End of December update

Life continues to be rich and full here in Enoughsville, this Christmas season.  Sometimes this time of year can feel like hitting a patch of whitewater on an otherwise tranquil river: we've been paddling along, heading with the current, and then all-of-a-sudden everything is different.  But I mean that in a good way: it's good to wake up to how far we've come, and also to disrupt the everyday just a little bit.  

So here are a few "how far we've come" tidbits.  Inkling, who as we all know is a total theater hound, reports that 2023 has been a banner year:

Inkling's show count: 59 different live performances plus 25 repeats!

I have had one paper (accepted last year) come out, another accepted that will come out next year.  The mathematics publication timeline is much slower than in many other academic professions, so speedy responses or turnarounds is rare, but both of these papers had fast reviews and even faster revision processes, which is lovely.  Here's the letter I got from an editor earlier this week from a revision I submitted last week: 

"Thanks for sending this final version of your paper, which I will be happy to publish in [the journal].  I will be in touch if any issues arise during production."

Wonderful!!!!

My guy has gone far this year, in the literal sense.  He's been to a dozen countries (so many countries!) on three different continents.  The Tuesday before Christmas, for example, I got this snippet of email:

Taxiing in Malaysia.   

Turkey in 11 hours.  

See you Thursday.   

For those of you keeping track, this brings his lifetime total up to 58 countries, 41 of which he has biked in.

As a mostly-stay-at-homebody this past month, I instead reveled in people.  Getting ready for Christmas, seeing all the peeps, was a joy.  This year, I continued the tradition of preparing marzipan decorations with family . . . and then continued the tradition (whoops!) of forgetting to bring out the marzipan on Christmas day.  But look at this collection of adorable marzipan thingies with eyeballs!

Inkling and I did the colored ones. 
B-child mashes all of her thingies flat, like cookies.

And of course the best part of the season is seeing friends and family.  I don't at all take this for granted; I have a good friend whose son was in the hospital on Christmas, another good friend who is spending her second Christmas as a widow, and others who are estranged from their families.  For all those reasons and many more, I'm so glad that I get to be with people who make me feel grounded and whole, who remind me of who I am, where I come from, and where I want to go.  

My dad and his wife did an amazing job
(as always) of decorating their home
and opening it up to many people.

My sister brought a bunch of meals for us to eat. 
Her husband brought me two pieces of drywall to fix the hole in my ceiling!

Somehow my youngest sister escaped all my photos.  But I snagged her daughter sitting with many of my kids, blending right in!

Inkling, Anika, Kiersten, Bchild, Cchild, David, and A-child.

And here are a few more photos sent my way from my offspring.  

Sizzling and her husband,
dancing to Footloose in Singapore.

Christmas dogs, courtesy of Gosling

Gosling and Santa at work.

David, Kinderling, and my three grandchildren.

Nelson and T, in front of a beautiful tree.

So happy!

And that's the end-of-2023 news from our family, which continues to be wealthy in our adventures.  May you and yours be similarly prosperous!