Merry Christmas

We are in Germany and get our presents tonight. Despite travel restrictions we managed to get 11 people together and celebrate Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to all and a blessed new year.

Christmas on Zoom again

We came to Germany to celebrate Christmas with the family. Unfortunately the Omikron variant is making life difficult. The children and grandchildren are not allowed to travel from the UK to Germany as of tomorrow, and travel from the US is also uncertain. We rented an apartment in Siegelbach with 5 bedrooms and a very large dining table, which seems a bit empty now. Fortunately, there should be enough local relatives to fill all the seats at the table, and celebrate on Zoom with the others. Like every year?

Bernice Snook, 1928 – 2021

Sadly, after a very short illness, Sheila´s 93-year-old mother died of cancer on 9th December. She spent the final week of her life in a hospice, where she received kind and gentle care. Both of her brothers, our sister-in-law, and two grandchildren were with Mom when she passed away. Sheila was able to speak to her by phone a couple of hours before she passed, as were our daughters. Mom was too weak to speak, but Sheila´s brother told us that she smiled as we were speaking to her.

Hamburg

Sheila and I spent the last 10 days in Hamburg as I had to undergo some cancer surgery at the Martini Klinik here. It all went well, but I will take a few weeks to recover fully. For the anaesthesia I had to shave my beard, which is growing back nicely. From all we know, the stuff the surgeon took out is fortunately very unlikely to grow back.

The weather has been cold, grey and wet. Today it got quite windy. Both of us look forward to going back to Mallorca tomorrow to enjoy some sunshine.

Pfälzer Wald

We came to Siegelbach to visit my parents two days ago. The weather is very pleasant fall weather and we took a nice walk in the woods today and are enjoying the time with family.

Birthday in Covid times

I am back in Vancouver for a week to see Sheila and help with her mother’s move. Today we celebrated my birthday on our balcony, well socially distanced from anybody. The weather continues to be very nice and we are enjoying the summer.

Vancouver

I am spending a few days in Vancouver with Sheila. The weather is warm and sunny, and the beaches are quite busy. Sheila’s mother is staying with us while her new apartment is being renovated. Last night we went out for a nice dinner at the Silvia Hotel around the corner from us.

Eltville

We are spending a few days in Germany and took my parents for an excursion to Eltville, a cute little town on the Rhine. I had organized this to spend time with Heidi, but she fell off a horse on Thursday and could not come. Bärbel and Siegbert joined us and we spent a nice evening with a good dinner and a quiet night in this medieval town.

Eltville has many houses from the middle ages

Breakfast before leaving again

Merry Christmas, Frohe Weihnachten

Christmas: Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Cor 9:15)
Weihnachten: Gott aber sei Dank für seine unaussprechliche Gabe! (2 Kor 9:15)

We are very grateful for another good year with lots of time spent with family and friends in Canada, the Caribbean and Europe. We wish you all a joyful Christmas and a blessed year 2020.

Wir sind sehr dankbar für ein weiteres gutes Jahr in dem wir viel Zeit mit Freunden und Familie in Kanada, der Karibik und Europa verbringren konnten. Wir wünschen Euch frohe Weihnachten und ein gesegnetes Jahr 2020.

Reinhard & Sheila

Manchester

I flew to London yesterday, went out with Andrea and today we came to Manchester to meet up with Sheila and Jessica and her family. We spent the afternoon in a museum, a Christmas market and a great family restaurant. Great fun!