December 19, 2019
Dear Friends:
When we sent our Christmas letter from Paris in 1987, that yearwas our firstChristmas outside of Canada, and we sensed a strong desire to connect with friendsand family, most of whom lived 6 time zones away. Since then, the list of recipients has grown as we have made friends around the world. This letter is a message for our 51st Christmas as a couple. From that you will deduce that the big story of 2019 was our 50th wedding anniversary.
It was a remarkable year of celebration. In June we embarked on a three-week tour of
Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Denmark took us to the fascination of wonderful Copenhagen; Norway wowed us withits breathtaking fjords; Sweden gave the chance to see the homeland of our son-in-law Johan Hultqvist and to visit with his parents, Bengt and Sigurveig. Maybe the highlight was to be in Sweden on June 21, for the mid-summer celebration.This is a major holiday as Swedes celebrate the longest day of the year. We were constantly fascinated by the late daylight as we visited these three wonderful countries. For years we have wanted to go to Australia and Sweden. Our dream to see both hasnow been fulfilled and we are so grateful.
After three weeks in Scandinavia we flew from Stockholm to Paris for a week with our friends Jean-Blaise and Jacqueline Fivaz andenjoyed the chance to connect with friends in Paris who mean so much to us.
Later in the summer John came from Montreal for a vacation and in August we went to Prince Edward Island with Elizabeth, Johan and our granddaughters Sanna and Alma.
Our actual wedding anniversary was on September 13. On Saturday,September 14 John and Elizabeth hosted a surprise get-together at the Montreal Citadel church building where we were able to greet friends.
Apart from celebrating our 50 years, we keep busy with a variety of interests. Eleanor is active on the board of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. Glen is vice-chair of the board of Christian Direction (CDI) in Montreal. He chaired the search committee that led to the hiring of Rev. Tim Keener as the new Executive Director of CDI. Tim was the guest speaker at Montreal Citadel’s annual Community Carol Sing held last Saturday. This event celebrated Jesus as the Saviour of the world as we shared Scripture and Christmas music in English, French, Spanish, Korean and Chinese.
Montreal Citadel, the Salvation Army congregation where we met, were married and invested so much of our lives, continues to figure prominently in our lives. Glen continues with his day job at The Salvation Army Divisional Headquarters for Quebec. In his after-work life he relinquished leadership of the band (he now plays trombone in the band) and was replaced by a fine young Christian musician. We are concentrating on a Wednesday Bible study/Leadership training course we are doing with 12 younger potential leaders from our Montreal Citadel congregation. This experience with this fine group of people is so rewarding and exciting. We wait eagerly for the day they will fully take our places in leadership of our church. Also we are both singing in the adult choir that is led by Elizabeth.
John is busy with his Ph.D. studies and research work he is undertaking at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Toronto. He has joined the choir at the Church of the Redeemer, the Anglican Church of which he is a member, and is thoroughly enjoying the musical and worship experience.
Elizabeth and Johan live an hour north of Montreal in Ste. Lucie des Laurentides so we see them regularly at church and at family get-together. Elizabeth leads both the choirs at Montreal Citadel. Sanna is now 8 and Alma is 3. Their stay-overs at Grandma and Grandpa’s place are a highlight of our lives.
Life is good. We are blessed and we wish to remain grateful for the good things we have. There are wrinkles at this stage of life - the requirement for Glen to redo his driver’s test in order to keep his driver’s permit, for example. Age and the effects of successive laser treatments arising from the consequences of 47 years as a diabetic have compromised his eyes and placed him in a re-examinable position. Fortunately he passed the driver’s test, so we breathed a collective sigh of relief.
John is coming to Montreal and we are all going to Elizabeth and Johan’s home for Christmas. Snow, clear air, a blazing fireplace, Christmas carols and the joy of three generations of our family together will be precious.
But beyond the joy of a family gathering is the wonder of EMMANUEL - God with us. The fact that the great God of creation reached out to us in the person of Jesus is the singularly most important feature that separates Christianity as a faith. We see the love of God in the face fo a child. As we watched our grand-children do their part in the Christmas presentation by the Montreal Citadel Sunday School last Sunday we couldn’t help but think of the marvelous trajectory in our family’s story since our grand-father and great-grandfather came to know Jesus. Nothing has been the same since. May the impact of the night when Jesus was born warm your hearts and thoughts this Christmas.
