Merry Christmas 2015!

I have to say, it's incredibly difficult to get into the Christmas spirit when it was in the low 70s this past weekend. Coupled with the fact that this year only just began, didn't it?!? and it's hard to imagine it's time to fill everyone in on our year.

In 2015 we did something we'd never thought of before: Mary and Eric joined a local bowling league (!), where we're bowling with our friends Ken and Trish Fritzsche once a month. We tried naming our team "We're Only Here For The Beer," but that was actually already taken, which tells you about how seriously this league takes itself. So instead, "Livin' On A Spare" is in its second season now. Our social season included, as always, Chili Bowl XXI--it's old enough to drink now!--with the annual appearance from Mark "Admiral" Kolodny. This year, two new twists to the calendar: the inaugural Overlake Wine Festival in May, and then at Labor Day it was our turn to host the Overlake Court Labor Day cookout, where we savored the gorgeous weather by cooking and hanging out front. 

On the home front, 2015 saw us redo the living and dining rooms, a process which also involved relocating the wine cabinet into the kitchen, which presages the kinds of changes we hope to do in the kitchen in 2016 (and the kids' bathroom, Mary points out). As ever, we enjoyed having people come and visit and see our newly done rooms: we welcomed Uncle Rod, Jen, Monica, Courtney, and had the chance to get caught up with Chuck and Lisa Mustapich on their way through town. No major family vacations this year, but we did visit Vermont twice, once in late June and then again in August for Mary's cousin Angela's wedding, where we got to see parts of her family we've not seen in far too long.

Sarah has had a most amazing and unprecedented year. This spring, she and the girls from Troop 2349 received their Girl Scout Silver Award, which positions her for earning the highest honor, Gold Award, in the coming years. One measure of how unique she is: she completed her middle school having had a wonderful time, finishing her sixth year in AAP and surrounded by a great group of friends. The eighth grade dance--the Eight Ball--soon gave way to her first high school dance, the South County Homecoming (or SoCo HoCo) with her circle of friends, and the whole range of new experiences that come with being a freshman in high school. One that's definitely different: Sarah became the first girl ever to suit up in a South County football uniform. She announced in the spring that she wanted to go out for freshman football, and so she went to all the practices and weight sessions; Coach B recognized she was something other than the stereotypical girl kicker, and Sarah was repping at third or second string cornerback of all things. (She prefers to "put a thud on the boys" rather than be tackled herself.) However, a weight room injury in late summer led to a stress fracture of her lower back, which kept her medically ineligible all season. She stayed with it, attending every practice and game, and was cleared fully before Thanksgiving, so she's already announced her return to try for JV next year! She was also selected for Lead Four:Twelve, which will position her to be a counselor and missionary with Jeremiah Project in 2017!

David now has his sister in the same building with him for the first time since 6th grade, which has been working out really well. For him, he's now a senior and in the throes of college applications. As of now, he's applying to four, and has been accepted already at Radford University, a state school (yay!) here in VA, so stay tuned for how the other three come in. He continues to be active in South County's theatre program as the head of set design and construction, where they put on Jabberwock this fall, and the spring musical, Les Miserables, was up for a Cappie award for best set. But his big adventure was two weeks in July hiking at Philmont Scout Ranch in northern New Mexico. David and Eric were part of an 11-person crew of his fellow Scouts from Troop 688 that hiked over 100 miles and had a truly amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Mary's year was filled with work at ABI, including trips to Detroit and Delaware in addition to the annual spring meeting here in town. She also had visits to Vermont helping her folks with their major renovation of their farmhouse, where they completely redid the first floor of the old part of the house and added a new wing. She also had the chance to be present for Naomi's high school graduation in June, and earlier in the spring, to help Naomi and Monica get ready for prom. 

Eric had a full year of transitions. In the winter, he completed the exams for the Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM) certification, which he put to use in applying for a new job. In October, after 23 years at FBI, Eric moved across the street and was promoted to be the Deputy Director of Budget for the entire Department of Justice. It was difficult to leave the FBI after so long and with so many great people, yet the DOJ family has been incredibly welcoming and Eric's already settling in just fine. In the spring, the two praise bands he worked with (Refresh and LifeSign) both folded, around the time he was serving as the assistant coach for Sarah's lacrosse team and preparing to hike Philmont with David. That wasn't his only trip this year, as he visited San Antonio (and Shiner!) with Glenn in the spring, and had a chance to connect with Joe and Jen Siragusa in Buffalo after...well, far too long!

In 2016, our adventures will continue. David will graduate South County HS and head off to whichever college he chooses, beginning to empty our nest a little. In the summer we'll visit Ireland and tour where Mary's family comes from, to follow our Germany visit of 2010. Sarah plans to try out for lacrosse and football once again, and both will be on mission trips to Pittsburgh in the summer. But in all this, stay current with us here on the blog, and come visit or stop by! Our very best wishes for all the grace and peace of the holidays to everyone--Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2016!

Christmas 2014

Finally, I've pulled together some of the pictures from Christmas 2014 and set them in this album. Click and see how our holidays looked!

This was a different Christmas: for the first time in 16 years, we were able to sleep in past 6 am! The kids were completely teenagers this year; Mary and I woke around 8 and had not been nudged at all from them. Sarah was up next, then she awoke David, who sleepily came down to empty his stocking. Ah, the Christmases of yesteryear are ending.

Merry Christmas 2014!

Instead of making copies of our Christmas letter this year and mailing them all, or creating a new site to capture the year, we're listing here some of the highlights so you can get caught up, and dive in more where you like, to learn more about our year.

courtesy Glenn Cook Photography

Our year involved tearing out the master bathroom for a major renovation, but six weeks later it looked better than we had imagined it could. Up next: the kitchen? The kids' bathroom? Our annual ski trip with the Scouts to Canaan Valley was in February, and then in August we flew out West, the kids' first visit someplace west of West Virginia, for a very full experience of Nevada, California and a little of Oregon. We also had a nice weekend in a cabin at Deep Creek Lake in October with our Fergie, who passed a set of milestones this year. Not only was it her first "puppiversary," or a year after we got her, but in June came the time when (we estimate) she had spent more of her life with us than before--I guess that means she's found her Forever Home. She turned three in October, and kept wryly amusing us with her antics throughout the year. Our puppums is a happy doggie and has attached herself quite firmly to Mary lately.

If you look up the address for South County Middle School in the Fairfax County tax records, you will see that yes, in fact, Sarah *does* own the school. She's having a wonderful time as an eighth grader in Advanced Academics, as a Peer Helper at school, playing guitar, doing Girls on Track, and (most recently) being elected the school's Vice President. She rejoined Girl Scouts with her friends, with whom she is surrounded most of her free time. In the summer she had her second mission trip with Jeremiah Project, which she really enjoyed and which has her thinking of going as a counsellor someday.

The theme for the year with David was "adolescence," the one-foot-in-one-foot-out nature of being a high school junior. He earned his driver's permit this year, and is making slow progress in learning to drive--it's just not a huge priority for him to do, which baffles his parents. His burgeoning leadership was recognized in the winter when his Scout troop elected him its Senior Patrol Leader, and he took the first  (quite halting) steps into the world of girls and dating. But by far, his biggest adventures were a weeklong mission trip to Costa Rica in the summer, and beginning the great college hunt--with visits to William and Mary (two stories to tell there), Berkeley, U of Arizona, and his current #1 choice, Arizona State. Where will he end up? Tune in next year!

Mary celebrated her tenth anniversary with American Bankruptcy Institute this year, and accompanied Sarah on her Girl Scout troop's visit to New York City in the fall. Eric remains in Finance Division at the FBI, although at the end of the year is beginning a six-month rotation to work temporarily in Procurement instead of Budget, a new adventure. In the summer, he had a much-appreciated chance to spend a week at Harvard Business School, and is pursuing continuing ed into the new year. He's also still drumming, with Refresh at Sydenstricker UMC as well as with LifeSign at Burke UMC, loving every minute. This year he also began serving as the Chaplain of Boy Scout Troop 688, and will have a chance next summer to take a long walk in the desert with David--they both will be part of a dozen-strong crew hiking Philmont.

As 2014 fades, we hope it's been a good year for you and your family, and we pray for the light of the season to guide you throughout the new year. Join us here throughout 2015 for more of our adventures, and be sure to share your own--and stay in touch! We very much enjoyed the visits we had this year from Courtney, Naomi, Monica, Mom & Dad Tarrier, and many others…come back again!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2015 from us all!

Gift Ideas List 2014

We're getting out in front of the "what do you want for your birthdays and Christmas" conversation by trying to keep the Gift Ideas List current at this time of year. It's also got what Mom has given us for her own wish list. We'll try to flesh out some of the, um, thinner items over the next couple of weeks, but here's some to get you started.

Christmas 2013

We've posted a set of pictures from our Christmas morning adventures; click here or on the link at right, and come see our holiday!

Observations: Christmas 2013

Thoughts that occur to me as Christmas afternoon fades to Christmas evening:

• We've got a good doggie.  When we set up the Christmas tree, there was a momentary look of "these people are insane: they bring a tree inside!"  Apart from that, she's scarcely paid it any attention.  We were careful to put the breakable decorations up high; turns out she really couldn't care less about it.
• We're in kinda a sweet spot for getting up Christmas morning.  The kids are still enough into Christmas that they want to get up early and go see what the presents are.  As teen/pre-teens, though, they're not banging on my head at 5:30 anymore.  I was able to sleep in until after 7:00 this year.  Maybe next year, 7:30?
• We're also really past the whole drama of not having received every single thing on our wish lists. And surprises--like Sarah receiving a recurve bow and some arrows, and David receiving .380 ammo and personal protective gear for shooting--are beginning to be more appreciated.
• I am really just about thisclose to a food coma from the bacon-wrapped roast pork tenderloin (and everything else that was on the dinner table).  That's a lotta pork.
• Between Mary and David, 17 DVD/video-game sized packages were opened.  Mary should be set on her Bond movies for a few hours.  David has already learned how to kill everything in Call of Duty Ghosts…that didn't take long.
• Is it a sign that I'm getting old, when I really do appreciate the oh-so-practical gifts more than the rest?
• All the baking, all the cooking, and despite our best efforts there's still about as much food left as when we started.  I really could have done half the prep and still felt overfull at the end.

Our Christmas Card

This year, we decided to try something new: Instead of mailing several, several dozen Christmas cards and writing a letter, we've gone online.  Welcome our new Christmas card blog, kleppingers2013.blogspot.com, where we've posted up photos, videos, and descriptions of our year--a little bit about each of us, including our furry addition.  Click over to see how our year went, then be sure to return and hit the Subscribe To Us links at the right.

Year-End Gift Lists

The kids have begun their work on updating their gift ideas lists, ahead of Christmas, and Mary and I have too.  We've also added a category for Mom, for those Up North who may want ideas for her for the holidays; as she adds more ideas we'll keep this current.

Reading List for 2013

Each Christmas I get books--and real, physical, dead-tree-editions of them, too.  When clearing out things from under the tree I make a stack of the books next to the Reading Chair, which is the comfy armchair in our bedroom, and start working my way through them.  This year's stack by the Reading Chair was quite high, as I knew I needed to have several things for the Disney Cruise.  I just finished the last of them:

• Janan Ganesh, George Osbourne: Austerity Chancellor.  Was expecting a hack job on the unpopular Chancellor of the Exchequer who is leading the effort to rationalize Britain's debt.  Was pleasantly surprised to see a pretty balanced biography of this young figure.  Enjoyable, but regrettably didn't plow much new ground in the behind-the-scenes aspects of the book.
• Richard Aldous, The Lion and the Unicorn.  Very readable account of the biographies of Gladstone and Disraeli and their bitter struggles for power in 19th-century British politics.  Seemed to be a bit of a fan of Disraeli, yet not overmuch. Was hoping for more examples of their famous biting wit across the despatch boxes, but enjoyed very much all the same.
• Jon Meacham, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power.  Less about political power--its acquisition and exercise--than I had hoped.  An accessible and easy-reading biography of Jefferson, but seemed broader than the subtitle had implied.
• The Portable MBA. I actually had a much earlier edition of this book, but upgraded it and finally read it cover to cover.  Three folks in our Section are taking an MBA course, and I find myself wondering if it makes sense to follow suit, to bolster my credentials for whatever may come after my time in Budget Section.  The book helped by pointing out places I feel comfortable (strategy, marketing) and places I'm not (corporate finance, accounting) and thus places I probably need more exposure to before (if!) investing in another degree.
• Stephen Kendrick, et al., The Resolution For Men. Not all my reading is politics and finance: this was the text that accompanied our men's Bible study group this spring, and which followed from the movie, Courageous, that we all watched at the start of the sessions.  Most men die with regrets about the kind of man they were to their wives and children.  This study calls us to be the kind of men of courage that God expects, and to lead our families appropriately.  Thought-provoking and stirring.
• Frederick Beuchner, The Clown in the Belfry. A gift from my step-brother, who had previously given me another of Beuchner's works of sermons.  His simple, no-nonsense style reminds me of C. S. Lewis, but his connections to New England and Vermont make it all the more like coming home.
• Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies. Yes, my first work of fiction on the list--and actually, I think, the first one on the pile I read.  I had just finished Wolf Hall at the end of 2012, on the recommendation of a senior executive at OMB (long story), and enjoyed it so much I had to jump right into the second in the trilogy.  It did not disappoint: I cannot wait for the third to come out!

Some definite themes in my reading: British history, politics, biography, and Christian growth.  I do seem to be in a zone of reading on those topics between last year and this year; it will be instructive to see what 2014's pile looks like in January.

There is one other work of fiction I read this summer, but (a) it wasn't part of the Christmas pile of books to start the year, and (b) it deserves its own discussion separately.  That would be Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, a subject for another day.

New Pictures Loaded

Just posted up some photos from our Christmas, available by clicking here or on the links bar at the right.  New Uggs, a new pig, and more!