Christmas Letter
2009
December 12, 2009
Merry Christmas from
Marion Station, a town halfway
between Norfolk and Annapolis that
was once famous for strawberries and
is now known as the hometown of Miss
Maryland 2009. Who knew?
All is well here at our house,
though this was hard year for Dan.
He was injured on that job in Kansas
last December. He’s been
recuperating and receiving treatment
for the last year. He will likely be
having back surgery very soon. So
Dan has been home every day. Some
women would complain, but not me.
With Dan home, I never get lonely.
He takes great care of the animals.
He can always make me laugh no
matter how dismal the day. And
remarkably, he still acts interested
in what I’m saying… even when I
babble –chattering like a talking
doll with ADHD - on steroids. It’s
been a hard year for Dan Burgoyne,
coping with physical pain and the
inability to do what he wants to do.
But he stays cheerful. Hopefully
next year, I’ll be writing that he’s
feeling better, back at work doing a
job he enjoys.
Our children continue to live fast
paced lives, managing to struggle
through these tough economic times.
Harry and Becky are doing well,
though Becky has had some health
challenges this year. Dan bought
Benjamin an inflatable kayak for his
13TH birthday which he seemed to be
excited about. Connor is the
sweetest young man, very kind, very
thoughtful. We reconnected with
Kelley this year and met our
delightful, newest grandchild –
Hannah, who looks remarkably like
her mother and her grandpa. Dominic
got a new job at a restaurant where
he prepares the meal at the table
for customers. We can’t wait to see
him in action. He’s living in
Columbia and still doing some
graphic artist work independently.
Albert, Ruth and little Bailea live
in Georgia where Al is stationed.
Bailea loves music, and we love
seeing her little angel face in the
pictures Al and Ruthie send. Danny
and Amber are happy in their
mountaintop home – Danny working
hard in construction and Amber
balancing work, kids and school.
Little Daniel (already in first
grade) and twins Grace and Mia (who
turned 4 this year) continue to
enchant us with their magical
personalities. Our youngest, Lara
will graduate from the University of
Maryland next week with a degree in
Economics. She and David bought
their first home this year in
Eldersburg (Carroll County).
All of our family
pictures are on my Facebook page, so
if you’re not my friend yet, please
“friend” me.
The biggest change agent in our 2009
was undoubtedly Facebook… that funny
little “social media tool” that
reconnects long lost friends and
faraway family. It’s the
quintessential communication
platform for people like me that
love to talk. On Facebook I can talk
(type) into cyberspace leaving my
words to dangle until friends and
family log on and snag them, and
occasionally comment back. And I
never know if they’re bored… which
is a good thing. Dan (who does NOT
have a Facebook page) calls it
“Two-Faced Book” because he says I’m
a different person when I’m on
there.
On Facebook,
information can go viral, spreading
from friend to friend to friend.
That’s what happened for me this
year when my book Haunted Eastern
Shore: Ghostly Tales from East of
the Chesapeake was released in
October. I talked about the book on
Facebook and soon had over 1000
people following what I was saying.
I kept talking and that number
increased to 2000 by the end of the
books first month in print. One week
later the first printing –expected
to last a year - was sold out. Who
knew I could generate huge success
just through talking? Sister Eileen
Patrice (bless her cold little
heart) would be shocked! I’ll never
forget that comment she wrote on my
fifth grade report card hoping to
get me to stop talking …. “Her
concentration diminishes while her
garrulity increases. “ Hmmm, where
are you now, Sister? …hopefully in a
very quiet part of the heavenly
kingdom. Wait ‘til I get there. :)
In June, I went to Paris and Germany
with Dorchester County folks. By the
way, anyone who thinks the Parisians
are rude to Americans hasn’t been
there recently. The tough economic
times have brought out the best in
everyone – traveler, merchant, and
citizen. The Europeans were so
hospitable and gracious to us in
both countries. My favorite sites on
this trip were the Cathedral of
Notre Dame and the Köln (Cologne)
Cathedral. One could sit for days in
and around these two architectural
masterpieces and not be able to see
everything. The art, surviving the
ravages of war … depicting the faith
of a people … lingering centuries
after the artists and the faithful
had departed, was overwhelming. In
July, Dan and I took the camper and
went to Hartford CT, Maine, and
Prince Edward Island. In Hartford,
we visited the Mark Twain house, the
home where the author lived longest,
raised his family and wrote his best
works.
After Hartford, we
headed for Maine and visited the
Burgoyne clan. Each Burgoyne family
lives on some share of 200 acres in
Carmel, Maine. Dan’s brothers David
and Steven built their houses on
that land, and the cluster of
Burgoynes living there now includes
three generations. They are a
remarkable testimony to family,
passionate about each other and
about the charismatic beauty of
their North Atlantic landscape. They
are poetic, artistic, hard working,
intensely funny and loving. A
highlight of this visit was getting
my “cards” read by young David’s
wife, Amy. (Don’t panic, my
conservative, Christian friends.
Everything went okay and no demons
claimed me).
Ten days of camping on Prince Edward
Island was fabulous. The island is
only about as big as the Delmarva
Peninsula, but the difference in the
landscape from east to west and
north to south is remarkable.
Everyone should see PEI before they
die. The light houses, the beaches,
the small fishing towns, the lobster
suppers (lobstah suppahs), the art
and crafts, the music, the céilidhs
– and the mussels (80% of cultured
blue mussels consumed in North
America are grown on PEI) all make
Prince Edward Island culturally rich
and a great vacation destination…
(Why do I sound like a travel
writer?)
In September Dan and I spent six
perfect days in Ireland celebrating
our 10th wedding anniversary.
We
renewed our vows in front of the
13th century Romanesque arch at
Clonfert Cathedral, the place where
St. Brendan the Navigator started
his most famous monastery. I have to
admit; I’m still crazy about Dan
Burgoyne, and love him 10 times more
than I did when I married him in
Glenwood Gardens under the oak trees
in 1999. Later in the trip, we
visited Wicklow where I finally met
my Facebook friend Maya Hanley, in
person – and where Maya introduced
us to the well-known member of the
Chieftains, Paddy Moloney whom I was
able to interview for the book Thin
Places (yes, I’m STILL writing this
book and hope to finish before I
turn 70). We spent the last days in
Dingle and wondered why we don’t
live there. I still feel like Dingle
isn’t really in this world … we pass
through some strange vortex to enter
Dingle, and time stands still for
the duration of the stay. Magical,
mystical things happen to the
traveler in Dingle.
 Every
year I choose a photo for our
Christmas card from that year’s
vacation photos. But this year Dan
and I decided to choose a photo
depicting the place most dear to us
– home – Maryland … the Eastern
Shore. Our climate here is temperate
and we rarely get snow, but last
March we had a snow storm, and I ran
all over Somerset County snapping
photos of the landscape. I shot the
photo on the front of this year’s
card a little after 4:00pm in
Frenchtown just after the snow had
subsided. The scene was beautiful …
very much in character with an
Eastern Shore winter. In the summer,
the pace here is fast with the
activities of the waterman, the
seafood processors, the fisherman,
the tourists, the boaters, and the
festivals. But in the winter, the
landscape sleeps, much of the
activity quieted down, resting,
waiting. It is in the winter
landscape that details emerge and
appear more prominent. The lone blue
heron soaring across the marsh, the
hum of the motor of a workboat in
the distance, the stray feral cat,
the elderly man sitting in the local
store, even the sound of the tide
lapping up onto the shore – all of
these are more pronounced in the
uncluttered winter landscape, as if
the colors were brighter.
That’s kind of like Christmas …
during this season everything seems
magnified – love, loneliness,
wealth, poverty, health, sickness,
togetherness, separation ...
everything weighs twice as much at
Christmastime. Here’s hoping your
burdens are light and your blessings
abundant … but if you are feeling
down, know that we are praying for
you … and that we trust … no - we
know, that strain of hardship will
lessen for you soon. Love lies close
at Christmas, nestled in invisible
tabernacles filled by those gone
before us, those that know us now,
and those we’ve yet to meet. And
from those tabernacles, we can draw
strength. Even the love of a
stranger can be found if we but look
around us. And love heals the hurt,
eases the suffering, fills the
loneliness and can make any burden
lighter.
Christmas is a time we remember
everything we’ve ever loved, and we
especially remember you. We
recognize the greatest blessing is
people that color our lives...
family, friends, work colleagues,
acquaintances in the community,
people we serve and those that serve
us. We wish you happiness and health
this season and prosperity for the
New Year.
May God bless you and those whom you
love.
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