Greetings and Welcome Family and Friends,
To this my 30th edition of the revelations
of surviving yet another year in the Tidwell clan’s topsy turvy life. While
letters stuffed in Christmas envelopes has become passé so I hear (a word I
relied on Word to spell for me) I care not and plan on getting my money’s worth
out of the USPS postage for a card. So settle in, bring the little ones close
and read of much joy and happiness. This means I will NOT bring up ANY politics
in my recitation to you….. you're welcome!
I consider this to be a momentous year for
many reasons, several marriages, another young one added to the fold, and
family moving back closer to the Tidwell Forest as we now call it. And the
little item of being on Medicare and arriving at retirement finally. Susan got
there first and I am bringing up the rear….as always.
Let’s cover the year lineal, seems appropriate.
My Granddaughter Sarah and her lifetime Love Matt graced us with having their
wedding at the Tidwell
Forest Water
Falls and reception
at our house back in April. The event went off flawlessly and looked like it
was in the class of any of the celebrity weddings I have ever seen lauded on
TV, less the press and helicopters and drama….
June arrived and Allison and Kyle brought
a wood toter into the family named Maverick. He looks a LOT like Charlie Brown
and Allison has even done a Christmas pic of him holding his little tree. But I
see in him much potential to inherit sawdust in his blood and be someone in the
not too distant future sharing my shop with me. To say we are pleased at his
addition…..well you know….And to say he gets along well with our other great
grandchild Lilly would be so true….they are two peas in a pod
together.
Now on to September and Carrie somehow
cajoled Daniel into a wedding in the woods of the Sawtooth
Mountains of Idaho . As much as we all wanted to
drive/hitch hike out there to see them hitched, we decided to just wait for the
videos and pics…..plus we weren’t invited ….shewwwww! Their wedding also went off well and the wait
for the video was well worth it, and the end result of adding more labor to my
workforce…..woohoooo! I just need a crew of 5 again to restart my log home
business and I am getting sooooooo close. Little snag of me being 66 now
instead of 36….oh well.
About midyear some talk started about adding
some acreage to the Tidwell forest, a new driveway to the highway and a house
being built. Lo and behold the talk turned to actions and as I type the
finishing touches on grandson Kyle and Allison’s house are occurring and they
are about to move into that house and be our neighbors. This is great as now
the tax assessors have a distraction when coming to look at my poor very
old house…barely worth taxing in my opinion when you have a nice shiny new
house next door…..just sayin….
Our granddaughter Racheal and Isaiah are
still working and stretching their wings and raising a beautiful daughter Lilly
who we Love dearly. She has brought much joy to all our family.
Madison, the world traveler is still stretching
her eagle wings and starting to narrow down on what she deems life
worthy, and we all vicariously live through her adventures. We love what she
does and her for being her.
Melissa and Keith are about to be lone nesters
again when Allison and Kyle move into their new house, but somehow I think life
will still move at a rapid pace there, as they are finding much joy in their expanding
roles as grandparents. They are doing GREAT in that role…no surprise.
As for Susan and I, we just are loving
life and the expectations for our new life this coming year as being retired.
We have some trips planned and YOU our friends and family are included in those
trips….we will give you some notice before pulling up like Uncle Eddie in the
Griswolds but some similarities may exist….we do have a camper…..so….you’ve
been warned….
We would love to hear from all y'all, so
if you can scrape the stamp off this envelope, scribble some lines and send us
a letter, would love to share in your families lives….. consider it pay back
for having to read about all my clan for these 30 years……or stuff the letter in
this envelope, reseal it and write “return to sender” and put it back in mail
box……might work…..You know how “frugal” I am…. superintendent trait….
Love all y'all!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM
THE TIDWELLS
