Happy Holidays to you loyal fans of the Greco Gazette all of these years! You’d think we would have transitioned to a Podcast format or asked ChatGPT to write our review this year.  Nope: we’re middle-aged and stuck in the "ancient" format of a website newsletter.  It’s tradition.

It has been an eventful year, hasn’t it?!

Of course, we have to lead with updates on Dylan.  He is absolutely loving his ND experience, and his grades show it.  We’re really proud of how he has embraced the work-hard/play-hard balance between his academics and squeezing in plenty of fun.  Perhaps the highlight of his year was studying abroad this past summer in Rome for ~6 weeks.  It also gave Kirsten and Jim a great excuse to jump the pond for our family vacation this year, seeing friends in Stuttgart and Hamburg, and stopping over in Ireland for a week before returning home.  Seeing Northern Ireland was new for all of us … Giant’s Causeway was a highlight, as was the new Elbphilharmonie Opera House in Hamburg (an amazing structure, which didn’t exist when we lived there).  The entire tour was auf Deutsch and we (J&K) actually followed most of it!

When we last newslettered … Kirsten’s mom Ann was coming through a difficult stretch of injury and hospital visits.  Fast-forward 12 months and we are happy to say she has settled in well (with her cats) at Sunrise Senior Living where she is well-cared for.  She is only 20 minutes away, and we have been able to attend many of their holiday celebrations.  Jim’s mom (Mary Ann) has settled in quite nicely after her move to The Avenues in Broomfield –  she has started a Book Club and has cemented her reputation as one of the most festive residents in the community when it comes to seasonal/holiday decorations.

Kirsten was thrilled to be a "college mom" in the early winter – attending a Mom’s weekend for Dylan’s dorm – and as a bonus, she got to see the Ultimate Frisbee team play a round robin vs. Purdue and Univ. of Chicago.  We are both happy that the sport is still a big part of his life - and can see lifelong social bonds forming.

In May, Jim had the opportunity to spend some dedicated hiking time with his former college roommate John McMahon, who was in the country visiting family: they hit a number of National Parks in Utah, including Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.  It’s been a while since they have spent significant time together – reminding us that we need to do things like that more often since we’re not getting any younger.

Hot takes?  We’ve got a few ….

• We hosted ~50 people in our basement for an intimate concert by Face Vocal Band in September as part of their House Concert Series … very cool.

• The college football playoff committee is both incompetent and corrupt.  This is an objective point of view.  🤨

• Our cat Mika (still around) is becoming more demanding as she enters her elderly years. We know this because she bats the bathtub faucet with her paw and stares at you, knowing that you understand her demands.

In closing, we’d like to wish those of you (who are reading this!) a Happy Holiday and New Year.  Best Wishes for a healthy and hopeful 2026 ….