Happy Holidays 2009

And here we are, another year (and decade) gone by. It's been a quiet one overall, compared to some -- no major vacations or trips, no huge crises or grand announcements (other than installing new kitchen counters). Given the way life probably was for everyone -- thank you, recession -- quiet was probably a good thing.

Strange to think how quickly everything passes, though. It was at this time 10 years ago we were making a switch from living in Southern California to going back to living in Sacramento, when Alan took a new job. He took a new job (sort of) again this year, working in the IT internal communications department at Intel in Folsom. This is a third time around for him, after two previous short-term stints as a contractor. He's also adjusting to the fact that he'll soon be the shortest member of the family, courtesy of a certain growing 13-year-old (more on that below), and that his 25-year high school reunion will (or might not) be taking place in 2010. Not that anyone is starting to feel old or anything... And of course, he doesn't want anyone to know that for the second time, he earned an "honorable mention" in the Writers' Digest short story competition.

Nicole is still teaching French at Bella Vista High School, actually seeing an entire class through over the past four years from French 1 to French 4. This is a first -- in previous years, something always interrupted her flow after two or three years, whether it was a job change or temporary switch to another type of teacher. Needless to say, she's missed several of these longtime students. In February, she went to Belgium for a couple weeks to observe how high school students there conduct themselves in class -- a first for her in that country (and a first chance for her to observe the education system in any French-speaking country). Next up is another trip to France in 2010 with several of her current students (and probably Alan and Caelan as well). She's also kept herself busy with numerous local, state and national presentations to language teachers and with other committees, groups and boards.

Caelan is now in eighth grade and officially became a teenager this month. He doesn't seem any different -- that kid-to-teenager switch apparently isn't automatic. People tell us that the best years -- one way or another -- are yet to come (we will miss his voice, though...it's deepened a bit in recent months). We look forward to them. Meanwhile, he's busy growing his ever-curlier hair (three years and counting since his last full haircut), writing fiction stories (wonder where he got that from?), improving his video game-playing prowess and working with friends to create online animated stories. He's also greatly enjoying his community service program this year: spending four hours a week helping second and third graders with afterschool projects at one of the local elementary schools. He plans to continue with it throughout the school year even though he's already surpassed the number of hours of community service required by his school.

The pets are plugging along, although not without event. The cat, Chattrbachs, is as perky and playful as ever, and genuinely seems to like our dog, Sophie. We expect to find them sleeping together one day in an effort to keep warm (and based on recent events -- we actually had snow in the Sacramento area a couple weeks ago, the biggest storm here in more than 15 years).

Sophie is getting to be a bit long in the tooth -- 10 years old now, or about 70 in human years -- but she's still motoring around. Her only big thing this year was managing to rupture a tendon in one of her legs -- similar to an ACL tear in a human -- that needed surgery and a lot of inactive time to correct. About a week ago, the veterinarian officially gave her the okay to move around for short

5-minute walks over the next month, a time allotment that will gradually be upped after that (as if we're going to be able to keep a three-foot high, 70-pound dog from moving around when she wants).

There were other events involving family and friends. Alan's uncle, Tom, died of complications from Alzheimer's last spring; one of Nicole's longtime foreign language colleagues, Carol Eberhart, died of cancer in February. And Nicole's aunt, Marianne, and her new husband, Tony, bought a house in Roseville after Tony secured his visa for permanent residence.

Otherwise, a pretty quiet year. Will next year be as quiet? Guess you'll have to come back here again in 2010 (or thereabouts) to find out.

Best wishes to all of you as we head into a new, bold decade (the 20-"teens"?).