Christmas letter 2010

WHAT?? No! It can’t be!! It’s too early!!!

Anyway, in case we forget to say it..............Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year for 2011!!

This year has been a whirlwind!! Those of you who have followed our adventures through our blog http://santaandthewrangler.blogspot.com/ know that we spent last November/December in Fresno California.

Ross was Santa at Fashion Fair Mall and Ed looked after the puppies, took calls and emails from his clients and CRA, visited the local gym, and spent a lot of time driving between here there and everywhere. Suffice it to say, Mall Management must have liked Ross as he is going back to the same mall this year. We have found a RV park much closer to the mall for this year so time and money will be saved (we hope).

On December 23 our friend Marg McLellan arrived at our motor home and stayed with us until December 27. The Christmas dinner we had at Erna’s Elderberry House http://www.elderberryhouse.com/eehMenu.html was outstanding – one of the best (if not the very best) meals we have ever had...........we are planning our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners there this year!!!

On December 28 we took off for Quartzsite Arizona to meet up with a couple of Ross’ Santa buddies. We had only planned to stay a week or so as we didn’t know if we would like the dry camping (camping in the motor home with no facilities to hook up – water, sewer, power) but with a lot of help from Santa Bruce and Santa Buck we discovered dry camping can actually be fun. So much so that we stayed in Quartzsite for about 5½ weeks then moved off with the other Santas to Yuma and onto Holtville CA. Other Santa friends joined us at various time throughout our stay. Those were fun times that we are hoping to repeat again this year. There is something about sitting around a campfire under the starlit sky with 7 Santas – eerie, yet absolutely magical.

We then slowly made our way home through Joshua Tree and Death Valley with stops at every place that had hot springs!!

We got home just in time for tax time to hit with a vengeance. Ed’s business has taken off in leaps and bounds. He has several clients that keep referring him to their friends and neighbours so that kept him (with Ross’ help) very busy for most of the year!! Be careful what you wish for!!

At the same time Ross went into rehearsal for an English murder mystery. It’s the first time in many years he has been on that side of the footlights and loved every minute of it. Ed on the other hand is becoming well known for his publicity management and he is the PR person for two theatre companies at the moment – as if he needed anymore work!!

In mid-April we welcomed Carolyn (Ed’s daughter), her husband Alex, and their little one Emily to Canada. We took the motor home down to Burnaby and parked it so they had a place to stay while looking for a job and an apartment/town home.

Carolyn now is working for a high-tech firm and they have found an apartment about 2 blocks away. Emily is in a Montessori – style preschool/daycare and Alex is picking up work (construction) where he can find it. They come up to see us whenever they have the chance and Emily is growing like a weed, has four teeth and is walking better each day but still not able to say “Grandpa Ed.” We were thrilled to host her first birthday party on July 30.

As summer started we were again busy at the Westbank Yacht Club – cooking dinners for up to 150 and socializing with the members. There is a group of us who cook up a feast two or three times a year and we all have way too much fun!!

Starting in July we began rehearsals for “Sylvia” – Ed directing and Ross producing. We opened Sept 9 to rave reviews and will be taking the show to Castlegar for a one night ‘gig’.

On September 19 Ross turned 60 and that seemed like a great excuse for a party which we had on September 18. Weather was dreary but 81 people showed up – we had a band, 2 other Santas, and 4 nuns – and everyone had a good time.

As the end of October is just around the corner we thought we should get this letter off to our friends and family before we head out. We leave for California October 21 and Ross starts his Santa thing November 5.

We will again be writing about our adventures on our blog – http://santaandthewrangler.blogspot.com/ – so to find out what we’re up to feel free to follow along!

In the meantime we want to wish each and every one of you a very Merry (if early) Christmas and all the best for 2011. We will be thinking about you all over the holidays and hope that you’re thinking of us!!