2015
Merry Christmas!
Let me start by saying that 2015 was a fun, exciting year. It could end up costing me a bit of extra paper and a higher postage bill this year. I might not stop at 6 pages! I’m not sure that we did any more than in a typical year, but I just appreciate everything a little more. Maybe it just happens when you get a bit older, but I am really loving my family and my friends and life in general right now. Hope nobody screws that up for me!
January
Nothing happened in January except it was cold and nasty and Emily had a birthday. 27 years old and still no pony. I didn’t tell her, but I was actually going to get her one this year. Then I found out that her boyfriend Adam was allergic to ponies. He seems like a good guy so I just made the decision that a good boyfriend is better than a good pony. Hope I was right. Anyway, no pony this year. Again.
February
Not usually a great month for plumping up a Christmas letter. The highlight of the month the past few years has been Phil and Tammie’s Dance Party. The social event of the season. Only the cool people are invited. And those that are really cool actually show up. Normally that party is the only reason to have February in Indy.
But we found out this could be a really fun month if we left Indiana for a few days and went to Florida. Our friends Alan & Jenny, those people to the left, have a place in Sarasota. Jenny thought it would be fun to party for a few days with her college girlfriends. Jenny was right. Barb lives full time in Sarasota, Randye came in from St. Louis and we flew in from Indy. I got to come and keep Alan company. It worked out well. We had a great time and did all sorts of fun stuff. We ate great food, had a drink or two, enjoyed some live music, went to the theatre, walked on the beach, etc. It was just like college. Except the beach part. And the fact that we had money to spend on great food and drink and theatre tickets. But other than that, nothing had changed. These were still the same people I went to college with. Tons of fun. Even though we look like our parents.
March
It was a pleasant month. Jane bought this Groupon for a couple of nights stay at Inn of the Four Winds. It’s a little resort type place down on Lake Monroe. A nice restaurant, cozy rooms, a beautiful view of the lake. And we had the place all to ourselves! We had it to ourselves because it was early in March. In Indiana. The weather was a bit cold and nasty, and the nice restaurant didn’t open for the season until May. Or it could be empty because of the roaming gangs of vultures. We never found anyone that could explain that sign to us! But we went into Bloomington for the day and we always have a good time there.
Sarabeth had a birthday this month. It was her 23rd, which of course, makes her 22 years old.
We also joined Chris and Danielle for a night of excellent Naptown Roller Girls fun. Those two are fun people and the event is top notch excitement. It is amazing how excited I get watching a sport that I know nothing about. I read the inside cover of the program and kind of pick up on a couple of the rules. Next thing you know, I am yelling at the refs because the other team created a No Pack situation by skating away from our team immediately after the starting whistle, and the stupid ref did not issue a Pack Destruction Penalty! But I guess the best part is that I get to load up on Naptown Roller Girls gear. Get me some hats and T-shirts! I just don’t get that many chances to buy clothes with snakes and skulls on them. And snakey skull clothes bring out beast in me.
April
Nothing really happened in April that was Christmas letter worthy. So I’ll just use this space to post a few pictures that don’t really fit anywhere else. Like the photo my old college roommate Pete sent me. From when we were young, skinny and had a lot of hair. That’s Pete on the left and Jim Fall in the middle. And this picture of Jane and Sarabeth wearing odd animal hats. It seems that every Christmas letter has at least one photo of a wife, child or pet of mine with something weird sitting on their head. And then there is this one of Jason, Demarcus, me and Cody. This was taken right after Demarcus gave us all haircuts. Demarcus is good, and it’s a nice haircut but it really wasn’t a big highlight of the year. It’s here mostly because Jason and I work together and hang out a lot together and do all sorts of really fun things together. But we don’t take pictures of ourselves doing all that fun stuff. So when I found this rare archive I knew I had to share it with the world. And since April kind of sucked, I did.
May
The highlight of the month was a nice trip to Louisville. My niece Megan was making a stop in our hemisphere and was going to be there with Bob & Jean. Much like Haley’s comet, you don’t pass up the opportunity to see Megan when it arises. It was just Sarabeth and I. Jane was working on some sort of big national presentation and Emily was busy being Emily. We started the weekend at Nancy’s house Friday night. Saturday we headed up to this great little cabin in southern Indiana. A friend of Laura’s let’s her escape there when needed. It was springtime with woods and a creek and beautiful meadow. I swear that as we wandered around the place, there were hidden speakers pumping in the music from Greig’s Peer Gynt Suite, Prelude to Act IV! Listen to it and you’ll understand. We waded through the shallow waters of the creek as the dogs frolicked through the woods and the water. Now I know that sounds all poetic and everything but the dogs really did frolic. I wasn’t even sure of the exact definition of the word frolic until I saw those dogs. That was some serious frolicking. Here is a photo of Nancy, Laura and Jean with the dogs. At this point they are just standing. Not frolicking. On the drive back to Indy, I kept thinking how nice it would be to own a place like this, where we could sneak away for little weekend vacations. (Pete, Lauren; Did you pick up on the subtle use of foreshadowing here?) Mother’s Day was this month, so the girls took Jane out to dinner and I got to come along. We had a great time celebrating a great mom and took this nice picture.
June
June was kind of quiet. Scott & Liz hosted the usual suspects down in Bargersville. They were nice enough to arrange for the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra to play at a local winery. After the concert we went back to their place and sat around the fire pit telling stories. It was a great time with the Coopers, Beckers and Borders. June was quiet because we were resting up for July.
July
Time for another Christmas letter adventure titled “Willis on the, or in the, something that begins with a W”. We’ve been on the water, in the woods and out west. This will be Willis on the Water Part 3. My sister Nancy and her husband Mike invited the entire family to their cabin on Lake Cumberland for a weekend. There were over twenty of us so we filled up their place and a few rooms at the marina. Saturday was the big day. We met at the dock, took two of Mike’s boats and a rented pontoon over to the floating dock that sits in the cove below the cabin. So we tied everything up to the dock, grabbed a beer and jumped in the water. We had rafts and noodles and floaties and life jackets. And everyone figured out a way to craft their own little floating Lazy-Boy. And we floated around for hours, only getting out of the water for food, sunscreen and to replenish the beer supply. You would talk to Eric and Lindsay for a while, then paddle, slowly, over for a deep conversation with Nancy and Teresa. Then you’d sneak over and splash the little kids. Next you would work your way toward Emily and Adam, but they were talking to Bob about the trouble with the American education system today, so you just kind of put it in reverse and started splashing the little kids again. That evening we met back at Mike & Nancy’s for dinner. Now you should know that this cabin has been in Mike’s family since he was a little boy. He pretty much grew up down there. And he learned to fish. And he learned to cook fish. And he can do both really well. He treated us to fantastic meal that evening. The next day we all made our way back home. Once again the drive back to Indy gave me ample opportunity to dream of having a place like that myself someday.
But that’s not all that happened in July. We needed some sort of official Willis family vacation. Nothing extravagant just a nice little getaway. Both girls are over 21 now, so let’s do Vegas! One of the great joys of parenting is teaching your children certain life skills. It’s been a number of years since I’ve experienced the joy of teaching a daughter to ride a bicycle. I was hoping to feel a bit of that excitement again, this time teaching my little girls how to drink and gamble. We weren’t halfway to the baggage claim when Jane says, “I think we should all get tattoos!”. This was going to be an interesting vacation.
So let’s talk about the gambling first. I don’t ever have to worry about developing a “gambling problem”. Because to develop a gambling problem, somewhere along the line you have to experience the thrill of actually winning. Even if just for one night to go home with more money than you started with. Hasn’t ever happened to me. Doubt if it ever will. I still have fun, just with lower expectations than the people around me. Poor Sarabeth inherited my gambling gene. Jane is a different kind of gambler. Doesn’t really play anything other than slots. And only plays the machines that talk to her. Now I’m not talking about a machine that blurts out “Wheel Of Fortune!” as she walks by. I’m talking about some sort of weird Long Island Medium type of vibe she gets from a random machine. Then she walks over to it, stares at it for a few minutes, performs some sort of Jedi mind trick, then sits down and wins $68 three pulls later. She may play that machine a bit longer or she may get up wander around until she hears another voice in her head. Of course that voice is probably Sarabeth or I asking for gambling money. Note that the voice is not Emily’s. Because Emily got her gambling gene from her mom. She managed to win her own money. The photo on the left is one of Em’s typical wins. She pretty much follows the same pattern as her mother. The main difference is that Jane may be walking around with a pocket full of tickets and she won’t know how much they total up to until we get back to the room. I have to remind her to cash them out before we head home. Emily knows exactly what she put in and exactly what she won. To the penny. I did manage to get the whole family gathered around a Roulette table at one point. It’s a fun game. You get to know the people around you. Everybody cheers for everybody else. Very social. Emily hated it. She didn’t like it because she felt it was all luck and she had no control. As opposed to a slot machine. I guess maybe the Roulette table spoke to her, but it was in French and she just didn’t understand.
But we didn’t spend all our time gambling. There are all sorts of shops and restaurants and just neat places to see. So I followed the girls around from shop to shop and casino to casino. We did a ton of walking. Much more than I had planned on. But you stick a FitBit on a girl’s wrist and she will walk forever. We only stopped long enough to take selfies. I’m the kind of guy that goes on vacation and takes a picture of the ocean. Or the Golden Gate Bridge. Jane wants a picture of us with the ocean or the bridge in the background. Like people aren’t going to believe we really went somewhere unless we have photographic evidence. This used to involve bothering some stranger, who it always seemed had never owned a camera before, and asking them to snap a few shots. But now, we live in a world of selfies. And Jane has embraced this world. So we took selfies on a regular basis. But after a while it got kind of old. There seemed to be rebellion in the ranks. And we ended up with some of my favorite photos. I really like the one that Sarabeth wanted to take with her sister. But the final result shows that Emily was done with selfies. It ended up being a really fun vacation. One thing I need to point out. Though she was smart enough not to do it in Vegas, Jane came home and got her tattoo. If you were going to ask me what I would have tattooed on my body, I wouldn’t have a clue. That’s probably the biggest reason I don’t sport any ink myself. Well, that and the whole pain thing. But Jane is a different story. We all knew it was going to be a hummingbird. It looks really nice and she is very happy with it. And that is a very good thing. Because it’s not the kind of thing where saving the receipt is going to be helpful. And by the way, that’s her foot you’re looking at.
August
Another fun month. Made it down to Louisville for what is becoming an annual event. The Stuart HS golf outing and mini-reunion. Stayed with the Emery’s while I was down there so we had ample time to catch up on all the important news I had missed in the last year. The weekend proved to be a great chance to see a lot of my Christmas letter friends. You all know who you are so I won’t list a bunch of names. But I will list Lynn, because it seems to make her happy. The next week Jane and I celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary. And that gives me a reason to post this photo of my beautiful bride. Every time I see this photo I remember that it was taken in the back of Doug Chaffin’s Opel GT. Sure am glad Doug was there since everyone else had already headed over to the reception. It seems that in all the wedding planning, we forgot about planning transportation from the church to the reception hall for the bride and groom. A few days later we joined the Coopers, Beckers and Saxman’s for the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy concert. This has also turned into an annual event so we must have a fun time. Thank you Scott, we all appreciate your skills as project manager on such events. And then, as if we weren’t wild and crazy enough, the next day we went to the state fair. Jane and I and the girls went with Jason and Alex. Another fun activity with them of which we have no photos that include their faces. We did all sorts of basic fair stuff, which means we went through a lot of hand sanitizer that day. And I do have to give a big shout out to my friend and excellent doubles partner Gerry who kept us hydrated as we strolled across the fairgrounds with a delightfully refreshing Urick Concessions Lemon Shake-Up in hand. You can’t really have a day at the fair without a good Lemon Shake-Up!
September
This month started with a road trip. Remember our friend Randye from back on page 1? It seems her daughter was getting married, and Randye decided that it would be a good idea to invite her college friends to the wedding. Because what mother of the bride doesn’t want to add 4 more people that she feels she must personally entertain into an already toxic mix of family craziness? So we said “Cool”, and jumped into the car with Jenny and Alan and headed to St. Louis! We had a fantastic time. We were invited to all the fun wedding things and still had time to root around in a bunch of antique stores. There was a digital photo booth at the reception. We took advantage of it. And I’m really quite proud of the pictures at the left, because I can guarantee you that if we had such a device at our disposal 40 years ago when we all met, the poses would have been exactly the same. The next morning, we took this photo. A little more respectable but not nearly as much fun. Isn’t that always the case? The other highlight this month was Jane’s birthday. Not much to say about that except “Happy Birthday Jane”. Wheeee.
October
Welcome to October, the month that single handily added 2 pages to this year’s Christmas letter. We start it off with a visit from Dave Emery. I invited him up to play golf. It just so happens that another one of our Christmas letter brethren owns a golf course up here. Great private course that a few years ago was rated in the top 20 in the nation…in degree of difficulty. Just perfect for my game. So my regular golf buddy Samsel, my neighbor Ryerson, Dave & I went to play a round of golf. We had a great time! It was an adventure but we all decided we wanted to try it again next year. Should be easy the second time around! The photo shows a typical hole. I know these are small pictures, so I highlighted the sand for you. But they say that when you get thrown from a horse that you need to jump right back in the saddle. So the next day Dave & I went to play my regular course. We were smart enough to put the saddle on a different horse. Thanks Stan! Hope to do it again next year!
I had a birthday. A big one. I think my family was afraid it was going be rough for me. They bought me nice gifts and took me to fun places. We did an Escape Room one evening. They locked us in and we had an hour to figure out the clues and make it out. I am proud to say we made it with about 45 seconds to spare. I could have gotten us out much earlier, but since Emily paid for it I wanted her to get her money’s worth. It’s what Dads do. And Sarabeth took us out to an Indy Eleven soccer game. But we started with a beer tasting. I now realize that I should have done that before all the soccer games I watched my girls play growing up! I had a great birthday and turning 60 didn’t really bother me. I knew it was going to happen. I just thought it would take longer than it did. I’m eight pages happy and have at a bunch of friends to share it with.
Once again the good Dr. Engelberg set us up with IU football tickets for the family. Not only did he provide tickets, he arranged for good weather, good company and a win. And he provided a lesson for all of you out there that are wondering how to make it in the Christmas letter. As you can tell, October was a full month. And for the first time in a whole bunch of years, we didn’t make our annual family pilgrimage to Brown County. Jane and Emily went for a little day trip. Sarabeth and Jane made it down and stayed one night a few days later. And managed to take nice photo. While the ladies were enjoying the beautiful fall colors an hour south, I was sitting at home in front of the TV sticking little glass jewels and a dab of glue in the caps of acorns. Let me explain.
My sister Teresa was getting married. She was going to marry Laura in a couple of weeks. And this was a big deal in the Willis family. Because what was initially talked about as small family gathering had turned into our own version of Stone Soup. Everyone in the family and all their friends start pitching in and the next thing you know we end up with a beautiful wedding that is fitting for two such beautiful people. Well, Jane’s job was to decorate the reception hall. Basic decorations, center pieces and stuff like that. And due to the fact it was October, there was a basic autumn theme. And due to the fact that it was Jane, we were going to do it right. For months Jane would walk into the house with a handful of acorns. I would try to use the cup holder in her car and it was full of acorns. What’s that weird smell in the kitchen? Jane roasting a cookie sheet full of acorns. They were everywhere. We had squirrels actually knocking on the front door asking if they could borrow a cup of acorns. And while she was working on all this, she was also trying to prepare a project for some big nursing convention. So I volunteered to turn every 4th acorn into a glimmering jewel. It didn’t take long to get into a nice rhythm though. Grab cap, squirt glue, insert jewel, stack on cookie sheet, cuss, and repeat. But I do need to admit publicly, that the little jeweled acorns were a big hit. I think everyone at the wedding took a few home. Thank God. If they weren’t all gone you were going to be getting a rather lumpy Christmas letter this year.
The best part of the whole wedding weekend was seeing my little sister happier than I’ve ever seen her. It was a fun event. But it was also special because I got to see a bunch of my favorite people. And we had a chance to set up for the wedding together, party afterwards and wander through the park the next day with all the dogs. Not much else to say about it before I fill the page with photos, except welcome to the family Laura!
BTW, if you didn’t get the Stone Soup reference, Google the Captain Kangaroo version. You’ll love it!
Jane and I had the next week off for vacation. That Monday afternoon we closed on that lake front house that I have been hinting about all letter. My buddy Jason had bought a place on Lake Hart earlier in the summer. I went to see his place and decided it was a nice area. Later that week when we were supposed to be working we found 3 places listed that looked interesting. I called a realtor and Jane & I were looking at houses that Saturday. We found a place that was much nicer than we were looking for but fell in love with it. So now we have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath lake house with a big deck, a dock and 3 boats. Great place, but the best part is that it is only about 40 minutes from our house. We can be in vacation mode an hour after leaving work. Lake Hart is a small lake, but my water skiing days are pretty much over now. Besides, my whole family went to Lake Cumberland and had a fantastic time floating around in about a quarter of an acre. I think we’ll be fine. Guess where we’re going when you come to visit?
November
We spent about every weekend at the lake. Then ate some turkey. Then went back to the lake.
December
Christmas started for us back down in Louisville. Big sister Marky and Donn just moved back from Hawaii. Since they were in a rental house we thought that would be the best place to meet. We did all the stuff we usually do and had a good time but I’m running out of room and there is still other stuff to tell you about. Oh, that’s our yearly sibling picture over to the left. The big news event occurred a couple of days later. Adam asked Emily if he could become my son-in-law! I’m not sure if that’s exactly how he phrased it, but the result is that they are engaged...Wow, I had to stop typing for a minute or two just now. Anyway, they will be getting married in June. Jane and I very excited about the upcoming addition to our family. We like this guy.
We finished the year like we always do. Christmas Eve service at church, come home and watch the Grinch, then bed and gifts around the tree in the morning.
We were blessed this year and welcome the chance to make the next one even better. Merry Christmas!
The Willis’
