Tag Archives: Christmas

Christmas Card 2021

Family

Starting as a dreadful continuation of the year before, 2021 improved dramatically with the availability of vaccines. While the pandemic isn’t over, the fear of death has substantially abated, and a semblance of normal life has resumed. Dorinna celebrated with a trip to Colorado Springs, while Rich met his friend Doug for a backpacking trip in Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park.

Dorinna overall had a hard year – even after a replacement, her hip still isn’t doing well. She has had other annoying medical issues and is too busy at work. While an unfortunate reflection of the world, it’s a great time to be a therapist. Between the need in the community and increasing her training and consultation business, her business is thriving. And the extra income has afforded her the ability to buy some really nice shoes.

Nate welcomed the return to in-person school for 7th grade and is doing great. He keeps busy with Dungeons & Dragons, playing the tuba, WAVE (an after-school activity where they do a mock space mission), and archery. He even tried a wrestling camp (not for him). Over the summer, he flew by himself (!) to Oklahoma to visit his birth family. His biggest recent development: BRACES!!! He has a good group of friends and we all do a lot with them and their families. We are loving that!

Rich has returned to his co-working office and resumed his bicycle commute. Skiing, hiking, bicycling, and working out has increased his fitness level. On his road bike, he climbed to the top of Rist Canyon for the first time in 14 years. He completed a 40+ mile backpack in Wyoming’s Wind River range with his friend Jon, and is up to 100 pushups a day. With a promotion at work, his job responsibilities and rewards have both increased.

This year’s family vacation was a trip to Washington state. We spent most of it on the Olympic peninsula, visiting friends Kevin and Lisa, hiking, and whale watching. Nate had his first beach backpacking trip. We ended the trip with a few days in Seattle, visiting more friends and the usual tourist destinations.

The house enjoyed a set of upgrades- we had the backyard landscaped and after a long saga converted our back porch into a sun room.

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Christmas Charcuterie

Dorinna, Family

Christmas in 2020 was as low-key as it could be. Rather than spend hours cooking, we postponed Christmas dinner to Boxing Day so that we could spend more time playing games and being lazy. Dorinna did a project, though, building a house from charcuterie. Meats, cheeses, crackers, eggs, vegetables, and dips of all kind went into the construction. It tasted great, and didn’t look bad either!

The House. Potato chips formed the roof, because the weight of crackers kept causing a collapse
The front door
Olive penguins chilling in a hot tub of parmesan dip
Christmas tree made from pickles and a pepper
Snowman!
The house was topped by a marshmallow chimney

Christmas Card 2020

Family

It was the night before COVID Christmas and all through the Ruh home,
Not a device was on, not even a phone.

The children have been nestled in front of virtual school
Which started in March and has now become the rule.

Nate is in middle school, how can this be?
He loves mythology, reading and playing D & D.

In addition to her practice, Dorinna has a new job,
To make sure her son doesn’t turn into a blob.

Socializing was outside six feet apart.
We had distanced activities that included art.

Dorinna had surgery again on her hip.
It’s the gift that keeps giving, so mind you don’t trip!

Speaking of trips, we didn’t take many.
Backpacking was safe, so we did that a-plenty!

Our eyes- how they glazed over from looking at Zoom
And the local fires were like living in doom.

To not get chubby and plump (the COVID weight spike)
Rich traded his commute for some major road bike

Out on the lawn there arose such a clatter
The sound of dice rolling, nothing was the matter

To avoid boredom (and potential disaster)
For Nate and his friends, Rich was a weekly Dungeon Master.

The other pandemic activities that we liked to do:
Pokemon, X Box and drinking cocktails, too.

And laying our finger aside of our nose,
(Don’t touch your face, so find another pose!)

We hear Nate exclaim, on and off of his turf
His word for the year: a resounding “MERF”

Merry Christmas and a Happier New Year!

Christmas Card 2019

Family

Unfortunately, 2019 didn’t start off so well. The hardest thing was the passing of Dorinna’s mom, Rosina, on May 31st at age 92. We had a really nice final visit with her in mid-May. To add insult to injury, Nate’s hamster died about a month after his grandma. Somewhere in the middle of all that, the front wheel of Rich’s car exploded on the interstate; lots of damage, but no injuries. Dorinna’s hip fracture healed well, but it caused a chain reaction of other problems to her shoulder, knee, and back. Getting this all sorted out delayed our return to the usual Ruh family activities (and is still ongoing).

The rest of the year was better. Our vacation was a week-long trip to South Dakota. We went to three National Parks — Wind Cave, Jewel Cave and Badlands, as well as Custer State Park. Nate collected Junior Ranger patches and badges along the way. We climbed the highest mountain in the state (Black Elk Peak), saw wild bison and burros, went horseback riding, and marveled at the colorful rock formations. Nate’s highlight was staying at a KOA resort, complete with swimming pool and playground.

Other family activities included hiking and camping trips, and a 4-day weekend in canyon country.

Nate’s other activities included a baseball championship (Rich was co-coach), a make-your-own camp with his oldest friend, and his first solo trip to visit his birth family on their Oklahoma farm. Nate entered 5th grade, and enjoyed “Eco Week”, a three-day field trip in the mountains, where he saw elk fighting and heard them bugling. Inside, his passion for reading and video games remains unabated.

Rich got his fill of skiing and hiking this year, including a trip in Joshua Tree National Park with his friend Doug, and a marathon 26-mile backpack with his friend Jon. His work responsibilities expanded to include mobile software as well as desktop.

Dorinna enjoys her always-expanding private practice and consultation business. EMDR training classes took her around the country with an amazing network of friends. Her own classes were accredited by her national professional association, a big step forward for her career. The high point of Dorinna’s world: when she can take the whole top off of her Jeep, which continues to be her prized possession.

Our family continues to enjoy watching the Red Sox, seeing Marvel and Star Trek movies, and playing strategy games.

For more stories and Rich’s photography, visit https://DasHausVonRuh.com

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Christmas Card 2018

Family

TWELVE 4 x 4 trips. We enjoyed using our Jeep to its fullest potential this year. The highlight was a two-week vacation in Southern Colorado hiking and backpacking in the Great Sand Dunes and the San Juan Mountains.

ELEVEN baseball games. Nate continued to play baseball this past season with Rich coaching his team. Nate struggled at the plate, going hitless until the playoffs, where he exploded with four hits.

TEN ski trips for Nate last year. Dorinna missed most of the season with a torn ulnar collateral ligament. Rich and Nate skied frequently at Snowy Range and Steamboat. Nate did his first black diamond, and skied “Ooogles” (moguls) for the first time.

NINE years old. Nate is in his last decade of single digits and continues to be an immense source of joy for all of us. Nate’s biggest indoor hobbies are video games (Minecraft), reading (Harry Potter), and talking.

EIGHT nights backpacking, including trips to Joshua Tree National Park and the Colorado Rockies. Nate completed his 19th backpacking trip this summer. He thoroughly enjoys being outdoors with us and has collected 7 National Park Junior Ranger Badges.

SEVEN nights of car camping.

SIX point seven miles of hiking to climb Nate’s first 14,000′ mountain (Red Cloud, near Lake City, CO).

FIVE decades old! Rich celebrated his 50th birthday this year with a new pair of reading glasses… I mean a big party at a pub and a bar tour. He continues to ride to work regularly and does Pilates at least once a week. He spends as much time on his photography and web site as he can.

FOUR conferences. Dorinna traveled the country as a training facilitator for the EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Program (HAP). She continues to grow her consultation practice and has gotten approval to offer continuing education credits for an EMDR training she will be teaching.

THREE thousand in the crowd. Rich continues to do well at his job at Esri. This year he was invited to speak at the keynote address at the annual Developer Summit.

TWO broken hips. Dorinna’s 91-year-old mom broke her hip in August and gratefully, is doing well, living in a nursing home. Dorinna decided that one broken hip in the family wasn’t enough and she slipped on an icy sidewalk in November, breaking her right femur straight through and having three screws put in to hold it altogether. She’s recovering nicely, but it has been a challenge for all of us.

ONE world series championship! As our card shows, the family were serious Red Sox fans this year. We watched games almost every night, and enjoyed cheering our team to victory.

Merry Christmas from the Ruh Family!

Christmas 2016— Part 2, Before Christmas

Family

Nate eagerly awaited Santa Claus’s visit.  Every day we assembled figures from four different Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar sets.  And Nate dutifully updated our Christmas countdown on a daily basis, announcing the days until Christmas and the days until his cousins came to visit.

Dorinna plays Christmas Bingo at Nate’s classroom partyRich and Nate watching the toy train circling the treeNate and his cousins waiting for Santa to arrive on Christmas Eve

 

Christmas 2016— Part 1, Cookies!

Family

It’s customary for me to post things in chronological order, so I should be posting photos from September.  I trust nobody will mind too much if I go out of order to avoid posting Christmas photos next July.

Before Christmas, we spent a family day baking cookies together…

Nate mixing batter

Nate licking the mixer. Mmmmm….

Dorinna and Nate baking together

Happiness is a chocolate-covered face