Thursday, December 30, 2021
2021 Family Newsletter and Happy 2022!
Farewell to 2020 and 2021.
We will see you all next year you dear Santas and Christmas Trees.
🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
Welcome 2022 with Elvis, The Beatles, Sherlock Holmes, Marilyn Munro, Paddington Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Cat in the Hat, Scrooge McDuck, Peter Pan, Goldilocks,
The Farmer in the Dell, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Humpty Dumpty and Thomas the Tank Engine.
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
What did the Griffiths Family get up to in 2021 I wonder? I won’t deny it… this year has been the most unusual one I have ever lived as it has been for the rest of the world, one we will never forget due to the lockdowns, the numbers rising, numbers dropping and now skyrocketing, the wearing of masks, the checking in and the stress we’ve all been feeling… even if we’d like to forget this year I’m afraid it will stay with us for along time to come… but I’m not going to go on about it I’m just going to remember the good things of 2021 for this Christmas Newsletter!
Gwilym left the council he was working for and started his own business advising other councils on how to manage their trees and parks, his first Client was Ku-ring-gai Council which is the area he grew up in and where his mum and dad still live. Emily has her own business supporting radio stations and putting on concerts etc which of course was a tad quiet for most of the year, the only difficulty Gwil and Em had was working from home as well as home schooling 8yo Remy and 5yo Elodie, thankfully Em’s mother Meg, who was once a teacher, set up ‘Grandma School’ from her home in Brisbane which Remy has just loved as has Elodie both in Sydney this has been wonderful and very successful for everyone. Last month Elodie joined and loves the ‘Nippers’ at Coogee Beach (Nippers is a surf training school within ‘Surf Life Saving Australia’) Remy on the other hand favours Tennis as his favourite thing to do, both very Australian sports! We have been lucky to be able to have seen everyone now and then, so lovely being able to see those two little ones growing up so fast, Elodie will be going to big school this year starting in Kindergarten at the same School as Remy.
Briony, Kate and James in Canberra we haven’t been able to see since October 2020… gosh that’s more than 14 months, we have enjoyed several long online chats and viewing on Messenger though which is always wonderful. Briony and Kate are still working mostly from home although Kate has gone into work occasionally, 7yo James has mostly done a lot of online schooling, although he was able to get into school a few times, we love seeing what is produced in abundance from their garden, I just realised its 4 years since we’ve been able to visit Canberra, but we did enjoy 3 weeks with them all here during the bushfires in Canberra in early 2020 - thank goodness for Messenger chatting and viewing online.
20 months and counting since we’ve seen our Macao Family in real life, we have enjoyed many online chats though. Tomos and Emma’s ‘Glee Club’ is going gangbusters with Em teaching the dancing and Tom teaching singing and Acting, we have been able to see little snippets of some of the shows they have put on which look such fun and they put on a big show just before Christmas which was sold out and I’ve been told was a lot of fun. I can’t get enough of Tom’s singing, he still has his beautiful voice!
Abigail is now 17yo and halfway through her final school year she has auditioned online with several Performing Arts Schools around the world, David and I are just amazed watching her dancing, just stunning.
Tilly will be 15 in early January and is also a brilliant dancer and performer I guess we shouldn’t be surprised as both parents are brilliant performers as well but seeing the little we are able to see them doing just leaves us in awe.
George will become a teenager next year … how do these little grandchildren of ours grow so quickly I wonder! George also performs with his parents and siblings but sailing and football are his passions. We have enjoyed a couple of 40-45minute chats with Abi as she’s walked from her school to rehearsals, she’s also teaching there as well. On this walk Abi shows us the beautiful relatively new paths through a wetland area and chats away, she says some of the people she passes look at her strangely as she chats away to nobody in sight.
Nerys and Tim, Jackson and Charlie we have been able to see now and then, which is lovely. The Community College Nerys organises classes with has struggled a bit with some classes being held online but all ready for 2022 classes. Tim’s work hasn’t changed and he’s enjoyed a lot of weekends kayaking on the beautiful waterways around our neck of the woods.
Jackson only has 9 months left of being a teenager! a grandchild in their 20’s?? Wow! Time does fly. Jack has really loved and excelled at his Mechanical Apprenticeship with Toyota although he did buy a Falcon Ute, (Falcons are very popular with the blokes in our family). We’ve been able to see both Jack and Jess a few times, such a delightful couple they are, lovely.
Charlie now 15yo has finished year 10 at our local High School and he’s been successful getting into SEDA College in Glebe for his final two years of High School, which will be quite a hike each day but this won’t bother him, he’s used to getting around our city. SEDA is a sports training school in not only sports but coaching, training and many other things which a sport involves, this all sounds brilliant for our Charlie.
Nerys turned 50 this year, a party wasn’t allowed but the most beautiful thing that happened was her friends all coming to her driveway with gifts and singing Happy Birthday to her, so heart warming and well deserved.
David has had a wonderful year restoring Gwilym’s 1966 Ford Falcon, still a long way to go yet though and working when allowed at ‘The Fleet’, the Sydney Steam Boat restoration yards which he really enjoys even if it is a tad tiring.
David's 12 month check up for bowel cancer was totally clear so no need to see those Dr’s for another 5 years. Yay!
I have also had a good year doing so many creative things… the first one I have to boast about is… I turned a Collar! Yes you read correctly… I turned a Collar on one of David's shirts! This is something that David asked me to do for him back in 1968 when he saw the Aunt of his friend turning a collar on an old shirt. Me no like mending but this year with plenty of time at home I gave it a go and it was a great success!
On a much more fun note I’ve made 6 Quilts, all but one given to family and friends. I finished knitting (for the 8th time the Aran jumper Gwilym is wearing, I’ve been knitting this pattern since 1967, I did unpick a cardigan I’d made in the 1980’s and was now just a tad ho-hum and turned it into a very comfortable vest and I made a few collections of Babushka's to hang on Christmas Trees.
Writing has been my thing this year with 4 books put together and one still on the go. The first book I did was an update of ‘Mystory’ which I first published in 2003 about Susan the child I adopted out, because our story is such an unusual one I asked a lot of our family plus Susan to contribute to this update which was wonderful to read but unfortunately with all the stuff going on in Canberra at the same time about rape allegations I suffered a Nervous Breakdown which has been so hideous involving lots of Dr visits etc but I am a lot better now thankfully and almost back to my good ole fun self.
The next three books I put together where a lot happier to write the first being my memories of my maternal Grandfather 'Poppa' and Grandmother 'Mama', I realised being the oldest of all my siblings and all my cousins I am the only one who remembers our beautiful Poppa well, I was 10 when he passed away, we all remember our Mama very well and with so much love.
The next was a photo book for Nerys’s 50th then a Photo book for my younger sister Meredith who turned 70 this year, both books had more than 150 photos in them, then I started writing my Memories of ‘Wollogorang’ so so many wonderful memories and so much history of this sheep station and the family as well… plus it was the place David and I first met. I’ve had to put it on hold for now but I’m very keen to get back into it next year! I also note in my 2020 Christmas Newsletter that I was going to write a book of my memories of driving the Icelandic team about during the 2000 Sydney Olympics, that's two books for 2022 which will keep me busy for a while.
I also made about 25-30 Masks for family and friends, here's some of them.
We hope you have all been able to keep on keeping on and we hope that we may see some of our family, extended family and friends one day soon.
Labels: 2021, Christmas Letters, New Year 2022
