| December 25, 2005
Dear family and friends, It’s been two years since our last Christmas letter, and since it’s Christmas Day, what better time to write one?!? Many things have happened during this time, so hopefully we can catch you up a little if we haven’t been in touch like we ought to be. We hope that you and your family are happy and healthy for the holidays and all of 2006. I guess the best place to start is with weddings. All three of the siblings in Elin’s family are now married. Luke married Jamie Marshall on March 20th, 2004 in a church in Paxton, IL. They live in Brookston, IN, which is close to Lafayette. Luke works at Camp Tecumseh while Jamie is working at a group home for developmentally challenged adults. Shaun married Melissa Maass on September 17th, 2005 on a beach in Michigan near their home in Petoskey. Shaun finished his tour in the Army in December 2003 and is working at Family Video currently. Melissa is employed at Burger King and continues her college work. Elin Ulrich married Matt Cook on September 4th, 2004 at Bridal Cave at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. The wedding was very small with only a few non-family members in attendance. We decided on this location after considering that our families are spread from coast to coast, and figuring it would be easier to “meet in the middle.” The cave also provided the “non-breaking air conditioning” that Matt so strongly suggested. Our 10 day honeymoon was spent in Germany, with a side trip to Austria. We stayed with some of Matt’s Kerschbaum relatives in Rothenberg and toured several castles near Switzerland. This is someplace we definitely need to visit again! We live in Durham, NC, where it’s usually warm and fairly humid outside, but temperature controlled inside our home, cars, and workplaces. Matt is an auto mechanic at Sir Walter Chevrolet during the day, and a rock button craftsman at night. Elin is a research chemist at the Environmental Protection Agency during the day, and a candle lady with PartyLite at night. As for the rest of our families, we’ve been fortunate to be able to see many of our relatives over these two years. Elin attended a scientific conference in Portland in November 2004, so Matt joined her so we could see a majority of Matt’s dad’s side of the family. We were blessed with a visit to Grandpa Don and Grandma Jo, stayed with sister Stephanie and her husband Chris and entertained niece and nephew Addie and Alden. We were able to tour around with dad Steve and wife Glenda and enjoy the sites in Oregon. Grandma Jo passed away early November 2005, so we’re glad for the 2004 visit. We spent time in Denver in August 2005 visiting with Matt’s mom’s family including sister Heidi, Aunt Barb and Uncle Bud, the Steusloff grandparents, mom Susie and significant other Tom. Tom is the one who started the rock button business and spent many hours with Matt in the garage passing along his secrets so that Matt could open an east-coast branch. Elin was able to visit with her mom and grandma in Peoria for almost a week in October 2005. We spent lots of time going through old memories and deciding who they should stay with. Elin also was able to catch up with high school buddy Malou for dinner and spent several hours reminiscing about the “good old days.” During the same trip, Elin attended her 10 year college reunion at Augustana College in Rock Island, and was one of the first visitors at best friend Dawn’s house in Cedar Falls, IA. During our trip to Michigan for Shaun’s wedding, we shared a condo with Elin’s Aunt Sandy and Uncle John who were on a Great Lakes lighthouse road trip. We also spent a few days with Elin’s dad and his wife Mary Catherine touring the Leelanau Peninsula wineries and tromping around Mackinaw Island. This was a pretty special occasion since they live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where it’s too cold and snowy to visit during most of the year. We can’t have a family update without mention of our furry four-legged “child”! Maggie is the cutest dog in the whole wide world (just ask us) and is about 10 years old now (or 70 if you account for the dog years). In the spring of 2005 she was diagnosed with bladder cancer and is being treated with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory that allows her to be a happy dog at home. She is now confined to an area with linoleum and a doggie door when we’re not home to help simplify accident cleanups. Other than being told to go outside all the time, she’s living her normal doggie life, barking at her arch-nemesis the mail truck and every doorbell she hears (including those on TV). She loves mealtime, snuggling on the couch, and tolerates bath time without too much fuss. So surely you’re wondering if there are any pictures of Maggie, our adventures, and all these weddings. OF COURSE THERE ARE! Elin still holds the family record for most pictures taken at a wedding, and rarely leaves to go on a trip without the camera. Visit Elin’s website at http://www.oocities.org/ulrichem/ for links to her photo album’s at the Kodak Easy Share gallery (formerly Ofoto). We love to receive pictures too, so be sure to let us know if you’ve posted any online. We enjoyed all the Christmas greetings full of updates and pictures. We’ve had a few visitors at our house in North Carolina too. Sister Heidi and her fiancé Rob have visited for the last 2 Christmases and will probably continue this trend as his family lives in the state too. We spent time at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, rang in 2005 at Kure Beach (with 70 °F temps), and had some wonderful meals at home and out on the town. Brother Luke and Jamie visited between Thanskgiving and Christmas in 2005 on their way to Florida. We visited a local science museum, went roller skating, and found 3 geocaches (think of a scavenger hunt with a GPS). Best friend Dawn visited in May of 2004 to help find the perfect wedding dress for Elin and to help with planning out the music (the maid of honor has big responsibilities). Sister Stephanie also spent some time in our area while visiting the Durham VA hospital in March 2004. We were all working, but still enjoyed the time together. We continue to stay active in our role playing group which has been together for almost 3 years now. We play Dungeons and Dragons about every other weekend with 6-9 people total. It gives Elin a chance to cook for a large group, and Matt the motivation to stay awake past 9pm. We enjoy hanging out with these folks for other reasons too. One of our recent adventures has been to see the Carolina Rollergirls smash and bash in flat-track roller derby mayhem. You can see Elin, Matt and friend Aron just to the left of the pink stripped helmet and friends Melinda and Abby to the right of the blue player’s behind in this derby photo. We’ve attended two bouts so far, and can’t wait for the next one versus the Minnesota Rollergirls. One of Matt’s fun hobbies is spending time on the “Blue Gorilla” which is an internet forum with most members being GM mechanics. We just received Mojo, the group’s stuffed blue mascot who will spend a few weeks with us having adventures before getting passed to another Gorilla buddy. As you can tell, we keep busy with family and friends, work and play. Of course we’ve left out so many things that have happened in the last two years, but you’ve got to draw a line somewhere (and we’re not novelists)! We hope you’ve enjoyed this little slice of our lives, and that we’ll get to share more with you soon. We send our love and affection all over the globe to reach those we care about. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. With love, Elin, Matt, and Maggie |
