Happy Holidays From the Holdens: Christmas 2022 and New Year's 2023!
Family and Friends,
We hope our annual letter finds you and your people full of hope and peace, as we embark on another year of life, together. This letter is a bit late, but I consciously decided to allow for that and honor my need to slow down and be present during the holiday season. Don't get me wrong...It was still a very full season and stress did manage to get the best of me a few times. However, as Jamie and I are getting older we are feeling ever more strongly the desire to step out of the "hurry" and deeply settle into presence.
We had a really full and rich year, on so many levels...Last winter we joined the Buffalo Ski Club and Eli and I finally learned how to ski, at least at a beginning level! Jamie brushed off his ski skills and got a few runs in, solo, while we took our lessons, and then we would join up for a bit of family time on the "bunny hill." Being outdoors each weekend, spending time together exploring something new, and getting physical activity made skiing a big highlight of our winter months. Many thanks to our familial experts, cousins Mark, Kelle, and Kathy, for sending us a bunch of hand-me-down gear to get us started! We are looking forward to another season with the ski club starting any day now.
Jamie and I celebrated our anniversary with a backpacking/hiking adventure in the Adirondacks. We've come to crave this time together, facing the challenges of a mountain (or four!) and being fully present, quiet, and reflective together in the great outdoors. God certainly does make His presence known in the high peaks! They never cease to fill us with awe and reverence.
Eli thoroughly enjoyed his Hickory Hill time with friends. This was our second year at this small swim and tennis club around the corner from our home. Eli participated in swim team and tennis lessons and we all enjoyed connecting with the community. 
Other highlights from the summer included the return of FANA's Colombian Culture Camp. Jamie and I directed for the first time and Eli was old enough to attend the full-week program. This was a magical week and we can't wait to do it again this coming summer! We also returned to the Adirondacks in August and met up with our friends, the Shurtliffes, for some tent camping, hiking, and canoeing. Then, we traveled on to visit more friends, the MacDonald family, in Connecticut. We had a wonderful time with them swimming, eating Adam's gourmet meals, and even visiting a local amusement park! We planned on wrapping up the vacation with a whale-watching trip in Rhode Island, but Jamie tested positive for COVID and we had to head home early.
After that, we were right back into the school year! Eli is in 4th grade now and we are thrilled that all his school's activities are fully operational again. He is participating in the band (percussion), chorus, and intramural sports, and he was just cast as a lead, Horton the Elephant, in his school musical, Seussical, Kids! Eli takes piano and drum lessons privately and is playing with WNY Flash soccer for the second year. Jamie directed his school musical, Frog and Toad, Kids! at Lindbergh Elementary in November and I started rehearsals for Jungle Book, Kids! at Ellicott El. We also have a small group of private students we work with on Sunday afternoons at the house. Jamie and I have enjoyed collaborating in this way; I teach and he accompanies the lessons from the piano. The students gave two lovely recitals and did some caroling at a long-term care facility this year. It's a great group of singers, and Eli just started joining us for a lesson this fall. :)
Our weeks are full, for sure. However, we still value our time together above all else. We continue to carve out quiet hours together to read, snuggle on the couch, watch a movie, play a game of chess, or go for a walk at Chestnut Ridge park. Dinners together at the table and big weekend breakfasts have become valuable chances to just be together, connect, and share stories about our busy lives.
We wrapped up 2022 with a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. We had a great time together and managed to completely avoid the latest Buffalo blizzard! We left the day before the airport closed and came home the day after it reopened! Eli loved the parks and his first remembered experience of flying, as well. We returned a few days ago and have been enjoying a long, slow, quiet weekend of rest and recovery.
As we move into 2023, a year full of big events for our family, we are preparing to say goodbye to our little red house and begin a new chapter of our story up the hill on Chestnut Ridge Road! That's right...After two apartments and three fixer-uppers in 4 different towns/cities, and years of carrying around a house plan we found online in 2013...It finally felt like it was the right time to build our dream home! Jamie found the land last spring and fell in love with the 1.3-acre lot which sits up on a hill at the corner of Powers Road and Chestnut Ridge Road. He kept visiting it and finally convinced me to take a look in June. I was immediately taken by the big old trees (including two pear trees) the privacy of the lot, which is shielded by trees on three sides, and the beautiful view at the northwest corner which offers us big sky and rolling hills in the distance. We made an offer in August and got the call that it was accepted while we were on a canoe in Lake Placid! However, there were some complications with the title and we didn't actually get the official closing on the purchase until just a week ago, December 22nd, as we were in line to board a plane to Orlando! (Are you sensing a theme here?!!)
Jamie's friend from his men's group/bible study, Eric Honan, just happens to be a builder. So, we are blessed to be working with someone we love and trust! We aren't certain about the timeline yet, but Eric is optimistic about getting us into our new home in 2023...We are trying to stay open to God's timing and are entering this new endeavor with joyful hearts, patience (we've waited this long, so what's another year or more, now?!!) and deep gratitude for the blessings we've been given.
I will close with some photos we were able to have taken on the land, right after a big snowfall. It feels like such a magical little corner of the world to us. We can't wait to share our house on the hill with you! Next year, at this time, maybe you will be able to stop by for a bowl of chili or a steaming cup of coffee on the porch! Until then...May the Lord bless you and keep you. We wish you all good health, big love, and great adventures in the coming year.
The Holdens
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