The Willimers in America

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

So Christmas has rolled around again, and once again it’s that time to sit down and work out how to make the Christmas letter a bit more palatable, and a bit less pretentious. Always a challenge…so, how about a quick and easy note form ? 

Work – Chris’ new job continues to go well, with much travelling (including a swing of Boston, DC and Atlanta in four days) as well as trips to California, Providence and Tulsa. Sad to see Ryan leave FirstRain in October. Linda has taken on a new business venture, selling IDLife nutritional supplements.

Events – Tom turned 18 ! Can you believe it ? His actual birthday was a pretty low-key event, but a whole world opens up for him now, especially when we are in England and he can actually go into a pub and buy a drink (not till 21 in America). College beckons for him next autumn, but like most teenagers he really doesn’t have his plans sorted out yet.

Travel – Linda went to The-Back-Of-Beyond, Minnesota to see her god-daughter Ellie and their new baby. We will be going to Oliver’s christening in Knebworth over the Christmas break. The family had a short vacation in Canada, Linda and Chris touring Ottowa and Kingston while Tom stayed with a Canadian friend in Gatineau.

Fundraising – This year’s Tea Party was the biggest ever, with 100 tickets sold and 100 cream teas delivered. Inclement weather prompted us to rent two large tents, one of which became more of a danger than the actual winds we were trying to mitigate, and had to come down just as things got going. We crammed everyone in the lea shelter of the other smaller tent, and the day was saved. Linda did her auction thing for the Princeton ‘In The Pink’ fashion show, helped out at the annual “Paddle for Pink” dragon boat event, and we have done many smaller acts, mostly to help the fight against that insidious breast cancer demon.

Music – We have had many joyous moments this year from watching Tom in his musical activities. In March, he had the opportunity to do a short internship with the Manhattan Chorale which culminated with a performance at Carnegie Hall. He has thrived in his academic music subjects, this year adding Musical Theory and ‘The History of Led Zeppelin’ to his Chamber Choir discipline. He also joined the student run Con Brio A Capella choir, performing with many other talents at an end of year Coffee House Cabaret. Music will definitely be a major part of his academic future – whenever that might get planned…

Celebrations – We hosted a bunch of waifs and strays for Thanksgiving, including our good friends the Hermanns who come from Canada, and Hannah Colledge and her friend Kizzy recently arrived for a great working adventure in Manhattan. Christmas, however, is a different matter, as we will be heading back to M­­­erry Olde England to spend time with the family, and maybe catch a Spurs game.

Social – Folly Avenue Film Club hit a landmark in our sixth summer season – the first year we have not scrapped a showing, and successfully screened the entire program. This year’s theme was ‘Colours’, and included Blue Jasmine and The Woman in Black. The high point was our special family night, when we screened ‘Frozen’ with Anna and Elsa, many kids in costumes, quizzes and prizes, games, and an ice cream bar.

Bad News – Not much, apart from Chris writing off his beloved BMW in a car accident in September. Luckily, the most painful part was not the accident, but the fact that he was literally driving the car back from a repair job, which had cost over $800. After several weeks of logistical wrangles and paperwork scrimmages, we (Linda) ended up with a new Kia Sorento, which is very nice.

And a bonus photos.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

With Love From

THE WILLIMERS

Merry Christmas......

After our very own 'annus horribilis' that was 2012, we were hoping for a much improved year in 2013. And in a couple of significant ways, 2013 was indeed a landmark year for us. 

By far the most important event for us was Chris' resignation from Dow Jones. After 16 years of service, the changes in management and the new direction of the company made it impossible to continue and still stay sane. So Chris took the opportunity and used the support of friends to join a young Silicon Valley company called FirstRain, working from the NYC office and largely from his home office. The change has had a remarkable effect, with friends noticing the improvement in attitude and even health. The company is fast-paced but fun, and Chris landed a major project in the first couple of months, the success of which is raising his profile. 

Our other landmark of 2013 was the marking of 20 years of marriage. We celebrated our anniversary in a variety of ways, including a night away in Atlantic City to see one of Linda's favorite bands, Rascal Flatts. But the real concert goer this year was Tom, who has become a fully fledged Metal monster and this year (thanks to Chris' forebearance) took in Korn (twice), Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet for my Valentine,  and both Iron Maiden and Megadeth on a epic road trip to North Carolina. 

Tom's musical interest continues in more traditional ways with the school choir, and this year he enjoyed a fantastic trip to Chicago with the choir, four days filled with excursions, fun and a major competition performance. By all accounts the highlight of the trip was his chance to bond with a dedicated and friendly group of students, sadly many of which were Seniors and graduated in June. 

Unfortunately Tom missed his Christmas Concert in December due to illness, which was also a theme with us this year - not just the late year colds and flu that hit Tom and Chris so hard, but Linda's shingles which developed into bronchitis right in the middle of fundraising season. Despite her woes, Linda ploughed on with her events, including our second Annual Tea Party to support the local Breast Cancer Support Center. With Chris channeling Gordon Ramsey in the kitchen this year, and the ongoing support of many friends, we were able to host almost 100 guests, and raised over $3,000.

We are driven to continue fund raising for cancer charities in memory of Linda's dear friend Amy, who passed in December 2012, and the spectre of this terrible disease fell over us again as we tracked the course of Debbie's illness during 2013. Debbie had been with us in the summer of 2012, complaining of severe back pain whilst here. Shortly after her return to England she was diagnosed with cancer, and after a year of treatment, she sadly lost her battle in November. Linda travelled back to the UK, and spent two weeks supporting our extended family through their grieving. 

Fundraising gives us a channel for our frustration and desire to 'do something', and Linda has become closely involved with several groups. She was featured in a BCRC article on local fundraisers early in the year, she was given the great honor of representing Amy at the 'eye-dotting' ceremony for Amy's Dragon Boat team, and was asked by Princeton YWCA to play a significant part in their annual In The Pink fashion show fundraiser. To much acclaim, Linda organized the silent auction, which raised over $15,000. And there is the prospect of a full-time position working for the group in the future...  

Socially we continue with our summer backyard Movie Club, and 2013 was our fifth and perhaps best season ever. We had a great program, the weather was very kind, and we had great turnout. Chris' continuing love of cooking, and his desire to make the best of our new kitchen led to the institution of 'International Gourmet Nights'  - well, one night of Tapas and one night of Greek Mezes. Great fun to put on, and so far the food has been excellent. 

This year we had an interesting selection of visitors. In Spring, Linda's dear friends Jo Vooght and Liz Healing came out for a long-promised visit, which seemed to consist largely of nature walks and great restaurant meals ! In the summer, we had family visits from Tom's cousin Jac - travelling alone for the first time - and Cliff, Lee and Jonathon, whose trip was timed to include a road trip to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix, for which Chris tagged along. Montreal included a first taste of poutine - a dish of French fries covered in gravy and cheese curds - which tastes about 1000 times better than it sounds. We drove onto Toronto for a day of sight-seeing, and Chris was able to meet up with Christiane, and old friend from Videotron days back in London. 20 years melted away as memories of great times were revisited. 

           

Whilst 2013 has not been the ideal year we were hoping for, there have been many highlights and hopeful moments. We are looking forward to the New Year more positively than this time last year, anticipating good times to come. And we wish the same to you - a happy and joyful festive season, and luck and fun times in 2014.

Linda, Chris & Tom

10 Years After

Ten years ago, we had no home and we were living in a hotel. We had no car and were driving an expensive rental car, and we had no friends or immediate family to turn to - we had left them all 3,000 miles away. But these were not desperate times, they were exciting days, the beginning of a great adventure which saw it's 10th anniversary pass this week.
Over the years, we have addressed all those things in glorious fashion. We have a marvelous home, the like of which we could never have dreamed of in England, we are a two car family (including a long-cherished BMW !), and - as well as achieving the myriad of things that make for an established and comfortable life - most importantly of all, we have a wide circle of wonderful friends in our life.
Perhaps as life becomes more settled and contented, there are less things of note to write about. Certainly, it becomes harder to spot things which are of interest because they are 'different' - because, after ten years, they're not (though I did have to ask someone this week to confirm what "ten of" the hour means when telling the time...)
But a tenth anniversary is a prompt to pick up a slightly forgotten blog, to post more pictures and to share more of the thoughts and feelings that can't be expressed in the 420 characters of a Facebook status. Expect more soon.

Renewing our Wedding Vows - August 2008

I never got round to posting this. Or writing about the day. Or writing about lots of other things. So for your enjoyment...

Just Like That, only Later....!

I love to read biographies, but one problem I have here is that I'm not interested in baseball players or US politicians - I like to read about the TV personalities and sports heroes of my youth. So when Linda was in England to see the Osmonds, she kindly went book shopping for me and brought back two crackers, biographies of two slightly off the wall figures with interesting backgrounds - Tommy Cooper, one of the funniest men of British comedy who famously died on stage during a live TV broadcast, and the autobiography of Jools Holland, keyboard player with Squeeze, presenter of The Tube, and all round raconteur and musician. I saved these wonderful offerings for the Alaska trip.

I read the Tommy Cooper book first, and discovered that as well as a deceptively good magician, and being much loved and well-regarded by the highest figures in British comedy, he was also extremely mean, probably an alcoholic, and was increasingly unwell as he grew older. One incident in the book hardly stuck out until later. In the early 1980's, Tommy was asked to perform at an open-air concert at Clapham Common, as a support act for The Police. Not surprisingly, his act went down well with the first four rows, but terribly with the thousand's of festival-goers who couldn't see his slapstick magic or his comedic tics and facial expressions. Not a high spot in his illustrious career.

The Jools Holland book also recounts an episode - where Jools is asked to perform at an open-air concert at Clapham Common, topped by The Police, and when he is asked if he could accompany one of the other support acts, none other than Tommy Cooper ! Jools is asked to play Tommy's theme song, 'The Sheik of Araby' as he comes onstage, and perform a little 'Don't shoot the piano player' pantomime, in which Jools does indeed get shot. In his book, Jools describes this small incident with the honour and reverence reserved for one's true heroes. Tommy's book doesn't mention Jools at all...