This year has been unlike any I have had and I am certain we can all say the same thing.  For us it began with a vacation in Florida with our grandchildren Weston and Kinsley.  No Disney World or amusement parks, just lots of walking on warm beaches and building sand castles.  Then frantic calls from their parents to get their kids back home.  Not Albany but New Jersey so they could stay with Kara’s parents while Dan worked with COVID patients.  So we cut the vacation short and flew back.  The drive from New Jersey to Maine was strange since everything was now shut down and restaurants only had take-out.  Our plan to end the vacation with a weekend in Manhattan was squelched as well.  Looking back, we dodged a bullet.  But those who know me can understand how I cringed at forfeiting a $300 hotel deposit.

The lockdown accelerated our plan to move Celeste’s parents in with us since she would no longer be able to travel to care for them each week.  We gave them the master bedroom and filled the walls with all of Jim’s watercolors.  Celeste’s sister Sara also flew up from Texas to help us in their care and has been with us ever since.  Other family members have also dropped in to help.  During lockdown our small church put its services online – how strange to this retired preacher to have a “virtual” Easter.  Becca’s business has had to shutdown for now, Daniel is travel-nursing to various cities, Sarah does hybrid teaching for Kindergartners and Josiah has actually had an upturn in business.

Our planned adventure RVing in Alaska has been indefinitely postponed.  Instead in June we tookWeston and Kinsley to Acadia National Park with our RV trailer.  Only Mainers were allowed in so we felt like we had it all to ourselves.  A truly unique experience!

By August Celeste’s dad had declined to the point that we had to assist him in everything he did.  He no longer communicated in a way we could understand but he was surrounded with our love when he died on the 14th at the age of 101 (or “almost 102” as he would have put it).  A week later we took Celeste’s mom to Belfast to visit their old haunts and pick up his ashes and we had a socially-distanced funeral in his hometown of Pepperell, Massachusetts.  A military marker now rests on his grave.  Every week Jackie asks where he is and we have to show her the video of his funeral.

Celeste and I are doing well, though in September I signed up for Medicare and Celeste has arthritis so we are both officially old.  But we are glad we still have the ability to get around and had a belated celebration of our 40th anniversary by spending four days on Maine’s Monhegan Island.  Lots of hiking and breathtaking views of the ocean.  Celeste checked it off her bucketlist but she wants to go back sometime.

Our brood is still expanding.  Rebecca has three foster children and the possibility of adopting, while Sarah will have her second child soon after Christmas.  We love having grandchildren.  Rebecca calls us daily and hands the phone to one of the kids so we get extended video chats while looking at a floor, a ceiling, an eyeball…  On Halloween we had the privilege of taking Weston (Starwars’ Kylo Ren) and Kinsley (Frozen’s Anna with an extra tutu bustle on her head) trick-or-treating in Exeter, New Hampshire, where they now live.  We walked blocks and blocks only to find out the best street in town is the one they live on.

I have been doing some guest preaching this year and now that our church’s pastor has moved I think I will be doing it quite a bit more.  I am glad I saved all my old sermons.  We still run the teen youth group – just try to keep teenagers socially distanced! – and have been faithfully attending.

Our Thanksgiving was small this year and Christmas will be as well.  The simple things in life are the most gratifying to us, like our daily hike to the Ovens Mouth preserve and kayak rides at high tide.  The autumn was incredible here and seemed to last forever.  Every day Celeste tells me, “Have I told you I just love it here?”  And my response is, “I’ve never heard that before.”  Life is good in spite of all its challenges and Jesus is still on the throne.  We wish all of you a most beautiful Christmas.

Love,
David & Celeste