Greetings everyone on this last day of 2022. This year has absolutely flown by! Though we spent the vast majority of it at home, we had a productive year and are grateful for all our blessings.

We welcomed McAlister's daughter Meridith for McAlister's birthday weekend in January and again for a week in July. Meridith continues her work as Assistant Director of Mental Health Initiatives and Inclusion for students at the University of California at Santa Barbara. For the last 10 years she has been sought out as a speaker and thought leader on maternity and motherhood with a multicultural community clinical emphasis, so Meridith and Jocelyn put together a new website to increase Meridith's visibility in her work. Check it out at www.meridithmerchant.com.

Starting in February, we welcomed our eldest godson Dominic Mein, who stayed with us for a few months while reestablishing himself in Seattle where he was born and raised. His parents had moved to Sedona, Arizona, so we were happy to have Dominic with us while he found work as a tutor through a local company. Now that Dominic is happily ensconced in Seattle, we get to see him every other month or so for dinner. Dominic is happy and enthusiastic in his work and we couldn't be prouder.

Things got pretty interesting when the local power company, Puget Sound Energy (PSE), began replacing old high-tension wiring in the right-of-way next to our house with even taller towers. So as not to utterly destroy the land beneath the high wires, they first laid down giant steel and wood pallets over which the heavy machinery could move. Every time one of the big machines would roll by, it sounded like the Jolly Green Giant rumbling across the land. It was an exciting and distracting front-row seat to the literally high-wire action, especially one day during a Zoom call Jocelyn looked up to see two men in a bucket truck looking down into her office.

In August Jocelyn traveled to Rockford, Illinois for an impromptu family reunion on the Carlson side (her maternal relatives). Originally a business trip planned for November 2021, she rescheduled the trip twice, ultimately choosing a random weekend in August to go see her sister Melody and brother Joel. Word got out to the other cousins, and Melody and Joel rented a whole-house AirBnB to host the event. Jocelyn's other brother Mark (from Maine) decided to attend as well, and when all was said and done, we had 10 of the 12 cousins in person. The other cousins and spouses joined via Zoom for a 2-hour call. It was such a blessing to get together and tell stories, and hug and laugh a lot.

In September we celebrated 25 years of ownership of our house. In gratitude, our house happily absorbed our discretionary funds for projects like refurbishment of the balcony, tweaks to the deck, and a new water heater. But our biggest decision has yet to come to fruition: solar panels! Having replaced the original cedar shake roof in 2021 with rubberized shingles, we now have a suitable foundation for panels to be installed. With the assistance of a federal program, we will be able to acquire the solar panels with no money out-of-pocket. But with the wide public demand came delays, and our December 26th installation has been postponed. Nevertheless, we are excited to be able to offset our electrical costs, and our tech gadgets of all sizes are going to have all the power they need. And yes, whatever we don't use can be sold back to PSE.

December brought a visit from Jocelyn's niece Kendra (center) and her husband Daniel, who are professors at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico. We were joined by Kendra's maid-of-honor Kyla (left), who attended church with us. Twice a year, Jocelyn's church (Bellevue Presbyterian, www.belpres.org) has a sacred concert during the church services, frequently with choral music, a small orchestra, and Scripture readings. This year they did about two-thirds of the Messiah in one of the most stunning performances Jocelyn says she had ever heard. Kendra, also a musician, and Jocelyn were wide-eyed when the countertenor stepped up to sing "For he is like a refiner's fire" in a spot-on performance of the aria. You can check out the whole concert here. Lunch and dessert at Pogacha (Croatian/Italian cuisine), rounded out the visit, along with laughter and stories.

McAlister has been working on smaller projects in his studio, experimenting with color and kiln-casting durations (for example, will a longer kiln process enable less post-casting cold work?). He's been joining regular Zoom calls with fellow sculptors from the Oregon-based Pacific Northwest Sculptors group, and even took a painting class via Zoom. Despite COVID catching up with him in September (beaten back with sleep and Paxlovid), he remains healthy and busy in his studio. We do escape weekly for errands and breakfast out-and-about, masking up for safety.

Jocelyn continues working from home as a Senior Technical Scrum Master on contract, which means she tries to herd cats, namely software developers. She plied her trade at 3 different companies this year, Expedia.com, Boeing, and now Expeditors. At Expeditors, she's working in a new startup-style group of 35 people, setting up processes and trying to get everyone to the finish line at the same time.

December brought significant snow, complicating but not completely preventing travel up and down our hill. Rain shortly thereafter melted everything, and we are relieved! We are so glad to receive your holiday cards and emails. Thank you for keeping us in your world. We hope you enjoyed catching up with us as well.