Monday, December 2, 2024 - Welti Holiday Letter 2024
As with other years, I will give you a way out early. (Those of you who are a little Internet savvy will know this as TL; DR - Too long; didn't read.) If you have better things to do during your holiday season than to read 1500 words this can be summed up as Mary and Jim had a good and busy year. They're looking forward to 2025. Happy holidays! For those of you brave enough to ride along with me, buckle up. Let's see where this takes us.
I woke up yesterday morning and looked at the TV. In the top right corner, it said December 1st. My mind immediately asked, “What the **** happened to 2024? A little later, I said to Mary I'm going to take a stab at the letter today. It's Sunday and I don't have anything on my calendar. It should be a good day. After I got up, I ate breakfast (yes, my streak of getting oatmeal on my T-shirt lives on) and did the puzzles – Wordle and Connections are daily battles in our house. Mary tends to do better at the former and I do better at the latter, nonetheless it's a daily battle. A little later, I paid a few 1st-of-the-month bills. When I looked up and it's after 1:00. Okay, now is the time. Except out of the corner of my eye I see a neighbor walking up the sidewalk. I spent the next two hours working on his computer. (I get two to five such visits a week. I'm not complaining. I actually like it.) After he leaves, it just happens to be time for the 3:15 online poker tournament - It is play money - I'm too cheap to play with real money. I did pretty well in the tournament. I'm able to do some multitasking while I'm playing but writing the holiday letter is not doable. By the time I finished the tournament, it was time for dinner. You can see where this is going. The holiday letter did not get written - Everyday life got in the way.
Today is the day. After a doctor's appointment (yes, I have carpal tunnel and yes, it needs surgery but that's a tale for another day), we get home, and Mary goes into her sewing room. Finally, no distractions. Now I just have to worry about my ever-present friend procrastination. About that time Mary walks by she says, “You better work on that letter or …”. She doesn't finish the sentence. I can look at this from two directions. I can get busy and start the letter or I can procrastinate a little while longer trying to think what she meant. Procrastination almost wins out. Mary's threat is enough to keep it at bay.
You might think I put a lot of time into what I want to say and how I want to say it. If you haven't figured it out from the previous two paragraphs none of this is known before I put it on the page. It is the definition of “going with the flow”. I’m almost 400 words into this and I've told you almost nothing about what happened in 2024, but I did give you a good idea of a very average day in the life of Mary and Jim. We're busy and for the most part we're having fun. The other thing that just dawned on me is I don't necessarily write these letters just for you. I write them for myself to remember exactly what we did this year. This will help answer the question “What the **** happened to 2024?”
If you remember, last fall Mary’s hip needed to be replaced. She had surgery early in December. Thankfully, the surgery was successful, but it took much of the winter for her to get back into the swing of things completely. Our first overnight adventure was to Saint Augustine where we saw Buddy Guy in concert. The 88-year old played his blues guitar for two hours. Shortly thereafter we took another adventure down to Duck Key (about halfway down the chain of Keys to Key West) to go to an art show. Both trips were successful, so we knew we were good to go for our first Wisconsin/Chicago trip.
We headed north on May 27th. On the way up we visited Shenandoah National Park and Niagara Falls before driving through Canada into Detroit and Chicago. Shenandoah was a 100-mile driving trip which was impressive for its history and landscapes. Mary wanted to see Niagara Falls. I never really had a desire to see them, but I would have to say I was truly impressed. I was happy we spent two days there - one on the US side and one on the Canadian side. The trip from there to Chicago was long, but thankfully uneventful. We did our typical Chicago tasks - meeting with friends, buying Monster, stopping at the Liquor Warehouse downtown to buy more bourbon and having pizza with Mickey, Pat, Lonnie and the kids. This seems to be our Chicago routine.
The main focus for the first trip was to be in Sheboygan on June 9th for my Uncle Bud’s memorial. He passed away earlier in the year and my cousin Sue set up this nice memorial right on Lake Michigan. It was a bittersweet event that was done nicely.
You would think we would be done, but no. On the way home we visited Mammoth Cave National Park. This too was pretty cool. We made it home on June 15th. Mary drove 4223 miles. We stayed in 20 hotel rooms. We spend quality time with 22 friends and relatives. I would say that that was a pretty successful trip. Wouldn't you?
The second Wisconsin/Chicago trip was more straightforward. Mary had to be back in Florida because it was the start of her adventure being HOA election committee chairperson. I'll expand on that below. We left August 13th. It takes 2 ½ days to get up if we take our time. Before heading to Wisconsin, we did our Chicago routine as mentioned above. The main goal of this trip was to spend time with my mom on her 80th birthday. We met my parents at our hotel in Pewaukee. We had dinner and drinks Saturday night. Sunday we all drove up to what used to be our old house in Waterford/Tichigan. Jean and Joe were our neighbors back then and they graciously agreed to our request to have them give my parents a boat ride around the lake. We ended the day with a nice dinner in Waterford. Celebrating mom’s 80th was completed successfully. We made our way back home in 2 ½ days completing another successful trip.
Much of the fall was dominated by Mary's work on the HOA election committee. She had multiple meetings every week. Being the chairperson meant that she had to drive a lot of things. Overall, she was very successful, but it was not without its trials and tribulations. Beyond that, we slipped into our daily routine of puzzles, dinners with friends, doctor's appointments, poker, trivia, writing stories, Etcetera. I've said it before, but if I was to put a bathroom in Mary's sewing room, I would never see her. Every couple of days she comes out and shows me her latest creations – cards, bags, quilts, blankets and even stuffed toys. I have to say she's getting very good at this arts and crafts stuff.
We have one more Wisconsin/Chicago trip planned this month. (We must love you to get us to visit you in the frozen tundra.) Trip details will have to wait until the 2025 letter. This letter has gotten way out of control as it is. Thank you for reading this far. We only have a tiny bit left to go - I promise.
You might remember Mary and I were going on a world cruise in 2024. Obviously, her hip replacement took precedence, so we cancelled it. We did book a cruise for 2025. It leaves January 4th, 2025. We literally go around the world for the next 116 days. As of this writing, all systems are go. You can follow our progress on the website I created. You can reach the website by going to
(It is a play on “imagery” which uses all the letters of Jim and Mary. I thought it was pretty creative - just ask me.)
Suddenly, it was December 1st. Actually, as I finish this letter it is now December 4th, but, for you, I hope it answers, “What the **** happened to 2024?” I feel better because the letter helped me understand it a little better too.
Love, Mary and Jim