CHRISTMAS WITH THE SWANSONS 2006

"This year is going to be different" we said, as we always do, last January.  Yet at the end of the year we usually find that we are pressed for time and creative ideas; so our year end communication with our friends from near and far away is converted into another January resolution. This website is our attempt to do something different about 2006.

We started the year with a new car (Audi A3), a new vacation allotment (six weeks) and a new attitude.  We were going to go places and do things. We had new technology (an MP3 player built into our car radio, a GPS system, and a digital camera.)  Not only were we going to do things, we were going to have a record of them for friends and posterity. (For more pictures follow hyperlinks.)

2006 was a year for bonding with friends and family.  We reestablished Kim's Ishpeming roots with a visit over July 4th but at the same time got to meet in person some people Jude had met on the internet.  Kim's Mother Edna and Aunt Lil had such a good time at Easter visiting Tammy, Jason and Will DeRuyver (and being independent women staying in a motel) that they are going to do it again over Christmas.  Travels based around Jude's nephew Patrick's Wedding were tweaked and extended to include visits with Jude's father Ivan (who shared the ride to Rhode Island with a stop at Niagara Falls), sister and brother-in-law Kim and Bob (from Chicago), brother Greg and his daughters (who were toddlers last time we saw them), Tammy, Jason, and Will, friends at Michigan State University and finally the Meades and Sobieskis for the traditional Labor Day Knoxville reunion (which this year was in Indianapolis and included a, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young concert.) The car performed well over the 2500 mile trip. 

The Columbus Symphony continues to play a major role in our lives. In the Spring Kim was named to the board of directors and Jude was very active in helping the Columbus Symphony Orchestra League celebrate its 25 years of existence and its raising $1,000,000 for the orchestra.  Though we no longer host a Picnic with the Pops table every week (we were gone two of the weekends on the July 4th trip) we did host our breakfast group at one concert and attended one as the guests of the new Executive Director.  In September the CSOL held an internal fundraiser and Jude and her friend Peggy Malone donated 20 dozen Christmas cookies to be auctioned off.  When the price got high, another 20 dozen package was added and sold.

Which brings us to October. In a period of a week the Audi took us to Michigan State University, the President's brunch and a chance to view the game from the President's box, back to Columbus for the CSOL's 25th Anniversary Brunch and a concert, and then back to Michigan for an exciting three day bridge tournament at Mackinac Island (with the people we met in July in Marquette.)  Even though this sounds complicated, the juggling we did to be free for this travel was even more complex.  Sometimes it's good to be home.

Good thing we planned to be home in late-November because it was time to make cookies.  To get an assortment of 20 dozen cookies, we made 26 kinds, doubling the batches we had made in the past and liked and trying many new recipes.  The baking ran Monday-Monday with the daily chronicle posted on Jude's live journal and pictures of the whole thing put in a Yahoo album.  When done, Jude was tired but very satisfied. Strangely, the number of cookies was very close to the miles driven on the August trip. 

Kim continues to be excited about entering his third year at Rockbridge Capital, and continues to work with the Salvation Army and Columbus Council on World Affairs.  We have Blue Jackets hockey tickets and are looking forward to attending the NCAA basketball tournament first round games this March.  This year we want to continue our interest in playing bridge and hope to attend some out of town tournaments in addition to returning to Mackinac Island. 

But most of all we wish our many, many friends a wonderful holiday season and a great new year. 

Kim and Jude Swanson