Clinch Christmas Letter 2020

(Kwaanza and Channukah and Earth Day/Solstice and Boxing Day included).

 

I am not sure that I have ever written a family Christmas letter before, but here is this one starting Thursday, the 3rd of December, the "year of the pandemic", aka the "Wuhan flu" (some of us voted for neither The Donald nor Pepe Biden, so we recognize all nicknames of the Biblical plague). A neighbor wrote a rather robust Christmas letter that we received just a couple hours ago, and I believe it inspired me. I can do better than that! Here goes!

 

We are starting with the youngest Clinch. She is younger than even the 10-12 pound dog that we acquired two years ago. And, you will definitely see more about that little life form in the paragraphs below, so don't you worry, gentle reader! Happy Holidays and enjoy!

Belen, age 9

 

Our youngest daughter turned nine in March, coming to the end of her third grade year at her new elementary school Meadowland.  Belen (which has an accent on the second "e" in proper Spanish) had been attending our kids' elementary school from our old house, over a mile away, Sugar Land. She had been going there since kindergarten when in the previous October (2019) she and mother Jennifer left rather abruptly because Jennifer relocated as a teacher to Park View High School. More on that later. Belen adjusted well and soon made new friends, seeing a few children she knew from church. Belen enjoys playing certain games on line, like Roblox and Minecraft; she is a good artist, drawing on whiteboards, papers, or whatever media that she gets her hands on. She has taken some ukulele lessons, and plays some nice songs on it and has a beautiful singing voice.

At any time of day or night the angelic or soulful voice of Belen can be heard bellowing, floating, emanating through the rafters and beams of our abode, echoing the joyous strains or mournful dirges of fantasy and delight. Belen loves our Chinese import white with black tinges Bella. Sometimes her Dad wishes that his daughter would understand the language of Bella a bit faster, like why she might whimper, bark, jump and wag her tail, but you can't have everything. Belen also has learned to tickle the ivories of the piano this year, much of it with her oldest sister.

Belen visited the beach numerous times this year, as far off as Florida, both coasts, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and this past Thanksgiving in Virginia Beach. She was able to visit a lot with cousins in the summer, especially Elise.

Belen had to finish school virtually and start up this fourth grade year at home on her school laptop, and she is doing pretty well. Her teachers like her, she likes the classes pretty well, and starting this week of December she is attending twice a week in person. Belen is sometimes hard to get up in the morning but once she is going, she is a ball of enthusiastic energy and we love her. Even the dog.

 

Oh, yeah. She knows that she is beloved among her cousins, aunts and uncles all across the country, grandparents in at least three states, her school and church friends, including teachers, and her Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and all the brethren and sisters of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Kaleel, age 12

 

Kaleel is a pretty cool cat. He turned 12 in September and was the oldest one on his fall baseball team, which had a lot of extremely young players who made them weaker than most, so even with his contributions they did not win many games. However at the end of the season he pitched them into the semi-finals, which qualified them for the championship game where they lost, partially because he wasn't allowed to pitch, due to his stellar work the game before to get them there in the first place. He did play catcher quite a bit, which is an admirable position to play. And, the pitcher that he was required to catch for was a fire thrower, an oversized boy for his age and grade.

 

Kaleel, like his little sister, likes many of the same games on line. He has a good habit in writing in his journal is his church Family Search account, and he, like the rest of us, has watched a lot of streamed T.V shows during the pandemic: Psych, The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, Merlin, Star Trek, and a few more. Plus, all the video games and YouTube shows. What a great world of entertainment we live in. I encourage him to read actual paper and script documents, and he does knock out some magazine articles from the Friend and the New Era. I see some books laying on the night shelves by his bed; not sure on the status of those. But as far as audible learning, he seems to be fine.

 

Kaleel's transition from 6th grade to 7th grade has been challenging like with all the kids who have been exiled from their classrooms this year of the pandemic, but he has dealt with the adaptations pretty well. He has been happy on our family vacations, from what we can tell, and he has been fun to be around before and after vacations, from what we can tell. He has gotten better at ping pong, has played a lot with the Kruse twins, has been good at passing sacrament as a new deacon, and is helpful and lovable in and around the house. He even walks the dog sometimes!

 

I have played some basketball with him a little, and some real tennis, but not enough. We have done some good food deliveries a couple of times for those that need it, and baseball was pretty fun as much as I could be there. We love having Kaleel in our family and he is a good citizen, a funny guy, and a loyal deacon of the church. One of the best journal writers of our family!

Edmund, age 14

 

Of all the Clinch kids, the transition during quarantine and virtual classes has been pretty hard on this guy. He is doing okay, and many times he is totally in his groove, and super helpful and on point; but finishing up 8th grade and starting up freshman year on a laptop away from school has not been really thrilling or helpful for Edmund.

Participating in most of the activities with the family, I would say the year has definitely not been a total loss for this young man. Edmund was a huge force in helping stand up a back yard pool, which we were able to purchase and buy a second, which we made a tidy profit on (about 600 bucks - not bad). Edmund was incredibly creative, showed impressive ingenuity, and demonstrated perspicaciousness in this endeavor, which ended up benefiting dozens and dozens of us during this socially isolated and physically restrained summer of closed-up public pools and general kibosh on fun. Even Church online, to include Young Men's activities (not to mention that our faith pulled away from the Boy Scouts) became somewhat of a drag.

Edmund did become a legend of Zelda himself this year, I must stay ( I only saw 1/500th of the levels accomplished, goblets vanquished, monsters engaged and spat upon, villagers annoyed or terrorized; hills, rivers, mountains, and valleys traversed, weapons hoarded, food stuffs packed away... Edmund stayed up late reading some genuine old fashioned books, which I consider fed his brain, (better than some of his siblings, although life is not a competition, but then again in the scheme of things we are competing against 7 billion other souls on the planet, plus some other life forms and Artificial Intelligence, so reading things and knowing and understanding words and concepts is kind of a big deal). On the down side, staying up late reading or streaming media and other 2020 non-sense, including late night ping pong or cousin related shenanigans, made it harder for him to arise the next day. Edmund has stayed in bed a bit too much this year, which reminds me of Joseph Smith Jr. collapsing on a fence from exhaustion, but that did include multiple visits by an angel during the night portending to the final dispensation of humankind, not chilling and goofing off with cousins Lance, Cade, McCabe, and Lowen. Plus Soli, you were around, too! And Jacinda... More on those last two cousins later...

Edmund, Kaleel, and I had a really fun trip up to Ticonderoga New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine (plus Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Long Island on the way home) in August. We climbed a really tough mountain called Double Top, which was amazing and hard, but fun; we saw and recorded otters cavorting and freestyle canterwheeling with their cute snorts, chirps, and grunts, a true unexpected National Geographic moment; we canoed and kayaked, camped out, had dinners and deserts by campfire, swam with the beautiful call of loons across massive ponds that were big enough to have islands in them, and generally did not irritate each other too much, except for that one gas stop swinging back through New Hampshire when I had to take a break and took a walk around a Big J or some such membership food and merchandise store popular in that great state of granite. Culture. Learning all the time: thanks Edmund. You have added so much to my life.

Edmund started seminary this fall, but it has been a chore at such early hours, online, only twice a week synchronously but with all the other classes it adds up to a lot to do and accomplish, even with his mom being one of the teachers. Edmund has participated pretty well in most of our family Book of Mormon studies, and has done some research on the virtues and vicissitudes of historical and religious figures like the Prophet Joseph Smith and his successor, Brigham Young.

Edmund has been a teacher in the Aaronic priesthood, so he has been good about preparing the sacrament at church, but this has been curtailed because of the pandemic. We did get to do it a month ago, very sanitized and safe. Likewise as a ministering visitor, he was helpful as my new companion but it has been harder because of the ban of personal visits, which were cut off in March. He has made a few call up status calls for a family or two, which is appreciated, and we all recognize that the year has been hard to be a teen and and young man, and an ex-Boy Scout and enrolled in third year German. Third year German?! He has not lived in Austria or Germany like some young ladies we know... Might be time to pull that plug...

At the end of the day and the end of this inauspicious year, Edmund has made it and done some excellent things. But we all admit, next year may be much better. The future is bright.

Oh, one more thing. Edmund, like Kaleel, played on his baseball team this fall and probably added a good 3-4 runs of benefit to his team per game. They made it to the final game, Edmund contributing in fielding, hitting, and pitching to win most of their games, and lost the last one, 4 to 9. Many teammates had less than stellar days but they had a pretty good year. He was close to being MVP of his team, and with a few breaks the last day they were almost champions... not too shabby. And, I had almost forgotten, Kaleel and Edmund played on some local basketball teams at the beginning of the year 2020, and they had some fun times and contributed. As mentioned, us guys (and a few girls sometimes) played some casual round ball a few times this year, and my boys are taking steps on the old man... 

Ah, basketball. Us Hoosiers hold a certain reverence towards the game... 2020 has been hard on us viewers and fans, but that is more about me than Edmund and Kaleel , or the others.

Edmund is a keeper, and we love him, athletic ability or not. He's gotten really good at table tennis, too, which is my best sport. Soon enough he will surpass me in that. Edmund turned 14 in June, we had good times with cousins from Texas and Utah.

Madhya, age 16

 

Madhya, Madhya, Madhya: where to start? 

She is my favorite child. Just kidding! We don't do that as parents! But I must say, Madhya makes it easy to be a parent, by and large, which does not go unnoticed. Although, one more note about nieces and favorites: I think I have seven or eight (and possibly more coming) nieces, not to mention nephews, who live in Utah, the Beehive State; one of them messaged me this year and said that she was my favorite niece, or I was her favorite uncle, and such flattery goes a long way... Just saying. 

But no, all the children are our favorites, just not the Chinese bred dog... For the record.

Madhya finished up her sophomore year at Dominion much better than her freshman year, which was great to see, despite the ragin' contagion and a class-wide sickness that ravaged her class mates before the shutdown, the lock down, the quarantine, the "social distancing", the "new normal" and the end of of a certain presidency... 2020: who knew? Did you see the coded subtexts in the Bible? Some did...

Madhya started working at Jersey Mikes, which has been refreshing, and she has invested well in technology shares, which is impressive, and has done well in her classes, which is awesome. Madhya likes to help people, is loyal to her friends, has been a good ministering visitor, but I need to share a little dirt on her though...

Because Madhya --who is named after a state in central India-- who had her birthday in early June of this year, turning sweet 16, lives in the most cave-like part of our house of the basement, with no windows, sometimes Madhya seems to be a bit like a vampiress or a ground burrowing hermit creature, far away from the light of day and the rest of the family. Because her older sister lived outside the house much of the last scholastic year, there were times when Madhya seemed to have her own lair largely unbeknownst to the rest of the upstairs dwellers, and sometimes she was her own entity and master, which admittedly is good a for a mid-age teenager, learning to drive, learning to date, learning to make a regular pay check.

 

We love Madhya a lot;  there is more that I can say about her this year: how much we appreciate her and that she contributes to and for the family and others. She, like the rest of us, has had good family trips to the beaches, and I have left out multiple nice voyages to Harrsisonburg and the mountains, Washington D.C., and other local journeys to parks and neighborhoods. Madhya has nice circles of family friends, (cousins near and far, aunts and uncles and grandparents), highs school and church friends, work mates, and others that she conducts herself admirably with. Madhya is gifted musically and has artistic talents, to include dance and gymnastics; it appears she is now taller than Mom. 

 

She is an impressive reader too, which makes me feel good. She has passed college level courses, which saves time and money in the long run, but also fortifies her mind. It helps her be a better writer, and thinker, which is awesome.

She is quite the young lady, and she is weathering 2020 very well.

Journay, age 19

 

Journay! The firstborn in the wilderness! 

 

Journay is our pioneer, and from what I know it is not easy being the eldest in the family. When I think of my family, and my wife's family, and quite a few other families across time and space in our shared history, it is hard being the first, no matter the efforts of the parents. That is my observation of being the youngest of three.

Journay has had a good and a trying year; I will let her explain more of it to you through her writing and her conversation and postings, but as a parent I wanted to give some highlights and information regarding 2020 for her, a cool person who turned 19 in June. She has been on my radar since 2000, when Jen started carrying her, and she has made a huge difference in my life ever since.

Journay started living with a group of young ladies in an apartment off-campus in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in August 2019, attending Blue Ridge Community College nearby in order to knock out some college requisites and save money at the same time while preparing to transfer to the four year school, JMU. This carried over into 2020. Journay looked at some local cafes and restaurants for part time work, but ended up working for a family to assist their autistic teenage girl, which was rewarding for Journay but eventually became onerous; she enjoyed the experience and associations at that home but by the end of  the summer 2020 and into the next school year it seemed like a year of work there was enough. 

 

Journay began school at JMU, first in person as she opted this past fall and then went virtual as COVID-19 became more of a threat campus wide. At a certain point Journay knew that these full time and then part time courses were not working for her, so she withdrew and moved in with us in Sterling for most of the end of the year 2020. She decided to sub-lease her apartment in Harrisonburg for the 2021 year, transfer from James Madison to another Virginia school, acquire Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) qualifications over the winter, and do part time uber eats food delivery to make some money. We love having her back in the house with us, which also helps us put off getting a fourth family car for our household, since Madhya now is a licensed driver since November, last month.

Journay and I both enjoy reading and writing and investigating/analyzing ideas and new things, (and old things), and we know we are linked intellectually, spiritually, psychologically. She enjoys great relations with her mother and all her siblings, and she is wonderful help to some of us depending on our needs. As noted, she is gifted in music and has taught Belen piano lessons, has assisted Edmund with Geometry and other virtual class difficulties, and is a part of our spiritual lessons and church attendance.

 

There is a lot more to tell about Journay in 2020, but suffice to say that she has grown and learned a lot; college and being grown up has progressed for her as it must for all of us. There are no rules, per se, in how to be a "big person", how to become educated (side note to a cool book that we both shared and read, by Tara Westover) but there are errors that are hard to erase or overcome and so far Journay seems to have avoided those pitfalls.

Not to be a negative Nancy, but I see a lot of silver linings in Journay's life now and in the past year, and while 2020 may have been one of the hardest for personal and general reasons, I think this year was good for her and us. We love her and appreciate all her efforts and contributions, and look forward to this next year and many years down the road. Her friends, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and other associations casual, community, and professional very much appreciate her and I personally look forward to books, music, and memories from Nay's 2020, and before and after, in the months and years to come.

As I speak (today December 6, Sunday) she is in her Harrisonburg apartment, doing her last actions and making her last amends there before moving on to the next places and chapters of her life.

Nay Nay: she will always be our baby but is a formidable individual in her own right, and please talk to her about all the great things going on, and some that already happened.

Jennifer, age 46

 

No matter the year, Jen usually comes out better for the wear. I have known her twenty years, and I cannot think of a bad one for her. This year 2020 has been a hard year for everyone, in many senses, but Jennifer spent much of it working full time as a English as a Second Language high school teacher in math, much of the time learning the content to teach and explain as she went. Very adaptable. At the same time she was always the full time mom, which in many ways became more complicated with pandemic and the lock down, because the teaching online was more nuanced and frustrating, and the students in the house were also the same (see many of the above children cited); I wasn't always a dream housemate, either. 

 

In the summer of 2020 Jennfer was called as a new seminary teacher for our ward, which filled much of her summer time with studying and new classes and technologies to be proficient as a virtual teacher, which ended up benefiting her high school skills and the teachers that she co-taught with at Park View.

Jen had a few bigger plans for 2020 before the pandemic kicked in hard in March. Knowing that we (the husband and wife duo) were celebrating the 20th year of our marriage, and that yours truly was turning 50 years old later in the year, and that for many years (like 18?) the only U.S. state that I have not been to was Alaska, Jennifer put some thought and planning into a very cool Alaskan cruise that we were to embark on in May. Did. Not. Happen. 

As you may know, cruise ships became death traps and everything stopped moving and was shut down by March or so. Air flights were cancelled left and right, let alone ocean liners, so we saved our tickets and payments for some future date. Still pending, we will let you know.

Jen loves to do many things, which obviously includes time for herself, which she does not have a lot of in general. But, she mercifully makes do with what she has. Occasionally she gets down time for a nap, or a nice outing, or meal, or show. She loves to read, among other things, and got some spiffy eyeglasses this year that work for her specific needs, instead of only using the generic magnifying eye wear that she would buy in bulk from the grocery store or Walmart. 

She managed to cater to the eye, teeth, medical, food, logistical, academic, and many other needs of the children and husband (and at times friends and family) through out this year. As usual, but with newer challenges. She made a lot of money, but more importantly worked hard keeping everybody happy, at times at her own expense. She is the coolest person I know in that regard. She has appreciated some extra home time and loves being dedicated to her children and family.

Jen made it to some new sites and beaches this year, has done her share of building, refitting, moving, furniture and other household items. She loves to sleep at night, but sometimes other things come first.

I consider Jennifer the solid pillar of the home; everything good happens based on her willingness to participate, plan, prepare, share, and give.

There are many other highlights to share about Jennifer this year 2020, and some challenges dealt with, but just letting you know that I am the luckiest, to quote Ben Folds, among others. She can sing like a pro, dance like a bopper, cook like a chef, and laugh like a buddy, and she even does most of the cleaning up and care for the dog, which is supposed to be the kids' thing. That had been a stipulation... But she does all that and most of our laundry, too. I wish I could afford a maid for her, but she saves the budget in that aspect, too. She makes and saves money all the time. Sometimes she splurges on fries at the local fast food joint... 

Ya gotta live, at the end of the day. She does. 2020 has been great for all those who know her. Or at least better than it would have been without her.

Dad/Ed/Eduardo, age 50

 

This is my Christmas letter, so I take most of the ownership of it. Thanks all in advance for sharing and possibly feeding back responses and interchange regarding it or other aspects in the lives of the Clinches.

The views, opinions, facts, jokes, lies, comments, details, insights, revelations, grand hyperboles, memories, analysis, reviews, assessments, and any other innuendo or implications of the above and below writings in this letter are mostly mine and mine alone. There is a strong possibility in many cases that things could be wrong. I might wake up in the middle of the night and it may come to my attention that I forgot an essential element of 2020 as per a Clinch person or the entire family. Look for addendum add ons and/or amendments in the future. This is not a dead document, as you may or may not know.

2020 has been good enough for me.

Most of all my essential people are alive and healthy, which I value above all else.

I do note that I (and we) lost a few friends this year, by name: Amarea W., Mary D., Lorraine K. , Derek S., Joyce D.. Also, due to church lock downs and the comings and going of life, some really nice people have moved away or moved on. Some others have entered into my life this year, which is nice. My civilian work, my military relations, and my church friendships have gone on in mostly good ways, and I truly value and appreciate all the people involved. There are many, too many to mention here. For example, a soldier and I have become pretty good friends since October or September, and that goes into my book of life and as a 2020 milestone or mark of significance. I have played and interacted with my basketball and baseball friends and cohorts, which is so good for me, because I have the capacity to sit down (or lie down) with a show or a game or a book and be good for hours and hours). I am pretty good at finding places for our typical Sunday walk excursions. Those are fun. Even with the Chinese bred dog.

I love having good experiences and times with my wife and family, and interaction with other family and friends; I feel I have had all of that this year. Despite the pandemic.

I have been gainfully employed and actively learning week to week, month to month, and relatively healthy, so I am very grateful for all these opportunities while others have suffered professionally or health-wise. My surviving father, step-mother, and step-dad have hung in there, the last of whom was married a couple months ago, and we welcome his bride Teresa into the family. I look forward to meeting her in person.

I am grateful for the relative peace of our land, the transition in democracy currently, kind family and friends across the globe, great bosses and colleagues, ample work and subject matter to engage.

I love certain sports teams, books, authors, periodicals, games (like chess), music, entertainment, and news sources, and I am eternally appreciative for all of them. I do not contribute to as much house hold chores and duties as much as my wife does, but I think I have been getting better than in years past.

I like serving in church and visiting and sharing when it comes to learning, worshiping, and fellowshiping. I love being a part of the law enforcement community, the military, my church, my priesthood organizations, helping coach the youth in baseball, being a proud alum of my universities and their representatives, which includes certain athletes and teams.

I love writing, blogging, sharing, interacting, and witnessing the good and bad of the planet, and I try to bring some more good from it.

2020 has been much harder on some; I am thankful and grateful for what I have and who I have.

That is my Christmas letter from me (us) to you this holiday season.

Enjoy the month and enjoy all that you can, of everything.

2020. Most of us made it. Then again, today is only Sunday the 6th and nothing is guaranteed.

Make the most of it. And take naps. If you have a dog, enjoy it despite the smelliness and the yap-yap-yap-yap...

Life is okay for the Clinches in 2020. Thanks for sharing it with us! We look forward to more shared times in the future.

Post -addendum: the dog passed in late winter / early spring of 2022. She had a good long life; she was loved by many and she loved us. We loved her. She was a good presence in our home, and we are grateful for her life. She made us laugh, and she could be pretty fun and comforting.

    See you in heaven, dear girl.