Our Christmas letter

Merry Christmas!

As always, it is a blessed time to reconnect with friends and family, but also a challenge – especially when we are so faaar awaaay.

But that is coming to an end this May, when we make our final move back to Comox

(in fact it is actually East Courtenay).

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The big news for 2011 will be Dale’s final retirement and repatriation to Canada.

(Poor Laurel never gets to retire as she is looking after me all the dang time ;)

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So a quick review on 2010. Many cool trips both from work and play.

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New Years in Geneva, February in Brighton, Paris in March, Milan in April and our biggest event was in May.

We came home to Comox to share in the wedding of Adam and Natalie. It was spectacular in everyway,

a truly joyous occasion to share in the love and caring of friends and family.

We wish we could have had all of our friends attend but their choice was to be very small and intimate

– and it was. What a celebration.

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After the wedding, we house-hunted and found our retirement dream home.

The offer was accepted with a full year later possession date enabling us to plan

our exit from this incredible adventure. (So many adjectives!!)

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Back to the Mediterranean, the summer was very hot and in August horribly humid (often reaching +56C on the humidex).

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An escape for Laurel to join me in Cannes and Monaco and later our short cruise holiday to Israel

helped to break up our normal local Cyprus touring about.

The last holiday trip we took for this year was to Jordan where we explored Petra

and then soaked in the Dead Sea – (1400 feet below sea level!). A great adventure again.

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New friends and old friends back here in Cyprus have really become a bittersweet emotional experience

as we have loved making such close bonds yet feel saddened to leave them for home.

That said, we have come up with a great solution.

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We will likely keep our small villa here and visit twice a year in the spring and late fall,

at least for the next few years.

The market is slumped here anyway and this way we can stretch our summers and stay in closer contact

with our dear friends and neighbours on this side of our tiny planet

(although I know it won’t feel that way when we journey back and forth).

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That is a quick summary of our year and a peek at 2011. We really look forward to hearing everyone else’s news – either by card or email, etc.

Please stay in touch as we think and speak often of our many good friends and family that have touched our lives in so many wonderful ways.

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Before signing off, I should give a quick status on kin.

Les and Vera are fine and looking forward to our return. Vera lost her hearing last year and struggles

with hearing aids and new challenges of this debilitating handicap. Otherwise they are both reasonably healthy.

Elsie is very comfortable and feels quite spoiled in her new senior’s complex that she took up residence

in last year at this time, thanks to George and Johanne.

Adam and Natalie are very happily married, living in Cairo now and visiting with us this week.

Adam still loves his music and the flying has been very busy for him this year.

Joel still loves everyday he lives in Vancouver and works from home with different animation gigs.

He is also continuing to pursue his online business and investment studies. We miss him dearly and look forward to moving closer.

Our siblings all seem very well with the usual adventures and challenges that we all seem to travel on our path through middle age and beyond….

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Blessings to you all – and best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Love,

Dale and Laurel

December 12, 2010

Yes, we are still here. We have just had a lovely visit with Adam and Natalie for the last 10 days, so we were busy even though we didn't really 'do' much. The first night we celebrated Adam's 27th Birthday as he was working on the actual day. Spaghetti and chocolate cake, what more could you want?

In the morning we popped over to Mike and Roz' for coffee and a visit. We also had a fun night with some friends over for dinner who are really into music. Jonathan brought two guitars and an amp, and Ian brought a guitar from his extensive collection. After dinner, Maureen, Kath, Natalie and I were entertained and Adam was in his element with a guitar in his hands.

And what would a visit to Cyprus be without seeing our windmills up close and personal! Of course you have to take a picture of the goats along the way - not to mention one of the donkey we had to unravel from the tree he was tied to so he could reach his water.

Then out to Agatha's in our village for a dinner with Mike's Greek class, with Adam and Natalie in the spotlight with another group of friends.

The kids had the morning off on Thursday as Dale and I went up to our regular bridge group in Kouklia. They joined us for coffee afterwards and met that group as well, kinda like 'show-and-tell'.

Friday had us all at the gym working off some of our dinners. The weather was fabulous the whole time they were here, so there was also some time for sitting around the pool. No one went in the water though, as it is now too cold even for hardy Canadians.

Adam, Dale and Jonathan had a treat on Saturday as Natalie and I watched them going around the track on go-carts. Apparently they were quite fast as we saw them do a couple of spin outs - well Adam and Dale anyway. I think Jonathan has been practising.

Sunday was supposed to be a major hike, but as we were a bit too slow and 'some of us' worn out from go-carting, we went to the Aphrodite Hills Christmas Fair instead - followed by ice cream at the Pinguino in Paphos. I wonder why I gained a couple of pounds during their visit.

At least we went back to the gym on Monday and Natalie joined me for my pilates class. Later, Adam and Natalie dropped Dale and I off for bridge while they went into Geroskipou to the 'Millefeuille" which is a marvellous French patisserie that they remembered from last time. Then the kids picked us up and we joined a few of our bridge cronies for 'fish and chips' in Mandria.

Tuesday we met Linda and Peter in Paphos at '5th Floor' for a lovely lunch and back to their place for coffee and dessert. Adam and Natalie didn't get to meet everyone we know, but certainly some important ones.

On their last night we took them to the Anarita Tavern for ribs. They had been highly recommended and certainly lived up to our expectations.

Dale and I left the kids to get organized and packed up on Thursday morning as we attended our usual bridge session. After lunch, I took them all to the airport; Adam and Natalie back 'home' to their apartment while poor Dale had to head back to work. He had such a long stint home this time that at least we decided that we could handle retirement.

Anyway, I am back to my usual galavanting while trying to get enough done to keep this place in order. And winter has finally arrived - certainly not in a Canadian way as far as the temperature goes, but enough rain and thunder and lightening to rival storms in the prairies.

In the meantime, I am hoping that I will be able to join Dale for Christmas, but it is hard to plan as he doesn't have a schedule beyond the 20th yet. TBA!

I will post our Christmas letter for a quick recap of the year and again, wish you all a very Merry Christmas and the best of New Years.

Love and blessings,

Laurel