Galen Ezra Sitte is
Baptized on the 17th

Galen was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit at Cornerstone United Methodist Church in Covington.  He did not cry or flinch at his drenching.

Nancy and I drove down on the 17th to join the Sittes at the 10:00 AM service.  I was surprised to see Jean participating as a singer with the worship music team.

Pastor Cecilia Comer preached a sermon on
"Joy" based on 1 Peter 1a-6, 8-9.

On this third Sunday in Advent, Jean and Joel also were introduced as new
members of this congregation.  Their new church home is just four driving miles
from their home on the opposite side of Covington.

After the service, I enjoyed feeding Galen bites of COSTCO sheet cake being served in the narthex in his honor and in honor of the four new members added to the congregation that morning.

UW Huskies are Undefeated 2023 PAC-12 Champions — Washington 34 Oregon 31

Even though our Washington Huskies came into the PAC-12 

	Record	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Washington Huskies	13-0	10	10	0	14	34
Oregon Ducks	11-2	0	10	14	7	31

championship game on December 1st in Las Vegas with a perfect 12-0 record and ranked #3 in the nation, the #5 Oregon Ducks were favored by 9.5 points.  The Dawgs apparently relished those underdog expectations.  They overcame Oregon 34-31.  The UW had handed OU
their only other loss 36-33 back on October 14th. 

West Seattle Monogram Club
Remembers December 7, 1941

Good news, bad news.  I had hoped that more of my classmates from the West Seattle class of '73 would show up at the Monogram Club luncheon.  When forty percent of those attending turned out to be from my class, I was pleased.  Alas, only nine men and one woman (Nancy) made it to the event.  Randy Wagers and Russ Schriock from the '73 wrestling team joined Nancy and myself.  The theme of the luncheon was to remember and celebrate club members who had served in the military, seeing as how we were meeting on December 7th.

We learned that Club President Ted Foss '55 had been in the Marine Corps.  He generously paid for all our meals, sparkling cider, and two festive cakes for desert.  I took the annual group photo, but again this year, the attendance fell still lower.

I told about our dad at
Boeing and how he had joined the Army in 1945.  He was at Camp Roberts in California for Basic Training when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan.  (The camp was built in 1940, as a World War II training center.  It housed 45,000 troops when dad was there.)  I also told the story of Marine Corps Major Bob Rutherford from his time on the UW Husky crew until he married Navy WAVE Grace Virginia "Ginger" Uhthoff, the 1944 National Women's Collegiate Fencing Champion.  (WAVES: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.)

Pictured here with Randy and myself are Russ Schriock and Randy Wagers. Russ and I were friends perhaps because he also had a twin sister, Wendi.  She was our class rep to the alumni association for many years.  Randy Wagers and I were active in intermural sports at Madison Junior High.  I well recall that he beat me in wrestling in junior high, but he was in a higher weight class.  I was with both of these classmates early in the summer just after 9th grade.  We were playing a version of a hitting and catching baseball game at West Seattle stadium near the golf course when I had an accident that landed me in West Seattle General Hospital.  I'd managed to crash a tetherball pole into my forehead when I tried to stand it up.  Alas, I succeeded.  The pole was sunk in a tire filled with cement.  With blood everywhere, I was nearly a Darwin Award winner.

Retirement Finances

It's the end of the year and time to look ahead to financial matters. 

First up in 2024 will be the cashing in of the Series EE Savings Bonds I received from dad.  Their actual value at their date of issue in 1992 was $7,500.  (Their "face value" was $15,000.)  They stopped earning interest in February of this year.  I waited to cash them until 2024 so as not to increase our income and thereby jeopardize the opportunity to obtain a significant Senior Property Tax exemption.  These bonds are now valued at $31,104.  This windfall will go to Susan to significantly reduce the loan we received from her at the long-tern AFR (applicable federal rate of 4.11%) which we used to pay Valentine Roofing this month.

On December 27th I l signed up to begin receiving my Social Security income in February at age 69.  I am told I will receive $3,344 monthly, less deductions for Medicare and whatever else.

I will also contact TIAA and likely begin to draw down one or more of the three accounts I have with them.  My accounts at Transamerica have earned nearly 12% year-to-date.  But the accounts at TIAA, being conservative "guaranteed" accounts, have been growing at just under 5%.  Many of these accounts require that I begin to take minimum distributions in 2027.  It'll mean paying higher income taxes now so that they won't be so high later.

My few stocks (ERIC, MMM) have not fared well recently, but they are strong companies that I can afford to hold long term.  I also am holding two funds, about $16,400 of VYM (VANGUARD HIGH DIVIDEND YIELD ETF) and $17,000 of SWPPX (SCHWAB S&P 500 INDEX).  I've continued to monitor other stocks.  Nokia was trading around $5.00 a share back in April but has declined to around $3.00 a share this month.  It hit a low of $2.94/share on December 5th.  That's a huge one-year decline.  So, following the late Louis Rukeyser's rule of "buy lower, sell higher," I bought 6000 shares of Nokia on December 11th at $3.14 per share for $18,840.   By the end of the month it was trading at $3.42.

 
December Birthdays Celebrated

December is birthday month around here.  We celebrated all these birthdays on Sunday the 10th.   In order, these birthdays are: Charis (6th), Cousin Bob Hollis (7th), Jean Sitte (9th), Rowen Pastrick (11th), Julie Adams (12th), and Valerie (19th).

Charis and Valerie got their own smaller celebrations on the 6th and 19th, but I reserved their best presents for the 25th.

Galen was not feeling well, so this event included equal numbers of adults and kids for the first time.  Nobody could keep track of all nine kids at the same time. 

Toward the end of the party, I fell asleep on the big sleeping pad in the Great Room.  I was oblivious to the Pastricks leaving.  Folks just let Grandpa nap.

Valerie Turns Three

Valerie had her first party on the 10th with the rest of the folks who celebrated December birthdays.  Her second birthday party, just six days short of Christmas Day, was enjoyed on the 19th.

She and Charis are big fans of Disney's Frozen.  Valerie's big present was a play set of characters from Frozen II.  Both movies are available on Disney+ so I've watched them with the girls multiple times.

Christmas Eve at Susan's

The Dishers and Pastricks did not make it to Susan's on Christmas Eve,  I took the Disher's presents for others to the party, and Randy drove the Pastrick's gifts back to them in Lake Stevens.

Julie Adams brought another sweet Yule Log cake and Susan prepared roast pork and other dishes.  Jean brought her stuffing and Georgia brought her home-made bread.

Christmas Day at the Big Blue House

For once, we didn't have plans to leave the house on Christmas Day. 

"Santa" tried waking up the family at 8:32 AM but this was promptly objected to by Mrs. Claus.  Stockings were opened sometime after nine.

I was surprised by my presents.  I knew that Susan had given me a book, but when I discovered it was The Babylon Bee Guide to Wokeness, I was delighted.  Annie and Thomas got me a flag.  It was red, white, and blue and at first I mistook it for a U.S. flag.  When I saw that it was Great Britain's Union Jack, I declared it the best gift of the season.

 Nancy kept up the tradition from my youth of getting "dad" a piece of maple sugar candy.  She got me three pounds of maple flavored Spam!

Later in the day Randy, and then Julie Adams, dropped by.

Grandkids Corner  

Irene started walking, it seemed, last month.  But, except for a few attempts, she has reverted to crawling.  But if one doesn't keep a sharp eye on her, she'll quickly be two rooms away or halfway up the oak stairway.

Charis went to a one-day cheerleading camp at SCS, but since she was home sick a few days, she opted to watch instead of perform when they did their routines at school.  When she came home, she showed off her new talent with great spirit.

It seems it's been two full months of temperatures and runny noses for the Disher girls.  Annie was prepared to take Valerie back to the pediatrician, but her temperature came back to normal just as Charis got sick again.  And Irene's nose has continued to run.  On the eve of Christmas Eve, we learned that both Charis and Irene had Influenza A.  No doubt Nancy had it as well.

Galen is so happy to see me when I come and tears up when I leave.  I fed him his mac and cheese dinner on the 21st while Joel was working on a project in the basement and Jean was off at worship team practice.  We played games together on my phone.

Bits and Pieces 

A high fever took the wiggle right out of Irene the week before Christmas.  As much as I love holding her as she sleeps, I find her hot skin a prompt for prayer. 

I thought I would avoid the series of December illnesses that had struck everyone else in the house.  But on Christmas Eve I had a bout of diarrhea at Susan's party, and by Christmas night I had a headache and a temperature of 100.4.  I slept most of Boxing Day.  Perhaps getting the flu shot only lessened the severity of this bug.

We continued the tradition of allowing the kids to open one present on Christmas Eve.  Afterwards, the Dishers watched the start of one of our family favorites, The Court Jester, on YouTube.  
 

My Quote from December

The learning of the Christian man ought to begin with the fear of God.

There was never anything so well devised by men which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted.

Consider diligently these words, without works, by faith only, freely we receive remission of our sins. What can be spoken more plainly, than to say, that freely without works, by faith only, we obtain remission of our sins?

At his execution:  “And now I come to the great thing which so much troubles my conscience, more than any thing that ever I did or said in my whole life, and that is the setting abroad of a writing contrary to the truth, which now here I renounce and refuse, as things written with my hand contrary to the truth which I thought in my heart, and written for fear of death, and to save my life, if it might be. . . . And forasmuch as my hand hath offended, writing contrary to my heart, therefore my hand shall first be punished; for when I come to the fire it shall first be burned.
 
“And as for the pope, I refuse him as Christ’s enemy, and Antichrist, with all his false doctrine.”

Quotes from Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (1489 - 1556)