Snyder Family Christmas Letter 2018

December 21, 2018

Anthony and I have talked about writing this letter for several weeks now.  If I wait any longer, I won’t be able to call it the “Christmas” Letter.

It seems like I start every letter talking about how eventful the year was and 2018 proved no different.  While a year seems to fly by, when you sit and reflect, a lot happens over the course of 365 days.  January brought the first anniversary of Jessica’s accident.  It seems mind boggling that my beautiful girl has not been on this earth for 22 months and 22 days.  There is not a day that I don’t think about her, talk about her and miss her terribly.  I work hard to move forward and to honor and celebrate her every single day.  

Mom bottom far right.  Guess which one is Anthony?

April brought us another loss.  We received a call on Easter that Anthony's Mom was in the hospital and not expected to make it.  We got in the car and drove to Tennessee as quick as we could.  We were fortunate that we got to visit her before she passed and Anthony got the chance to say goodbye to his Mom.  She left this world in the very early hours of April 2nd.  

Ingleside Winery

Anthony was offered a job opportunity at a company that is less than 2 miles from our house.  He made the move and loves his new job, new company and most of all, his new commute.  He turned 50 this year and we did a wine tour of 8 wineries in the northern neck region of Virginia. 

He also joined the local Republican party.  He and Dylan marched in our community parade, Centreville Days and he also served as an election official at a polling station on election day.  Most recently, Anthony volunteered to serve as Vice President of our homeowner’s association.   You may now refer to him as Mr. Vice President.

Dylan at work

Dylan is working full time at Sheetz, a super-size convenience store.  He loves it – he enjoys his work and his co-workers.   He’s always sharing work stories with us.  His favorite past time is playing Pokemon Go.  If he’s not working, you can find him out chasing Pokemon either by himself or with his friends.  

Leighton and Kavya still live in Brooklyn.  We went to visit them in July and went to a local restaurant for dinner.   Leighton most recently accepted a position as a graphic designer in New York.  We are so excited for him!  

Mandatory Family Pic

Waiting for Subway Very Early in the Morning

We were fortunate to spend a lot of time with Rachel this year.  She spent most of her school breaks with us.  At the end of this semester, Rachel decided to move to New York.  She will be moving right after Christmas and is excited about her new adventure.

Loves the words "Going Bye Bye" but not the trip

Snickers & Skittles had an exhausting year being adorable!  It's hard to believe that Snickers is almost 7 years old and Skittles is 5-1/2.  Snickers recently had 13 teeth pulled and only has 4 teeth remaining.  That doesn't stop him from eating his favorite snack -- dried earthworms on the sidewalk (yuk!). Skittles has developed this habit of howling at certain things we say that he doesn't like.  Most recently, Dylan found one of his childhood books "Time for Bed Biscuit" and we decided it would be fun to read it to the dogs.  Snickers ignored us, but Skittles was listening intently.  When we read the part where Biscuit barks "Woof Woof", Skittles clearly did not like this and started howling.  It's so funny!   

Anthony and I did a lot of traveling this year.  Some trips were big and some were just long weekends. In April, we took a Mediterranean Cruise that set sail out of Barcelona and made several stops in Italy and one in France.  We did a walking tour in Barcelona and Calgiari, Italy.  In Naples, we left the city and did a tour of Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii.    In Rome, we did a tour of the Colesium (in Italian), had pasta and pizza and walked to as many tourist sites as we could.  In Florence, we didn’t do an organized tour; instead we walked (and walked and walked) the city streets looking at all of the sites.  We even did an impromptu wine tasting at a wine bar we stumbled upon.  We also had pasta in Florence.  By the time we got to Marseille, France, we were ready to give our feet a rest so we did a bus ride touring the French countryside and stopped at a small resort for lunch.  

#tripofalifetime!

 

Jessica is very well cared for and loved

  

  We made 2 trips to Texas to visit Jessica –    one in May and one in September.  It was   very healing to go visit, clean up around   the  headstone and to just sit and spend  time with her.  

  

Still Looking Good 30 Years Later

We made a few trips to TN to visit family. 

In September, we went to Tennessee for my 30-year high school reunion.  We had a good time and enjoyed reconnecting with former classmates.  

  

And, of course, many winery visits.  We found many new wineries that made our visit again list.  Anthony ordered a Virginia wine journal and in 2019, one of our goals is to complete it. 

Naked Mountain Winery

In addition to traveling, we did a lot of home repairs this year. We had to replace our roof, our deck, our privacy fence, our shutters and repaint the outside of the house.  Sadly, the wall that I wanted to paint still goes unpainted with the exception of the initials I painted on the wall to “encourage” Anthony to paint the entire wall! 

Me & Jessica Bear

My theme for 2018 was “healing” and almost everything I did was for the sole purpose of healing and enjoying life.  I completed a 13 week Griefshare program at my church, I took a new job that would allow me more time to care for myself physically and emotionally, I increased my sleep to 7 hours a night, I resumed my daily Bible devotional and daily meditation practice.  I started a gratitude journal which has now expanded to include miracle moments and prayer requests.   I found a lovely woman who quilts and, at the time of writing this letter, is finishing up a quilt made with Jessica’s senior prom dress.  I also placed relationships as a high priority this year making sure that I stayed in touch with the people who matter to me.  While I worked hard at healing, I still struggled going through Jessica pictures and did absolutely no scrapbooking this year; I’m hoping to make this a goal in 2019.

As the year comes to a close, we continue to count our blessings.  As one of my favorite hymns goes “Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God has done” 

Me and Anthony at Wine Blending Event

Merry Christmas!

Anthony & Cindy Snyder