Happy Christmas!

What a year it has been! Sadly our last in the UK for a while, but rich beyond measure. We’ll write a proper retrospective later – perhaps in time for the Chinese New Year (our excuse for a late Christmas letter!), but this time around I would like to acknowledge all the gifts of kindness and support that we have received from our family and friends, during a year that has brought more change, and more challenge than most.

We will be moving back to California during January – our house is ready, and it will be nice to be back in the place we made our own through extensive re-modelling in 2002. We will of course be leaving behind our friends and my family, but with low-cost air travel, e-mail, and cheap phone calls, we hope to stay in touch.

Our possessions are ahead of us – probably somewhere close to the Panama Canal by now. They are expected in Oakland on December 24th, and if customs clearance proceeds as expected, we should be able to start unpacking quite quickly – perhaps even in the first or second week of January.
Lots more to say – but the most important point is simple:

Thank you all for your support and friendship over the last year, and let us wish you every blessing for Christmas and the New Year!

Tim, Marina, Caelean and Jeremy

2005

More travel, some inside the UK and some outside.

Gong Xi Fa Cai,

2005 was our second full year in the UK. It’s been busy with school, work, and a lot of travel. It’s also been quite traumatic with family illness, and all of us getting a bit older. Wiser, I cannot say. Our 2004 letter is not online, so this will touch on some of our activities over that time too.

The highlights have been the time we’ve been able to spend with our family, and the travel – Paris, Budapest, Venice, Prague, Turkey (Istanbul and the south coast), Cornwall, the North East and the Lake District (pictured), and most recently a trip to Norway and Sweden. Of course we have also been back to the US as well. Rather than include a lot of pictures of our travels here, you can find them on the website (they will be re-published here when I get a chance). It’s one of the great joys of being in Europe that so much culture is so close. Continue reading “2005”

2003

We came to the UK at the beginning of 2004, looking forward to spending more time with my family, and getting to know Europe. Here’s what we found.

Dear family and friends,

It is the end of 2003 and our family is embarking on a new adventure for 2004. During the summer, an opportunity to work for Cadence in Europe presented itself for Tim and it became a reality in early November. Tim will be working from Cadence’s Bracknell office starting on January 5th, 2004 and will be VP Of Marketing for the Europe/Middle East/Africa region. We will be living in a small town called Odiham in the county of Hampshire. Caelean will be attending Mayhill Junior School as a Year 3 student and Jeremy will be attending Burysfield Infant School as a Year 1 student.

Continue reading “2003”

2002

Dear Family and Friends,

Wishing you a Happy New Year and a Happy Chinese New Year!! Gung Hay Fat Choy (Wishing you prosperity) as the Chinese would say. It’s hard to believe it’s been over a year since our house remodel has been completed. We’re continually doing things to turn our house into a home. There seems to be an endless list of things to do, but we’re making progress. In the next year, we will be focusing more on the outside rather than the inside. We’ll extend the lawn and build a play area and perhaps put up a swing or two. Continue reading “2002”