Dear Family and Friends,

A blanket of sparkling, white snow has coated the beautiful Caledon landscape outside our backdoor. Wild turkeys are strutting by the windows, blue jays are perched on the feeder, a red fox streaks by and a porcupine meanders through the woods.  We are nestled by the fire, anticipating the Christmas holidays with our family at Hilltop Lodge. 2022 has been a roller coaster of lockdowns and restrictions, family time and adventures. We made the most of the long lockdown days, we cherished family gatherings, and we resumed our world travel.  Sit back and let me share with you what we have been up to in 2022.

Lexi is 28 years old and is working hard as an Enterprise Account Executive at Slack, not letting the slowed-down economy get in her way. Lexi loves her downtown life while living in her newly renovated Trinity Bellwoods condo and in February she met a wonderful guy, Matt, age 29. Matt convinced Lexi to take up golf (we had been trying for years), loves to cycle and works hard during the week as a Senior Manager in the Real Estate Division of CIBC. We look forward to having Lexi and Matt at Hilltop Lodge over the holidays, and we will enjoy cross-country skiing with them on the Cataract- Elora Trailway.

Jack is winning recognition and awards as a Solutions Consultant at Enable. Jack builds and presents demos for the sales team and communicates clear and accurate roadmaps of how customers will implement Enable. We love when Jack joins us to play golf at The Pulpit on summer weekends-this year he broke 80 for the first time.  We celebrated Jack’s 27^th birthday at a Leafs game on December 22^nd and at a family dinner at a Mexican restaurant downtown. We look forward to Jack joining us for the holidays and to playing some “golf games” with him at our health club’s golf simulator.

Ross is 24 years old and is a software engineer at Briza. In 2021, Ross met his match, Trevor, age 27, a marvellous man, originally from Vancouver, and a Systems Developer at Synaptive Medical. Trevor is always game to play sports and board games with our family and was a fierce competitor at our family’s Thanksgiving pickleball tournament at The Trout Club.  We were delighted to have Trevor join us on our first family trip in two years, to Turks and Caicos in April. We look forward to Ross and Trevor being with us over the holidays, organizing family board games each evening in front of the fire at cocktail hour.

One of the highlights of my year was my book club’s trip to Lopud Island in Croatia at the beginning of September. I travelled with seven women, whom I have known for over 20 years, and had a remarkable week of adventure, delicious local food and wine, lots of laughs and heartfelt discussions. Last winter, I filled the lockdown days taking an online horticultural plant identification course at the University of Guelph. I put my new knowledge to work in my garden in the spring. I am proud to say that we have planted (with help) over 300 trees on our property, doing our best to be good stewards of our land. In August, my Dad moved into a retirement residence and I have been busy, getting him settled and helping him transition to this new lifestyle. My skis are sharpened, and I am looking forward to a “normal” ski season at Caledon Ski Club, where I am in my fourth year on the Board of Directors. Paul and I love to participate in the Adult Race Training program, and I challenge and scare myself each Sunday racing down Knight Flight in the adult house league. In my spare time, I love to write and post my musings on my blog, Happy Tales (liannehill.ca).

Paul retired in December 2021 and has found lots of ways to fill his time. Paul is managing a growing portfolio of angel investments and he is mentoring young technology entrepreneurs as a member of Creative Destruction Lab Atlantic. Paul is spending his newly found time cycling, playing golf, fishing, and playing pickleball, his newest passion. We have just joined a racquet club in near-by Orangeville, where we have signed-up for pickleball clinics and a league. Paul has proven himself to be quite the country handyman, zooming around our property on his John Deere Gator, chopping wood, fixing things around the house and applying technology to as many applications as possible so he can do almost anything by a touch on his phone. Paul’s tv guilty pleasure, watching cooking shows, has inspired him to spend more time with me in the kitchen. Paul loves to plan trips, earning the nickname, Paul the Planner. I think he has finally been convinced that it is okay to take time to smell the roses!

After 30 months of staying home, Paul and I are thrilled to be seeing the world again. Highlights of our travels include a visit to Miriam and Dave’s home in Venice, Florida; a week at Club Med in Turks and Caicos with the kids in April; a conference in St. John’s, NL that included a lovely visit with our friends at their Beachy Cove home in May; my book club trip to Croatia; hiking in the Dolomites in Northern Italy in September to celebrate our 30^th wedding anniversary and in October, a riverboat cruise along the Rhine with some Newfoundland friends and musicians Alan Doyle and Matt Andersen. We feel so fortunate to have had all these wonderful experiences with so many happy memories and we look forward to more adventures in 2023.

After a busy year of travels, renovations, and activities we are pleased and content to be home in the Caledon Hills for the holiday season, embracing country life and spending time with family and friends.  I hope our paths cross in 2023. Please stay in touch!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,

Lianne and Paul

Our Christmas video://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u39InTzDKkM