Christmas 2019
Dear Family and Friends,
Whoever said “retirement” is a time for slowing down? When we talk with other “retirees,” they wonder when they ever had time to work! Same with us. The year 2019 has been busy and hectic. But we want to take this moment to wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year.
Last Christmas season, we celebrated with a brunch with Anne’s first cousins (10 of us) at MacAlester’s at the Union League Torresdale Golf Club, attended a Christmas Concert of the Philly Pops, and hosted Christmas Day dinner at our home for Jerry’s sister and her family. We are doing the same again this Christmas season.
With Anne’s first cousins and spousesIn February, we skied at Deer Valley in Utah. It was so cold that we skipped two days of skiing. During that time we attended a Marriott Vacation Club presentation, and bought a small package. We used some of our points for our vacations in Utah in both 2019 and 2020, and for a stay at the Marriott Marquis in NYC – all at no extra charge.
In the beginning of March, we took a Viking Ocean cruise to far northern Norway to see the Northern Lights. We had a great trip, despite the scary time when the ship, the Viking Sky, lost power during a storm in the North Sea off the coast of Norway (you may have seen that story on the news). A narrative of our experiences, including Jerry’s photos of the Northern Lights, is in the bottom two sections of this blog, at Seeing the Northern Lights and Our Viking Sky Adventure.
Part of the compensation Viking provided as a result of the Viking Sky difficulties was a free cruise, which we will be using to visit South America in March 2020. On that trip, we are looking forward to meeting two Sceia brothers in Buenos Aires! Also in 2020 we will be cruising down the Nile in Egypt.
In April, we had a great reunion in San Antonio with friends we met on our Viking Ocean cruise in the Adriatic Sea in 2018. Also joining us were friends we met on our Viking River cruise of the Rhine in 2017. The reunion was great fun.
Promotional efforts for Anne’s book kept her busy this year. The book is On the Cusp: The Women of Penn ’64, and is available at Amazon.com in two versions, Kindle and paperback. News articles appeared in Wharton Magazine and online at Knowledge@Wharton. Those articles attracted the attention of the Marketing Director of the Penn Club of NYC, who set up a presentation there for us in October. Twelve of Anne’s classmates who were featured in the book attended; it was a “mini-reunion.”
We spent summer weekends in Sea Isle City, N.J., at our condo. We entertained several of Jerry’s Klein first cousins at our home in July. We celebrated the 50th wedding anniversary of Anne’s goddaughter at a dinner at the Union League of Philadelphia. And we hosted several of Anne’s Sceia first cousins at our annual Labor Day weekend dinner.
Early in November, we attended the annual Fall Ball at the Union League. This year’s theme was “Exquisitely Black and White.” On Thanksgiving, we were joined by Jerry’s sister, her husband, and her son and his daughter for dinner at the Guard House in Gladwynne.
We just completed a Danube River cruise from Prague to Budapest, where we visited Christmas markets each chance we had. We were joined on that trip by a couple from Denver, Co., whom we met on our Holy Land cruise in 2017.
We’ve also attended several theatrical events, both in Philadelphia and in New York. In September, we saw the two-night “Harry Potter & The Cursed Child” musical on Broadway; in October we saw the touring production of “Come From Away”; and in November we attended a concert by Broadway star Sutton Foster in Philadelphia. In March, at the end of our Norway cruise, we stopped off in London and saw one of the final shows of the original production of “Les Miserables.” We continue to be season subscribers to the Walnut Street Theatre and the Philly Pops.
So it has been a busy year. When we’re not traveling, Jerry continues to play ice hockey three times a week and Anne goes to the gym twice a week. We hope you are keeping well and active too.
Love,
Jerry & Anne