Christmas Letter - 2007

Merry Christmas and Happy 2008! We hope this letter finds you all healthy, happy, safe and not too busy!

2007 is hurtling towards it end at the speed of light, after a very full year, filled with many adventures, journeys, challenges and milestones to share.

Michael, almost 10, is now 5’3” (what!?!?). Now in the 4th grade (which, we are here to tell you is a whole different equation than 3rd grade), Mike has really focused in on several passions in the past year —- horse back riding, cooking, and music. This fall Mike lobbied successfully to add pipe organ lessons (yes, you just read pipe organ lessons) to the schedule, and now is studying with Dr. Susan Jane Matthews (Google her, be amazed) who is also the Director of the St. Paul’s Choir School, where Michael has just received his Dark Blue Ribbon in the Choristers. Mike also decided at the end of the summer that he would like to cook family dinner on Sunday nights — he likes to remind me constantly of the time that I halved the meat and doubled the breadcrumbs in a meatloaf to create a horrible brick on the plate dinner. Gnocchi, soup, pasta sauce all from scratch are some of Mike’s culinary achievements this fall. In fact, cooking has become quite the incentive for Mike — “Mike if you don’t finish your reading log, you can’t cook dinner tonight.” (Yes I get that I am probably the only mother on the planet saying this, but it’s working so I’m sticking with it!)

Liam has just turned 7! He is now in the 1st grade at a new school for us Arbor Bay, which is a non-public K-8 school for kids with mild-to-moderate learning and communication disorders or delays. We feel so fortunate to have Liam at Arbor Bay — it has been a transformative experience for us all. He is in a class with 3 other kids who are close to him in terms of special needs (and one other who also uses a speech device during class). His teach Mrs. King (and everyone there) believes in Liam like we do, and she and the other teachers there are working with him on academics, speech, fine and gross motor, and a whole host of other stuff that typical kids work on. Liam also is horseback riding now (of course at a different barn than Mike, to make it more complicated for Pete!) at the B.O.K Ranch which specializes in for people with disabilities, and looks forward to “big, horse, white, Zeke” every week.

Liam has become a rabid fan of the St. Ignatius Freshman Football team — the Cats — for which his uncle Tim is a defensive coach, and can be heard many times every day ringing out with an enthusiastic “go Cats!” — or when they lose, “Cats no win? Why?”

Pete has (finally) crossed over the 40 line, which we celebrated with many friends in November. (We went from no party, just golf, to party + golf, to theme party + golf). He still makes it all happen on the home front and is now in his 12th year at A&B Produce, where he is still working half-time (kick Mike out of the car in San Mateo at 8am, drive to Belmont, stop get coffee, drive to Redwood Shores, kick Liam out of the car, get to work. Work. 1pm leave work and off to the afternoon races!) He reminds everyone that he’s been a New England Patriot fan since the dark days of the 1986 Superbowl! Pete’s become even more interested in birds in the past year — next time you see him, ask him to empty out his cargo short pockets — bird charts and binoculars are never far away! Active at church, Pete is now an usher (he’s the one in the back who looks like a secret service agent), among many other things there.


We made a 2-week trip to Scotland and Ireland in June. First we visited our friend Lisa Eunson at her church in Banchory, Scotland (near Aberdeen) where she and her whole congregation welcomed us with open arms to tea, pony trekking, golf, and organ playing, and jumping fish watching. We can’t wait to go back!

From Scotland we flew to Ireland and spent 6 days with Pete’s sister Anne and the cousins, Eion, Lizzie and Ciara in Caherciveen on the tip of the Ring of Kerry, where they have a home. Anne’s husband Stephen was able to come for a day so we were able to catch up with the whole clan. We had a fabulous time! Swimming (well running in and running out of the cold water), pony trekking, castle and fort climbing, admiring cows and sheep, and roving the countryside — we can’t wait to go back there either! 

Once back in the States, Pete took the boys to Kansas to see Pete’s parents Sue and Jerry for almost a week. And then the boys made their way to Wisconsin to spend the rest of the summer with my father at Camp McEnany on Lake Altoona. We were very excited that my sisters Abby and Lizzie were also able to come to the land of cheese this summer. We also made our annual trip to Madeline Island, and were thrilled that our friends Kristi and Chip Blundell and their kids Joey, Keane and Bran came with us for a second year.

We are so excited that Pete’s brother Tim and his wife Jen are back in San Francisco, and are looking forward to seeing them a LOT in the new year. (Now they won’t answer their phone if they see it’s us!)

I’ve had a busy year. Double Forte turned 5 in September and I think is moving in a really good direction. I’ve continued on the board of Community Gatepath (where Liam was part of the 0-3 program) and will expand my role there a bit next year. I was also asked to join the board of NCPB (which operates KQED FM and TV among others), and after vowing to say no to any requests, decided to say yes to this one — so am looking forward to that. I also help out at church with the Choir School and this year the Pageant costumes (if you’re there, don’t look too closely — you’ll see that my glue gun has not gone into total hibernation since the time Pete asked me why I needed 3 of them!)

So only room for one quote this year. I started: “Mike, I won’t be able to help you with dinner tomorrow because Julie, Kristi and I are going to a mom class.” “How many weeks is that?” said Mike. “It’s only a few hours Mike,” I replied. To which he said “is that enough time mom?” And then his face almost split open with his grin. That there is the Caraher house in a nutshell.

We hope you take time to celebrate this season and that 2008 is healthy, safe and joyful for you, and we wish for peace and safety and reason in the world.

Happy 2008! Love, Lee, Pete, Mike, Liam and Al the Cat