{"id":1918,"date":"2025-12-08T13:12:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/?p=1918"},"modified":"2025-12-08T13:12:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:12:50","slug":"christmas-2025-the-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/christmas-2025-the-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"CHRISTMAS 2025 — The Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Merry Christmas 2025<\/em><\/strong>
If only there was peace on earth…<\/em>
{again, same repetitive opening, unfortunately}<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hard to believe that about a year ago, Kelti, Suzanne & Brett<\/strong> took me to Oahu<\/em> to celebrate my 80th\u2026 that was a special time, in part because Brett<\/strong> did most of the driving in a neat Jeep<\/em> (I only got behind the wheel after they returned to AZ and I rented a Smart Car<\/em> which is somewhat misnamed!!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n


But what about this year which has seen considerable turmoil throughout the globe? Generally speaking it has been okay. We did have Mom\u2019s funeral<\/em> in May which was attended by far more than I expected. It was a very lovely event; the minister was exceptional and Anne & Alex<\/strong> did a marvelous job of designing, developing & delivering it. It was recorded, along with some poignant interviews, and can be watched on this website on the home page<\/em>!
Here is a quick summary of individual actions:
Pour ST<\/strong>
\u2022 a successful dragon-boat season
\u2022 same for golfing & skiing
\u2022 swimming has become year round again, city pool in the late autumn & winter and Skaha & Okanagan Lakes spring through early autumn
\u2022 continuing as a Board member on the South Okanagan Community Foundation<\/em> (& attended the national conference in Halifax)
\u2022 continuing as a participant in the 100 Women Who Care<\/em> Charity (which significantly outperforms the men’s equivalent)
\u2022 going to the CFL\u2019s Grey Cup<\/em> (in Winnipeg this year) \u2013 and also all the BC Lions\u2019<\/em> home games (in Vancouver)
\u2022 continues as an active member of Rotary<\/em> (& attended the international Rotary conference in Calgary with 16,000 participants from 140 countries)
\u2022 continuing as a super star hostess for visits from Grandkids, kids, neighbours, long-time friends and special groups
For moi<\/strong>
\u2022 considerable biking
\u2022 a goodly amount of skiing & some golf
\u2022 semi-weekly visits to the gym &\/or mini-workouts rounded out efforts to stay upright and breathing!!
\u2022 enjoyed another Spring\/Summer teaching Applied Ethics<\/em> in the Environmental Health program at CUE<\/em> (Concordia University of Edmonton)
\u2022 continuing as a participant in the 100 Men Who Care<\/em> Charity
\u2022 continue to hold season\u2019s tix with BC Lions<\/em> (Vancouver) and EE<\/em> (Edmonton)
\u2022 share season\u2019s tix with my long time friend Sandy Ross at Penticton VEES<\/em> hockey games (now WHL)
\u2022 continue to serve as President of our strata (Bridgewater)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel again was extensive. ST<\/strong> made a couple of family & friends visits to Montr\u00e9al et Ottawa and accompanied me on my annual Stratford tour<\/em> (we also had a good visit with friends Margaret & Allison Lupton this year). She also accompanied me to my SEAC Conference<\/em> (Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum) at Villanova University<\/em> near Philadelphia. While she did not come to the actual conference, she did do a good deal of site-seeing around Philly and took in a performance of the Philadelphia Ballet<\/em>. Included in the trip was a day train trip to New York City: took in some touring and eating, but the highlight was a night at the Metropolitan Opera<\/em> (something that will remain with me forever). We stayed an extra two days so that we could experience the Philadelphia Symphony<\/em> in concert, visit the Rocky Balboa<\/em> special site and also attend First Presbyterian<\/em> which is a congregation almost 300 years old with a building built in the 19th century. She also traveled with me to New Hampshire where we visited our grandsons: Brendan<\/strong> who is now enrolled at St. Anselm College<\/em> (playing NCAA2 hockey & being on the honour role) and Connor<\/strong> who is starting his broadcasting career in New England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for me I did fly to Norfolk Virginia for my APPE<\/em> (Association for Practical & Professional Ethics) Conference. It was a solid learning experience which gave me some new ideas for my teaching gig. After Alumni Homecoming Weekend<\/em> at the UofA <\/em>in Edmonton, I also returned to Stratford for some additional plays that I had wanted to see and the Theatre helped by rewarding me with reduced prices for my long-time attendance (going as far back as the Tent<\/em> in 1954).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April we accompanied our special friends Bonnie & Sandy Ross<\/strong> to Jamaica<\/em> to visit their youngest & his wife (Andrew & Rachael<\/strong>). This was a special time \u2013 not only because they have a beautiful estate in the mountains, but they also arranged for a weekend at a delightful resort on the south shore (Treasure Beach:<\/em> which was entirely destroyed by the recent hurricane). This meant I was able to visit the unique bar I had seen in Appleton Estates<\/em> rum commercials \u2013 Floyd\u2019s Pelican Bar<\/em> (we also visited the Appleton Estates<\/em> distillery). In August, Brendan<\/strong> and his girlfriend Emma<\/strong> came to visit us in Penticton \u2013 this too was a special time that included Brendan and I biking from the Smethyrst Station<\/em> to the recently re-opened ADRA tunnel<\/em> on the KVR Trail<\/em> (old Kettle Valley Railroad). The third special moment came near the end of September when ST\u2019s younger sister<\/em> (& her daughter) came from Montr\u00e9al for a wee visit after the unexpected passing of her husband. They are solid francophone Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois so challenged me in my inadequate French.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do have a wonderful Christmas<\/em> and may 2026 bring you good health, new adventures, many smiles, occasional fits of laughter, and hugs from surprising sources<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ST et gw<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Merry Christmas 2025If only there was peace on earth…{again, same repetitive opening, unfortunately} Hard to believe that about a year ago, Kelti, Suzanne & Brett took me to Oahu to celebrate my 80th\u2026 that was a special time, in part because Brett did most of the driving in a neat Jeep (I only got behind […]<\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1918"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1924,"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions\/1924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-sinclair.com\/editorialog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}