BANNER - Bellevue 2008
The Journal of Dr. Richard L. Sleight
 December 2015
 
 
           

A Family Christmas

Nancy flew to L.A. on December 2nd and stayed at Jean's apartment until they drove north, mostly up the coast on Highway 101.  Having Jean home makes the season feel complete.  The picture at the left was taken on the 9th and I ordered 150 4"x6" COSTCO prints for Susan.  She has a lot of friends and professional connections.  Let's hear it for cameras with timers in them.

On the 18th, Cynthia Eby, took the train up to Seattle.  And on Christmas day, she and Nathanael rode with Annie and Thomas down to Oregon.  They were dropped off in Aloha while Annie and Thomas drove on to Dallas, OR.  We expect three of them back on the 1st.

Nancy got me ceramic coated frying pans and a number of "aspirational" dress shirts (since many of them were smaller than I wear now).  But New Year's resolution season starts tomorrow.  Alas, I am at 196.5 as 2015 ends.  I have learned to limit my Christmas shopping, much approved by my family. 

Christmas this year had some unique features.  The tree was another huge one topped from the Douglas Fir outside our front door.  Santa filled stockings while Nate and Cynthia attended the Sacred Heart Catholic service late on Christmas Eve.  And omelets and waffles were served at Susan's on Christmas morning so the kids could get to Oregon later in the day.

Naji Abi-Hashem, a family friend and missionary from Lebanon, joined us.

 

Cynthia loves to sing and she's found a family that loves to join in. 

 

Susan joined in on her violin.  She is the family virtuoso.

  

Susan's home is always ready to welcome a crowd.

  

Ginger's degree was in pre-med, but she worked as a school teacher like Annie.
 

If a fox is involved, it's for Thomas.

  

Cynthia fit in nicely and made Nate's Christmas complete.

  

Jean was happy to be home. 
The Cats Rule the House
  
On New Year's Eve, Nancy came home with yet another scratching post for the cats.  She does it in the hope of protecting her furniture.  I did my part, buying Pearl a new litter scoop! 

Shadow here likes to sleep beside me, face to face.  If I roll over (because her whiskers tickle), she'll get up and walk over me to get in  my face again.  She's heavy!		    

Baking Begins the Holidays

This is one tradition I am likely to keep until the end. 
I took off Friday the 18th to bake cookies.

Two triple batches of chocolate chip cookies took four hours to bake.  A triple batch of Oatmeal Scotchies was added for the girls, and a double batch of chocolate chip cookies followed after Christmas for the James family who came to visit. 

Randy passed on a third cookie sheet so I can now get 48 cookies in the oven at one time.  (He reports a possible move to Lake Stevens in the new year.)

I traded my traditional "Graham Kerr" dress-up style for camo this year.

One genius bit of Nancy's house design was the huge kitchen, arranged so that the chef at the stove can watch the TV or whatever else is going on in the family room. 

Nancy was happy that the Christmas cactus bloomed during the holidays this year.

 
Bits and Pieces

♦  At the final count, 84 percent of my autumn BUS 1700 students passed my class.  My blind student made a perfect score on the special test I prepared for her, even catching my one typo.  Five of 37 students received NC (no credit) grades and one who had been ill was graded N (in progress.)  I was anxious about the new format of "my" course at the start of the term, but I'm excited to get back to it in January.  I've even scheduled a section in summer 2016 and two in winter 2017.

♦  I was asked if I could suggest a student who could tutor Scott Cummins in Excel.  Scott and his wife Kathleen are strong supporters of our business school's Social Venture Plan Competition each April.  But I could not imagine asking a student on their Christmas break to take this on.  So I tutored Scott on three days this month.  I'm not sure how much he retained, but he was delighted with my help. 

When our last session concluded on the 28th, we chatted and he finally figured out where he had first met me.  He was a camper at Camp Parsons in 1973-1975 when I was on the staff there.


♦  Jean got home in time for us to celebrate her 23rd birthday.  It's just easier to have parties at Susan's house. 

 

 



My Quotes from December
 
"Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character."
 — Calvin Coolidge
 
“Jews have God's promise and if we Christians have it, too, then it is only as those chosen with them, as guests in their house, that we are new wood grafted onto their tree.”
— Karl Barth

"Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work."
— Peter Drucker

 

“In business 'professionalism' is not a tactic but a moral value.”
― Amit Kalantri
 
“In 1945, the world was in a shambles.

American companies had no competition.

So nobody really thought much about quality. Why should they?
The world bought everything America produced.

It was a prescription for disaster.”
— W. Edwards Deming

Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store.
— Dr. Seuss

As the editor of my own little undergraduate newsletter, with a weekly circulation near 700, I have taken the editorial license to select a quote related to some item in the eNews to conclude each edition.  I get good reviews for these.  Here are the five from the November editions, and the one from December.

 

 
   
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