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  Christmas
"Tradition" at SPU
Each December, the students of SPU
celebrate Tradition. It's on Friday night
before final exams, the 2nd this year The students
don their holiday attire and fill The Loop with food,
games, music, stories, carriage rides, holiday
decorations, and more.
Jean's dorm (Moyer) faces the loop
and Nathanael's apartment (Bailey) is only a block south
of The Loop.
Some years the SBE Christmas party
falls on the same evening, but not so this year.
And there was no BCS wrestling on December 9th. So
I once again created and led the SBE holiday trivia
game. I took it easy on myself and created it in
PowerPoint instead of as a web-based game.
Twenty-five questions on "2011 Events", "Football",
"Christmas Movies", "Washington State", and "SBE Trivia"
made for a quick and well-received game.
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7565 46th Ave SW Goes on the Market
A flurry of activity in early
December and 7565 was "staged" and made ready for the
market. Our realtor assumed he would hire a
photographer to shoot the house for the marketing
materials. I asked if I could do the job (saving
the realtor some expense) and Don (brother and Executor)
backed me up, calling me a "professional photographer."
And I must admit, my efforts were on a par with any pro,
except perhaps an expensive 16mm lens would have been
better than my 18mm ones. I used both of my D300s and
here are the results.
The home went on the market on
December 11th and within a week we got our first (and so
far only) offer. A school teacher on Vashon Island
wants to move to the Fauntleroy area. The buyer's
inspection turned up some issues, especially with the
attic/roof and price negotiations continue at the end of
December. But I expect the sale to close in early
January. Where will we find room for the beds and
dressers!?
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Jeannie Beth at 19
Jean is very happy at SPU. He
first quarter grades were as good as what she earned at
SPU. She'll continue with the same series of
courses winter quarter: Computer Science, French,
University Scholars, and Women's Choir.
She brought her big computer home
for the holidays and since she couldn't get the wireless
Internet to connect, I got her a
through-the-house-wiring Ethernet connection for her
birthday.
She's talking about trying out for a
spring play at SPU and hopes to try out for the
Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan
Society production of Iolanthe. I
know she would make a wonderful fairy.
She spends lots of time planning her
academic campaign. But it will be a while, I'm
thinking, before she settles on a major and minor.
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Kathy Stegman, Dr. Kim Sawers, Dr. Ross
Stewart, Lindsey Peterson
Lindsey
Peterson Moves On
The Accounting
faculty have made a Christmas tradition
of taking the SBE staff out to lunch.
It will be the last time for Lindsey
Peterson. Lindsey moves on to
another position at SPU in January.
We've hired Deb Schleusener from Iowa
(via Fuller Theological Seminary and
Seattle University) to replace her.
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Not Like the Old SBE
Our annual Christmas
staff Chinese lunch and white elephant
gift swap at China Harbor included ten
this year. With the addition of
Tom Lane and Daniel Hallak our staff is
more male than female. I recall
the old days when I was just "one of the
girls." It was my own joke,
otherwise I might have been offended.
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The Sleight
Christmas Party at Don and Judy's
 
Without our parents this year, the
annual family Christmas party was
different than in past years. Jon,
Chris, and Debbie all brought their
families and we had a good crowd.
But there were no Christmas carols to
end the festivities. Randy, Susan,
Ginger, and my four were there. No
doubt Annie and Thomas were there in
spirit.
Lance Ellis told the tale of how his car
was broken into and trumpets and his
school laptop were stolen. But he
spotted the trumpets on Craig's List and
helped set up a police sting that
reunited him with his treasures. "My
cell battery is dying, can you text my
wife?" And he passed the young
crooks off to the police cell phone
number.
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 Christmas
Day
On Christmas Eve we attended
two different services at UPC. The
tradition of going to visit my parents in West
Seattle died a natural death.
For the first time in ages
Nathanael did not sleep in front of the
Christmas Tree so Santa was able to stop by
earlier and fill the stockings. The family
was proud of me for limiting the number of
gifts, something I'd begun somewhat last year.
We went to UPC again at 10:00 a.m. on Christmas
Day since it fell on a Sunday this year.
Back home, Randy arrived
before we got back from UPC. Breakfast,
more presents, and a game of Monopoly occupied
us until it was time to go to Susan's for dinner
(right).
Nancy got me some knit
gloves (I'm still hoping for a snowy January)
and wrapped a shirt and tie I'd gotten for
myself. Everyone seemed happy with Santa's
work this year.
Nathanael topped the big
cedar tree in the north yard that is due to come
down this coming summer. It went up just
before Christmas ― with no lights since it's
flammable cedar.
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Allan Rutherford Hollis Dies in Oakland,
California, age 65
Nancy comes from a small
family, so when we learned that her cousin Allan
Hollis had passed away, (via a cell phone call
to Susan during the Sleight Christmas party), we
were sad. Allan had been battling
emphysema for a number of years and he'd been
admitted to Alta Bates Hospital in Oakland,
where he also worked, for two weeks. Allan
was a lawyer and the younger brother to Rob
Hollis. Allan and Robert Wood Hollis III
were the sons of Robert Wood Hollis, Jr. ("Uncle
Bob") and Aunt Dorothy. Dorothy was
Nancy's Dad's older sister.
Nancy and I visited Allan on
our rare trips to visit Uncle Bob in Orinda, CA.
I recall especially that I leaned to love Mu Shu
pork when Allan took Nancy and I to a Chinese
restaurant in San Francisco's China Town.
Bob and Allan attended
Annie's wedding but we were not aware of Allan's
struggles at that time. I took this
photo of Allan at Ginger's 89th birthday party
in July. Bob has asked to use it with
Allan's obituary. Everybody seems to have
a camera these days but few use them on every
occasion.
It is likely that Susan,
Ginger, and Nancy will travel to California for
a February memorial service.
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 Bits and Pieces
Nathanael wrapped
up his Cross Country career at the annual team
dinner this month. Here a teammate
presents him with his "paper plate award."
On
Saturdays,
we finished II Thessalonians and
covered Psalms 82-87 before our two week holiday
break. We will cover the Prophet Joel in
January.
I took
Mom's recliner chair to my office. It
gives the space a much less sterile feel.
In place of my wedding
ring or silver rings, I've been wearing the
silver ring with a large ruby that Dad bought in
Japan when he was stationed there just after WW
II. It is one item I knew he had intended
for me since he had me try it on last year.
I'm reading Seth Hunter's
The Time of Terror this month. It
is an "adequate" read in my favored genre.
I started it since it promises to lead into a
series.
My Christmas break is
taken up with walking, sorting through mostly
junk from West Seattle, videos from the library,
and sleeping in.
I limited my sports
photography to one event in December, the
As Iron Sharpens Iron
tournament at BCS. |
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A Surprise!
