Mo's Merry Meanderings: Christmas 2025

Merry Christmas, dear family and friends 🎄!! December 2025

This is the first year in decades that I’m only doing an online Christmas newsletter and no mailed cards. It’s more or less a preemptive plan because at some point it will be too hard to pull it off, and I thought a gradual transition would be better than an abrupt end.

We hope everyone has had a fantastic year! Ours has had the usual ups and downs but mostly ups, so it’s been a very good one. The kids and grandkids are all doing well, and we all still love living close to each other. Starting with the youngest family member:

Boo turned 5 in August and is still the heart of our little condo life. She’s the sweetest dog and has become sort of a condo mascot since everyone here knows her. Boo keeps us active with walks around the property and in the adjacent neighborhood.

Sam turned 13 in October, so we now have 6 teenagers in the family! His passion is football and he recently competed in his first middle school playoffs. He’s a really good kid. He’s now playing basketball on the 7th great team. Sam recently asked Jesus into his heart, and in September the Cribbies had a family baptism. Dave baptized Jenni, Zoey, Ruby, Maggie, and Sam during a church-wide baptism ceremony.

Etta will turn 15 next month and is tall, willowy, and so sweet. She is very artistic and loves all kinds of craft projects. She is enjoying her freshman year of high school. It’s hard to believe she’ll be getting her learner’s permit soon, and she is already practicing in parking lots with her dad.

Maggie turns 15 just 10 days after Etta and will also be eligible for her learner’s permit. Soon we will have 5 teenage drivers in the family! Maggie is passionate about volleyball and played on the girls’ team at school this fall. Her other passion is crocheting, and she doesn’t hesitate to try new projects of much more difficulty than anything I’ve ever tried. (Oops! Maggie should have been before Etta!!)

Ruby will be 17 in March and is our family deadpan comic. We never know what she’s going to come up with, and she always catches us off guard. Ruby is a high school junior and enjoys anything involving service. She’ll be getting her driver’s license soon, so the Cribbies are about to face that age-old concept of vehicle roulette.

Leo turned 17 in August and is 6’4” and still growing. He played volleyball during the fall season and is now on the varsity basketball team. However, he fell during practice recently and fractured his elbow, so unfortunately he’s “character building” on the bench for the first few games of the season as he recovers. Leo and Josh are getting very close to finishing restoring Josh’s grandfather’s farm Jeep and it will be road-worthy soon.

Zoey will turn 19 on December 28th, which is also Jenni’s and Dave’s 23rd anniversary. She graduated from high school in May, earning her school’s coveted Legata award, the highest honor presented by the school. She is now a freshman nursing student and is earning her education by babysitting, house/pet sitting, and her photography business. Zoey is a phenomenal photographer for one so young. She has an exquisite eye for composition and great editing skills. Take a look at her work on Instagram (Zoey Michele Photography) and on her website: https://zoeymichelephotogr.wixsite.com/photography.

Erika and Josh are hard at their jobs of raising their two wonderful kids while juggling work, family, and extracurricular activities. Christ is the center of their home, giving them the ability to balance everything while giving Him the glory. Josh continues to excel in his design manager position at GM Financial, and Erika cherishes and educates her preschoolers who love her. They celebrated their 22nd anniversary in September. All 4 Wieses are great friends and servants to many in their church and community.

Jenni and Dave are also experts at balancing family, work, worship, and activities because there is love and Jesus at the heart of their home. Dave is still teaching robotics at Parish Episcopal School. He recently trained for and ran a 50k (33 miles!) trail race around Grapevine Lake. Jenni maintains her doTERRA business and has expanded her sourdough business, now with an online ordering site. Her breads and chocolate chip cookies are legendary. The whole family also serves in their church home regularly.

Tony and I are still happily enjoying retirement at the lake with Boo. Having all the kids less than 4 miles away is the cherry on top. Tony’s AFib condition is under control but I’m starting to fall apart! I had right shoulder rotator cuff and biceps tendon repair surgery in May, and now my left shoulder and both knees are giving me fits. The question is not if I’ll need more surgery but which to do first. My money’s on my left knee.

This September we met my sister Lisa and b-i-l Bob in Boston and took a wonderful cruise to Portland, Oregon, and New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, Canada. An extra special treat was connecting with my childhood friend and Maine resident Terry and her husband Al in Portland. Next month we are joining Lisa and Bob plus our cousin Pat and hubby Jeff in San Juan, PR, for a southern Caribbean cruise. Nothing like leaving the January cold for a week in the tropics!

Our whole family wishes you all the joy and blessings of the season, and a very happy and prosperous 2026. We love and miss you all, and we hope we get to see you soon.