The Infamous Christmas Letter from Klep and Barbara

Merry Christmas 2017 from the Klepper House!

We are so thankful to celebrate this season and to spend time reflecting on what has passed since we last wished each of you Merry Christmas.  The highlights of our year are time spent with our family, seeing our children as adults, and watching our granddaughters transition from young children to more mature girls.  Other wonderful experiences have been intermixed with these.

As Christmas 2017 rapidly approaches, we find ourselves still pretty much involved with my (Barbara’s) recovery from bilateral knee replacement. I was the one who had the surgery, but Klep’s life has been very involved with the whole experience as he has acted as caretaker, encourager, and all around major supporter.   Although we have forgone many of the elements of a normal Christmas season for us, we celebrate the spirit of Christmas and the reason for it in our hearts.

This year we managed to put a few miles on the old knees I had replaced.  Many moments stand out as highlights this year as we have tried to relish this wonderful thing known as life.  Klep has published several genealogical articles in Distant Crossroads and I completed the rough draft of a novel which will probably never be read by anyone other than me! Small events and large have been sprinkled through the year beginning with a lovely cool day late in January which we spent  at St. Marks Wildlife Preserve on a birding excursion.

 We took an overnight trip close to home

in early February to visit the Okeefeenokee Swamp and Sapelo Island in Georgia, both places which are rich in wildlife and old Southern beauty.

March found us at home most of the time preparing for New Hope’s annual Share Day when we share things with the community and each other.  We were also preparing for our spring trek to the house in Winegar Hollow where we enjoyed time spent with relatives and friends.  Many of the spring flowers did not wait for us, but we still enjoyed those that did.  We especially enjoyed sharing the history of Klep’s family with

a couple of cousins from the next generation who had not heard a lot of the old stories nor seen a lot of the old landmarks.

May came in with another Jasper High School Class of 1960 reunion and proceeded with all the early summer activities.   June we worked crafts at VBS. 

July saw us celebrate my 75^th, the diamond birthday, with a trip of a lifetime from Budapest to Bucharest on a Viking River Cruise.  For those who follow our blog, you have probably read more about that than you want to!  We feel truly blessed to have had the experience.

August we traveled to the Eclipse Zone to enjoy the solar eclipse with some of our Klepper cousins.

September was dominated with waiting for Irma, going through Irma, cleaning up after Irma and watching the power crews  as they got the electricity restored.  By the time she reached us, much of her strength was gone, but we did have from Monday morning to Thursday afternoon with no electricity.  We were blessed with a cool spell which moved in so that the heat was not uncomfortable.

October we enjoyed the Hollow House again and took a side trip up to Gettysburg and Lancaster County Pennsylvania on a genealogy

trip for Klep.  We had not been to this region since the seventies and we could hardly believe how some of it has changed.  When we got off the main highways, though, we found the same serene farmland.

November and surgery time rolled around way too quickly.  We have been in rehab/recovery mode with little instances of normalcy scattered in.  We look forward to the New Year and renewed mobility without pain. 

We wish you all the merriest of Christmases and a most fulfilling 2018!