Peace came to earth at last that chosen night when angels clove the sky with song and light and God embodied love and sheathed his might -- Who could but gasp: Immanuel! Who could but sing: Immanuel! January 1, 2024 Dear Friends and Family, Happy New Year! I'm a bit late writing my Christmas letter this year because it was a busy and fun time, and I didn't find energy to write until today. The verse above is from a hymn I sang on with our church choir on Christmas Eve. I was kept quite fully occupied during that service, including singing with the choir on two hymns, solo on one, playing guitar on two, taking one of the Scripture readings, and acting as unofficial sound man to make sure the other lay readers could be heard. After the service our pastor and his wife had a reception for everyone at the parsonage. Several of us stayed late and sang a lot more Christmas music around the piano (and guitar). What a blessed day! Another fun event in my December was a trip to the Dickens Fair in San Francisco with some friends from church. (See https://dickensfair.com/ to learn more about what that is!) A couple of our other friends from church were there singing carols with a group of performers that's part of the fair. We had a wonderful time enjoying the fair and listening to our friends sing. The experience prompted me to go back to reading some of Charles Dickens' works, including A Christmas Carol, which I'd seen dramatizations of but had never read. Right now I'm in the middle of Nicholas Nickelby. Working backwards, in November there was a less fun event, as after 25 years as a mostly independent company (22 years with me working here), VMware was purchased and taken over by Broadcom. There has been a lot of disruption as a result. I was in no danger of being laid off, as I'm in a core part of the company that Broadcom particularly wanted, but many others have been. I'm planning to stick with Broadcom for the time being, but if it stops being enjoyable I will probably retire. We'll see what the upcoming year brings. In October, I made a quick round-the-country trip to visit my sister Mary and brother Bill, in honor of Bill's 80th birthday. I spent a week in Milwaukee with Mary; then she and I flew to Massachusetts to spend a week with Bill, his wife Nancy, and his daughter Leigh, who is living with them now. While there we attended Bill's birthday party at a Chinese restaurant near his house. I hadn't seen Leigh for several years, so it was great for us all to be together again. In July I spent my usual week at Bible Camp in the Sierra foothills, serving as music leader and camp treasurer. You can see my photos at https://treeoflifebiblecamp.org/piwigo/index.php?/category/82. We had the same folks up front leading this year as last year -- many thanks to Jordan, Paul, and Maddie! The earlier part of the year was less fun, as I spent a month sick with COVID-19, and before that about a month with a nasty poison oak reaction. There were a lot of blessings in that part of the year too, though what sticks in my mind most was *getting over* those two health issues! My lymphoma is still in remission and I'm still feeling good. Looking back at my last year's letter, I see I wrote about the big remodeling project at church, which was still in progress then. It is all finished now, and we are all very thankful for how beautiful and practical the renewed space is now. No news to report about my cat: she has been healthy all year and is still a champion meower whenever she wants anything, which is most of the time. She's done well at training me on just what it is she does want! Usually it's either food, water from the tap (much better than a bowl or fountain), a lap to snooze on, to be played with, or to be petted. She did well with the Christmas tree this year, only taking down one or two ornaments. Well, I am running out of things to say, so I'll close this. I hope you all have a very blessed year in 2024! Love to all in Christ, Tim