Merry Christmas 2014! Happy New Year 2015!

We weren’t as well traveled this year as last, but what we didn’t do in quantity, we made up for in quality.

In January, we traveled to Redding, California to celebrate Bob Fisher’s (Cece’s sister LaRue’s husband) 60th birthday. The weather was mild and we even sat by the pool at the hotel where we were staying. We did mention it was January, didn’t we? We ended the month seeing Arrival - The Music of Abba, a very entertaining show.

In February we took a short trip to Clear Lake for a memorial service for a long-time friend. Later in the month we saw Bill Cosby with tickets that Cece surprised Roger with for Christmas. Roger also participated in FAWM (February Album Writing Month) and wrote the lyrics for 14 songs.

April saw us flying to Seattle, Washington and taking a ferry to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada for a three night stay. Though it rained some while we were there, it still was a very enjoyable trip. We toured the Butchart Gardens and the Craigdarroch Castle. We also attended a special gathering of Blood Donors in Sacramento and enjoyed a River Cats game.

Cece spent a good portion of the same months working to plan her 40th Rio Linda High School Class reunion, which was held with great success on May 31, and a picnic at our home the following day. We also opened our home and yard to the annual Linder family picnic in September, hosted by Roger’s brother Michael and sister-in-law Peggy.

Concert season began with a Rick Springfield, Loverboy and Eddie Money concert in June; the Replay America Tour with the Go-Go’s in July; Deep Purple and Blue Oyster Cult; a Tribute to Billy Joel; and Yes in August. Sprinkled throughout the summer were free outdoor concerts featuring a Journey tribute band and a Jimmy Buffett tribute band. Shows continued into the fall with Elton John, Disney on Ice (where we took our granddaughter, Diana) and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, whom we saw for the 13th year in a row.

Between concerts we managed to squeeze in an overnight June trip to Alameda, California, to visit with friends and spend a day visiting Golden Gate Park in San Francisco; an overnight July trip to Truckee and Reno to visit friends; and to Point Arena, California and the Mendocino Coast, where we climbed to the top of the Point Arena Lighthouse, visited the town of Mendocino, toured a wild animal preserve where Cece kissed a giraffe, toured the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens and knocked rocks into the Pacific Ocean with driftwood bats. We even managed to find a couple of casinos, where we only lost a little bit of money.

In October we took day trips to Apple Hill, ferried from Vallejo to San Francisco to spend the day on Fisherman’s’ Wharf, and made a few hikes. We also celebrated our 38th anniversary with the traditional meal at a restaurant we’ve never visited before, and took in a play at the B Street Theater in Sacramento.

November had us visiting the Sandhill Crane Festival on Cece’s birthday, the Harvest Festival and the Mountain Mandarin Festival, and helping to provide Thanksgiving dinner for Roger’s parents (Roger cooked a 20 lb. turkey while Cece participated in the Run to Feed the Hungry. Then she made cranberries and pumpkin pie.) Roger also wrote his third novel for the National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and has now shifted gears from fiction to nonfiction to write this Christmas letter.

Roger continues to explore genealogy, and has been focusing on his own family roots this year, with an occasional foray into Cece’s family as well. He finished up his second term as Area Governor in Toastmasters, and is wrapping up his tenth and final term (five years) as the Vice President Education for his local club.

Cece continues to exercise regularly at Curves and her Bunco group has become active again, meeting once a month. She loves to decorate the home for various holidays throughout the year, and pulls out all the stops at Christmas, with trees and decorations in every room.

Brad worked two jobs during the year at restaurants in Sun City Lincoln and Sun City Roseville. Now he just has the one in Lincoln, but it keeps him very busy. He rarely has time to travel anywhere with us, but does occasionally come with us to Starbucks or out to dinner.

Throughout the year we’ve joined friends on several occasions to dine out. Some have been a continuation of the High School Reunion activities, keeping the renewed relationships alive, and some have been reconnecting with friends we hadn’t seen for some time.

Lest you think we just don’t get out enough, you must remember that Roger has a full-time day job at Water Resources for a couple more years, plus part-time being the Praise Band Director at work. And during the school year, Cece is in her 18th year as an Instructional Specialist in Special Education. We’ve also been rotating with Roger’s siblings to provide additional care for Roger’s parents, who have suffered from health issues this year.

As we look over the calendar for the last year we’ve discovered so many other activities that if they were all written down it would require this letter to be issued in volumes, so we’ll stop there. We hope you have a wonderful, joyous Christmas season, and hope to be in touch with many of you throughout the next year.

Roger & Cece