ChristmasLetter2006

2006 was a relatively uneventful year for me, and I must confess that that was just fine. I did not go to France but hope to do so next winter or spring, although current exchange rates will make everything extremely expensive. I only took two trips. Last spring I was in Key West to visit my close friend Bert Parker. It is always great to see him, and I do like Key West, if not necessarily the climate. He has a delightful home, and we eat well, whether in the wonderful restaurant across the street or fending for ourselves with local seafood.

I was also in Sarasota for a long Labor Day weekend. I must confess that it was fun to be there as a tourist without any family pressures. I ate well - I know the good restaurants - shopped - I also know the stores - and enjoyed visiting the new Ringling Circus Museum. The main feature of the new building is someone's' intricate mock-up of a full traveling circus from decades ago.

I have enjoyed increasingly reconnecting with my mother's family, the Coles. The immediate family is all nearby in New England. We had a delightful time together last August in Cambridge to celebrate our mutual birthdays. The weather was perfect, so we sat on the porch for a long hwile. My aunt and uncle have a beautiful house, and Bonnie put together a wonderful family dinner. The birthdays of my uncle, me, and my cousins are all between July and mine on September 1. We are building a tradition of getting together to celebrate all of the birthdays on one grand occasion. It always features a grand meal late in the day.

I recently came back from a wonderful Thanksgiving with my cousin Joshua Cole and his family. They have a beautiful house in York, Maine, and are gracious hosts. Judy's Mom lives nearby and helped out a lot. Several close family friends, and Josh's brother Sean and his wife were also there. Josh and Judy adopted a Siberian son named Timothy. He is a joy, and I am honored to be treated as his uncle. Uncle Sean and I were all too glad to interact with him - that means running after the perpetual motion machine. We had a grand meal - great turkey with all of the trimmings -,and stayed many hours at a dellightful table. Another guest brought wonderful home-made apple and pumpkin pies for dessert. Therefore, we all ate much too much, as is proper for that holiday.

After our father passed away, my brother somewhat lightly appointed me the Official Family Historian. As I should have realized, he knew what he was doing. I am really glad of the "job". I have here lots of family papers and photos shipped from Sarasota. I am slowly organzing them and writing summaries of what they tell us from the past. And I am slowly organizing CD's with scanned copies of the old photos. On the Adams side they go back nearly a century, and the oldest Cole - my Mom's family - go back into the late 1800's. Quite something!