Christmas Letter 2012 – Margaret and Roger Johnson

Andrew & Becky are married in Budapest

As years go this has been eventful to say the least. Andrew, after meeting Becky, the girl of his dreams, proposed to her in February on the anniversary of their first meeting. It happened on top of a mountain overlooking Lake Como on a very snowy weekend – how romantic is that! She said ‘yes’ of course and so from then on all the talk was about the forthcoming wedding which took place at the Hilton in Budapest, Becky’s home town, on September 8th, Margaret’s birthday. It was a wonderful day with Roger taking part in both the wedding ceremony and the reception afterwards. Both talks were translated into Hungarian and spoken interleaved in the two languages. Guests came from many parts of Europe and beyond including family and friends from the UK. After the wedding we enjoyed several days in Budapest meeting Becky’s family and sight-seeing. After their honeymoon in Lanzarote they moved into a new house just outside Geneva in a small village named Challex. Andrew continues to work at the UN and Becky is also trying to get on their books after she completes her PhD.

The two of us took a short breather in May after Roger’s small operation and we tasted the delights of Menorca for the first time. It was a beautiful island and we were blessed with good weather, much relaxation, a chocolate fountain in the restaurant most days and a teenzy bit of Sangria.

At Castle Godolo

Esther continues her work at Range Master in Long Eaton, cycling to work along the river whenever she can. She completed the 50 mile Greater Nottingham Bike Ride this year (Dad sat this one out). Esther also continues to pursue her interest in crafts and has also become a Phoenix trader (greeting cards).

Margaret continues to work at the Cheshire Home as Activities Organiser inspite of changes of staff which have made life harder for her. She enables the residents to get out and about on trips and events. She has no plans to retire. Church commitments are high on her agenda with the on-going Alpha Course (around 27 so far) and she helps lead her Cell Group. We both play badminton on a Monday night and Margaret enjoys her body conditioning and Zumba classes.

For Roger this has been a taxing year on both fronts. He had to restructure his web design business and re-focus on new markets. Church work has been unexpectedly challenging and the two together have meant long hours with too little time for relaxation.  He sometimes wishes life would return to ‘normal’ but it seems that these days, ‘normal’ has been redefined with a constant stream of emails demanding instant attention and an ever-increasing backlog.

However, in spite of this we enjoyed a belated Anniversary weekend in Whitby in November. For the first time ever we tasted the delights of the Magpie Fish and Chip restaurant – excellent!

On a sad note, Roger’s Mum died peacefully in hospital in September. We had just returned from Andrew and Becky’s wedding when she was taken into hospital on a couple of occasions but they never got to the root cause of the problem and in the end she suffered from a pulmonary embolism. The funeral took place in October on a bright sunny day at Wilford Hill. We paid tribute to The Oaks, the care home where she spent the last months of her life and who treated her brilliantly.

On a final up-beat note, we are looking forward to spending Christmas in Geneva with Andrew and Becky and making preparations for our initiation into ‘Grandparenthood’ at the end of January. We look forward to a new phase in our lives as ‘oldies’.

We wish you all every blessing for Christmas and the New Year.