2017 CHRISTMAS LETTER
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| All 19 members of our family at the Erickson reunion in July |
Greetings from Elaine and Alan this Christmas season. Here's a brief review of our comings and goings during this past year'
JANUARY - We made a trip to Calgary to visit Alan's family and were able to see JJ and Ben, son Derek and Jackie' boys, play hockey in the city wide tournament that includes all minor hockey teams in Calgary! We also visited daughter Nancy and Trevor, Bram, who turned 18 on the 12th, and Holly.
- grandson Dawson Diekrager turned 16 and got his drivers license!
FEBRUARY-A milestone birthday for me, turning 75! Canada was 150 this year so I'm now half as old as our country.
- a trip to Frontier as Eric's Bantam hockey team from Milestone were in provincials vs Frontier! Frontier Flyers won best of 3.
MARCH -two day blizzard that blocked roads and our yard
- end of the month was our last quiltin every Tuesday at Trinity, with 132 quilts plus baby layettes completed
APRIL - Todd's 40th birthday, the E cousins are all in their 40's!
-Laurel and Greg Diekrager's 20th wedding anniversary
MAY - We were guests at Nancy Lutz and Trevor Wyatt's beautiful wedding on a beautiful warm May 6 in Calgary
-Alan was 74 on May 21st, but he can't catch up to me!
JUNE - Alan and I enjoyed a bus trip to Kansas City with Stagecoash Tours to cheer on the Toronto Blue Jays
-grandson Bram's HS grad in Calgary,
-grandson JJ Lutz turned 12 on the 26th
JULY - celebrated Elly Clara's first birthday at Kenosee Lake, SK where Clare's, Kirk's and Todd's were all camping
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| Elly Clara loved those birthday cupcakes! |
-a hot dry summer with less than two inches of rain
-Erickson reunion in Cypress Park with 54 out of 57 in attendance, lots of visiting, picture taking, volleyball, biking, cello music from Rylan, swimming, hiking, great food, including Norwegian baking and a fashion show with clothes made by Mom and modelled by grandchildren and great grandchildren
-off to visit sister Glenda and Garry in Sparwood, BC
AUGUST - Merv and Jan's 50th anniversary on the 5th, celebrated at our reunion in Cypress and on the actual date with their family
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| Merv and Jan's daughter Heather modelling the bridesmaid dress worn by Sandra at Merv and Jan's wedding |
-granddaughter Holly in Calgary turned 16 on the 8th
-visited cousin Marilyn and Flemming Sorensen in Vernon, BC
- joined Glenda and Garry Marcinowski and family as they celebrated their 50th anniversary at their son Doug's in Coldstream, BC. Sept 23, 1967, was their actual wedding date.
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| Glenda, Garry and family |
SEPTEMBER -Three Johnson birthdays on the 7th - Ardis, Abbey 16 and Nora 5, -grandson Ben Lutz turned 11 on the 28th
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| Our group minus Susie, plus granddaughter Ashley who did some dancing for the seniors at Midtown Manor |
-harvest time, but with so little rain, not much to combine, lentils made 4 bushels an acre, -thankful for crop insurance
OCTOBER - Sandra, Mareena, Mandy, Laurel and I flew to Victoria on a birthday trip to celebrate Sandra's 65th on Oct.5 and my 75th on Feb.10, -visited Butchart Gardens, Butterfly Garden, a castle, stayed four nights at a cottage by the sea, toured the area in a rental car with Mandy at the wheel, shopped at Island, High Tea at the Empress Hotel, hiked along the coast.....great times together!!
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| Mandy, Mareena, Laurel, Elaine, Sandra |
NOVEMBER -enjoyed a visit in Gull Lake with Alan's sister, Donna and Cam Lock, then on to meet with Bergum cousins at Drumheller, AB and took in the dinner theatre at Rosebud. On to Calgary to visit Nancy's and Derek's, home via Frontier with visits with Alan's and Sandra's and enjoyed a "Senior Dinner" on Wed. at the Frontier Senior Centre.
DECEMBER - watched Abbey's curling team win the A side in a qualifying bonspiel in Moose Jaw. They play in the Provincial U21 Bonspiel in Regina on Dec. 27-31. We hope to see some of those games, and see Eric's Prairie Storm hockey that week in Regina too
-Alan enjoyed a sports bus trip to Minneapolis on Dec. 14-18, highlight was watching the Vikings football game in their new stadium but he enjoyed the basketball and Oiler hockey games too
- I enjoyed having Laurel. along with Ashley and Dawson, home on the 16th for her 49th birthday.
-went to a band concert in Estevan - Lindsay played her flute with Lampman band and Jamie was in beginners with Kirk's saxophone
-our Johnson Christmas was celebrated at the farm on Dec. 23rd with 15 of us overnight and up for service at Trinity on Sunday -family traditions -games of Rook, Pit, Crokinole, movies, an outdoor football game (and some on TV!) turkey dinner, reading of the Christmas and singing carols before gift opening
- Facetime visits with Todd, Kristy, Nora and Elly Clara.
We had an early birthday cake with him on Sunday afternoon.
This year I took part in a Bible study at Cindy and Darwin Daae's using the book "One Thousand Gifts" as a guide. We were encouraged to start our own list. I haven't gotten to 1000 but the list is really endless as everything we have is a gift from Him and the best gift of all came to us at Christmas as a babe in a manger. I am so thankful to have had another year to share with Alan and our families. It's something we don't take for granted with sickness, accidents and death changing family situations around us.
I leave you with words from a favourite song, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow" May you experience the love, hope,
peace and joy that only Jesus can bring to your life.With love from Elaine J and Alan Lutz
(ps I still might do more editing!)
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