Christmas Letter 2005

Click for larger image

Our house has been under construction during much of this year. We had our windows replaced, ceramic coating applied to the house's exterior, and cellulose insulation blown into the ceiling and walls. We discovered why our add-on was so cold in the winter and so hot in the summer - the previous owners simply slapped thin paneling to both sides of the frame. We had dry wall installed on the inside and the exterior wall stucco'd. This along with the new windows and insulation has much improved our energy efficiency. Then we had both our bathrooms remodeled from the ground up, moving the shared wall to make the space in both bathrooms more efficient and comfortable. We also have done some major work on the yard, both front and back.

Brian is still selling Saturns at the Cerritos Auto Square, it has been over 5 years already. As #1 Salesperson on his team Brian represented his team at GM's Exselleration in Las Vegas with the top salespeople from the other teams at his store, and top salespeople from around the nation. He is also still volunteering with OES, and he was almost deployed to New Orleans in September.

Marybeth is still working as a bookkeeper at Crossroads Country Club Pet Resort. And Marybeth is still walking Miss Dasha. One of our workmen let Frances (our tortoise) loose - we haven't seen her since the summer. And our last fish, Dakota passed onto fishy heaven. We just have the goldfish in our pond - some of them have grown quite large - 4" from 1" feeders we purchased from the pet store. Also, Norma, Brian's Grandmother adopted a Beta named Roger.

The Schirmer Family has welcomed a new addition this year - Michael Kian was born to Marybeth's Brother, Greg, and his Wife, Rana, on September 13th. It's Rana's parents' first grandchild and the Greg's Parents' 4th grandchild, but the first one who doesn't live on the other side of the continent (GA).

Having been sick off and on since August, finally catching pneumonia, Marybeth decided to keep her distance. Brian and her photographed the new center of attention.

We had a chance to get away twice this year. In May, we spent a quiet, relaxing 4-day weekend in Big Bear. We stayed in one of our timeshare condos. We took a tour of the lake on the Sierra Belle Riverboat, enjoyed a peaceful ride on one of Big Bear's ski lifts, ventured the backwoods on an off-road tour, and barreled down the hill on bobsleds.

Click here to view
more photos.

We finally had a chance to visit Hawaii in the beginning of October. We spent 9 days at the Royal Lahaina, on Maui. We participated in a number of excursions, including biking down Haleakalā, flying down ziplines, parasailing, snorkeling, driving the Road to Hana, just to name a few.

Click here to view more photos.

In November, Voices of Joy and St. Angela Singers (the two choirs in which Marybeth sings) - performed in the Sister's Christmas Catechism (Late Night Catechism series) at the La Mirada Theatre for Performing Arts on the 5th, 19th, and 20th. Marybeth's dad and his choir from St. Juliana's performed on the 17th. The theatre put out offers to all the local churches for choirs of 4 or more to volunteer their time in exchange for comp'd tickets to give to friends and family. They caroled at the beginning of the show and rejoined the gang on stage at the end for a living Nativity at the end of the show.