Christmas Newsletter 2018

2018 was another busy year for Ron and Debi. We spent more than 12 weeks away from home this year on our various trips. Dad had a bad fall after a fishing trip in September and broke his hip. He spent a little over 3 weeks recovering, but he was well enough to go fishing again a few weeks ago. Dad took care of our cat, Sophie, with the help of my sister, Donna during some of our trips. Debi’s poodle, Missy, required eye surgery and went blind in one eye. Despite all of the tribulations and trauma of the year, everyone is doing well this Christmas.

Europe was our big trip for 2018. We rented a car after we landed in London and drove down to Canterbury. After a few days of adjusting to the time change, we drove back to London to join our tour group. After a day of touring London, we departed from the White Cliffs of Dover for the European mainland. The Grand European bus tour covered 11 countries in 23 days ending in Paris. The countries included Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy, the Vatican, Monaco, and France. We took all but two of the available side excursions offered, so it was a very busy trip with lots of walking. We ate and drank all that we wanted and still lost some weight.

Just two weeks after returning to Tennessee, Debi left for Tacoma to spend the summer with Candace and her family. When not traveling, Debi still keeps busy sewing. While in Washington she made lots of flannel sheet sets for the girls and a new Renaissance bodice for Candace. A local Formal dress owner puts clients in contact with Debi to do alterations, so she did a lot of Prom dress alterations this year. Debi also started collecting sewing machines this year. She purchased two while in Florida and a couple more from our general area. This brings current total to 9, with 2 more in Florida she is inheriting from Ron’s mom. Ron stayed in Tennessee where he lead a country band for an annual fund-raiser for the South Jackson Civic Center in Tullahoma, Tennessee. There were three different shows over three days in August. In addition to learning all the songs, Ron wrote all the charts. While it was an interesting and challenging experience, Ron will not be doing this show again.

With several trips to Florida and our European excursion, the RV didn’t get used much this year. We did a brief 10-day trip of a state park and two Corps of Engineers parks, which are always on a lake formed by one of their projects.

Ron continues to perform with the church Praise Team and the South Jackson Street Band, a 20-piece big band with saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section that plays jazz, swing, Latin, and dance music. His regular jazz jam session in Nashville has also turned into a band named Swing Shift. As the president of the local Arts Center, Ron was able to book both jazz bands at the organization’s annual Southern Weekend of Art in the local park. Ron has also been attending a regular jam session in Huntsville on Wednesdays, when Swing Shift is not rehearsing in Nashville.

Ron found time to work on his family genealogy project this year. Combining the records he collected from other family genealogists, data found on our trips, and data from Internet searches, he has been able to track the Hackett family back to his 10th Great Grandfather Andrew from Pitfirrane, Fife, Scotland. The spelling of the surname probably changes to Halkett at this point. Andrew’s son John became an important bishop in England, and we suspect he changed the spelling to conform to English society. The magnificent Pitfirrane House, historic home of the HALKETT family since the 15th century, became the clubhouse for the Dunfermline Golf Club in 1953. Ron recently launched a new website (https://rhackett.net/genealogy) with this information.

Aaron and Cristina celebrated 15 years of marriage in March. Evan received his 1st Communion in May at St Mark the Evangelist Catholic church. In June, Hunter successfully completed testing and qualified for the rank of 1st Dan in the art of Kung Jung Mu Sul. He joins his brother as a black belt. Hunter started high school where he is doing great. He's in marching band and is the 1st chair Euphonium in the Symphonic band. Evan is excelling at school and loves being in the gifted and talented course level. Evan has also kept busy doing Pop Warner football. This November his team, the San Antonio Saints, won city, state and region championships.

Candace and Erich celebrated 4 years of marriage in December, and Penelope and Gwendolyn will turn 3 years old on the 23rd. The girls started ballet classes this year, Candace started teaching theatre at a local college, and Erich has become an accomplished beginning Bodhran player. Candace and Erich continued performing with B.O.O.M. Pirates – completing 12 weekends of performances throughout the summer and fall. Candace also helped form a new pirate band named The Scuppermonkeys, in which she is a lead vocalist and percussionist. This December, Candace choreographed, co-directed, and starred (with Erich) in the 55th annual Tacoma Singing Christmas Tree.

We hope all is well with you and your family.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Here are some of our favorite photos from the past year.

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