would never grow a vegetable.  He now proudly has a garden and built a greenhouse.  We gave them precious topsoil as a wedding present.

She Considers A Truck And Buys It. Proverbs 31

Vehicle-shopping has usually been mutual, and time consuming.  But this summer, Tracy was retired and had more time. I did a lot of the online research, but in the end, she did the deciding, the checking, the bargaining.  For a truck that she's not ever going to drive. Not her comfort zone, but changing circumstances take all of us to new places.