year-in-review

2013 in Review

| patmcg

For the first time since Molly was born, this year we finally included a “year in review” letter with our Christmas card for friends and family.  The previous three years featured only a picture (nice and easy!), but this year, Kit picked a Christmas card which had space for some text.  Just a little space, actually.  It turned out to be a challenge to fit all of 2013 into a few sentences.  Brevity is the soul of wit, and what not.  So here it is: 365 days in 126 words.

20131208-year-in-review-a

20131208-year-in-review-b

2013 provided us with literally no dull moments.  Molly (age 4) amuses us and confuses us every day.  She is by far the smallest and loudest member of our family.  Claire (age 8) is a patient and kind big sister and a My Little Pony aficionado. Claire started 2013 believing adamantly in fairies and ended the year wistfully wishing they were real. Kit continues to practice pathology.  We keep reminding ourselves that pathology is a family-friendly specialty.  Pat still works for Verizon and has moved into mobile apps.  Other skills mostly involve shuttling kids around town.  When not keeping Austin weird, travels this year have taken us to London, Chicago, and both Washintgon’s (DC & WA).

Happy 2014 to all!

 

Christmas Card 2009

| patmcg

This was a banner year for us… we had Molly, Claire is doing great, we moved to Austin for Kit’s great job, I made some positive adjustments to my job. It doesn’t get any better than that. This may be, on paper, our best year ever.

But in reality great news comes with challenges and keeps us busy, and we did not get around to writing a real Christmas card about our great 2009. So after some hand wringing, we ended up with something very simple.

Now this is nice and simple and sweet, but it’s too bad I did not get to write a real year in review like last year.

2008 in Review

| patmcg

Here is this year’s Christmas mass mailing.


2008 was an eventful year for us. We started the year in a house in Atlanta with a two year old, and ended the year in a townhouse in Dallas with a three year old. That may not be the most radical transformation imaginable, but it seemed pretty big to us. Fortunately, the two year old turned out to be the same kid as the three year old, just slightly aged.

Kit spent the first half of the year finishing up her pathology residency at Emory University and preparing for her fellowship at UT Southwestern in Dallas. She completed the dreaded medical boards and endless other exams, licensures, and registrations to practice medicine in Texas. On the other hand, I transferred my current software position to the Dallas office by simply filling out a change-of-address form.

Meanwhile, we prepared to sell our house in Atlanta. Although the market was tough, we did turn down a generous cash offer from an “English woman” whose email happened to originate from a Nigerian cyber-cafe. In the end, we managed to sell the house to a local person who was legitimate but substantially less generous. Moving was not easy, but with some creative scheduling and plenty of help from our parents, we eventually got everyone and everything to Texas in good shape.

We left behind great friends and memories in Atlanta. We have also enjoyed our time so far in Dallas. Claire declared upon seeing her new house, “I love it! It’s my Christmas day!” She is a huge fan of the Texas Rangers baseball team, a connoisseur of the local parks, and even a local architecture enthusiast, especially the Bank of America Tower, which is trimmed with bright green lights from top to bottom like a 921-foot tall Christmas tree. Claire insists that a prince lives in the tower, but I am pretty sure it is zoned for office space. Claire left her beloved nanny back in Atlanta but has transitioned admirably to daycare, where she has met many fun friends, learned about art and music, and developed a taste for
chicken fingers.

We are now trying to figure out what to do when Kit’s fellowship ends next summer. It is shaping up to be another eventful year.

Merry Christmas and everything else from Kit, Pat, and Claire.