{"id":267273,"date":"2023-12-18T14:23:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T19:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/?p=267273"},"modified":"2024-11-10T13:12:41","modified_gmt":"2024-11-10T18:12:41","slug":"the-ingram-christmas-letter-for-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2023\/12\/18\/the-ingram-christmas-letter-for-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ingram Christmas Letter for 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yes, it’s your favourite time of the year — the Ingram Christmas Letter is finally here! In what has become a somewhat depressing annual event, I am typing this in mid-December and it\u2019s plus 10 Celsius, not a trace of snow on the ground. The part of me that hates shovelling snow is happy, but the part of me that is concerned about global warming is not happy at all. In any case, on to the letter! I will do my best not to make this all about our 18-month-old granddaughter Quinn<\/a>, but it is going to be difficult, since I am convinced she is the cutest and smartest child who probably ever existed (it\u2019s possible there were some cuter and smarter children in ancient Greece, but I doubt it). As usual, the photos here are also available as a Google Photos album<\/a> or at the Ingram Family Photo Archive<\/a>  — which runs on an old computer in our daughter\u2019s bedroom, so please don\u2019t get mad if it\u2019s down. You can also find a more old-fashioned web version of this letter, complete with old-timey Santa images, at https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/christmas<\/a>. However you consume it, it’s the same great Ingram family content that you know and love!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since most of these letters are written before Christmas, they don\u2019t often include photos *from* Christmas, but I will make an exception in this case because of the aforementioned angel known as Quinnderella, who was a <\/a>vision in plaid<\/a> for her first Christmas. She appeared to have a great time, despite not really knowing what was happening, and at one point she appeared to be channeling her Scottish ancestors and telling a tall tale<\/a>, clad in her tiny sweater and plaid skirt. And someone upstairs must have heard us wish for a white Christmas, because we got a massive dump of snow just a few days before, and Meaghan \u2014 who was driving Becky\u2019s mother from Ottawa \u2014 had to be rescued from the blizzard by Wade and me. But once everyone was safe, the snow made it very pretty on hikes<\/a> around the property, making everything look like Narnia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Although many past years have begun with skating on the pond at The Farm in Buckhorn, that was not the case this year, because the combination of rain and snow made it impossible to get the ice ready. But the weather made it much nicer for\u00a0hiking in the woods<\/a>\u00a0with friends. We also had a visit with Quinn not far into the new year, at which point I had to engage in my standard interaction with babies, which is to hold them sitting on my\u00a0outstretched hand<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 something I do for as long as I can before the mother of said baby asks me to stop.\u00a0February brought more winter walks through the woods at The Farm, but also a\u00a0hint that spring\u00a0might<\/a>\u00a0be approaching. And since the canal in Ottawa never opened for skating due to said warmth, we spent our usual Winterlude trip\u00a0bowling<\/a>, as we have in recent years, and added a new event as well: axe throwing! Lots of fun, and the axes stuck in the target and not the participants, which was great. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon, it was time to visit sunny Florida, where we took the usual\u00a0romantic sunset photos<\/a>\u00a0at the beach. One highlight of the trip was a kayak journey around the bay in Venice, with Becky\u2019s brother and sister-in-law Dave and Jenn, as well as a couple of old family friends who happened to be in Florida at the same time, renting another home in the same village that Becky\u2019s family has a place. It was a beautiful day, and\u00a0much fun was had<\/a>. After that, we did a whirlwind trip out to Calgary, where Becky and I helped out with Mesh, the tech conference that I and some friends started way back in 2006, which one of our team has\u00a0recently resurrected<\/a>\u00a0after a COVID-induced hiatus. Meanwhile, Quinn was trying out her Easter outfit, which we all agreed was\u00a0a big hit<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then it was off to Italy on our annual trip to the journalism conference I go to in\u00a0Perugia<\/a>, which is a couple of hours north of Rome, in Umbria. Job number one after getting there was the obvious:\u00a0espresso and gelato<\/a>\u00a0at the gelateria next door to the Brufani Palace hotel, a gelateria that Becky likes to call my office. I reconnected with some fantastic friends and journalists who I only see once a year, and got to take part in some fascinating panels in interesting\u00a0venues like this one<\/a>, a restored cathedral. Becky and I also made our annual pilgrimage to our favourite Perugia location: a\u00a0circular pagan temple<\/a>-turned-church that dates back to the year 350 or so. And then it was off to the airport for our flight to the island of Sicily, which cost a whopping 27 Euros (checked bag extra). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We got to Catania and checked into a fantastic Airbnb apartment\u00a0overlooking a historic<\/a>\u00a0square.\u00a0This photo<\/a>\u00a0is just below the same apartment in the daytime. We met our friend Anna in Sicily, and drove in our rental car south to Noto, a lovely little town on a hill, with some beautiful\u00a0Baroque churches<\/a>\u00a0and other buildings (Anna explained that most of the buildings are Baroque because everything before that was wiped out in an earthquake in the 1600s). It was a beautiful sunny day, and the view from the churches \u2014 some of which allowed you to go out\u00a0onto a rooftop patio<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 was\u00a0spectacular<\/a>. From Noto, we drove town to the seaside, but it was so early in the season that everything was closed. Luckily, Anna spoke to a man who said he knew a little place that made of some of the best aroncini (rice balls filled with meat) in Italy. We followed him to a little\u00a0cafe\/bakery<\/a>\u00a0in a small town nearby and sure enough, they had some amazing aroncini \u2014 they were half as big as my head, and delicious. Then we headed north to Siracusa, where we found a\u00a0beach and went for a swim<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 it was cold, but the sun was lovely, and the water was clear and turquoise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back in Catania, we found a lovely restaurant in an alleyway with paper umbrellas forming an arch\u00a0over the entire street<\/a>, and had an incredible seafood dinner, then walked around the historic square, where we may or may not have had some gelato. The next morning it was off to Mount Etna, because what else would we do on our vacation but climb up an active volcano? We rented boots and ski poles (thank God for both)\u00a0and\u00a0helmets<\/a>\u00a0at what passes for base camp, about 1,900 metres or 6,000 feet up. Then we took a shuttle bus up to about 2,500 metres, where we started our\u00a0climb<\/a>\u00a0up the sliding piles of volcanic rock \u2014 and the first red flag that should have alerted us to what we were in for was that we had to take a bus because it was too windy to use the gondola.\u00a0We hiked up from 2,500 metres to about 3,000 metres with a guide, and it was a real slog in parts \u2014 at a couple of points we were literally bent in half to try to keep from\u00a0getting blown off<\/a>\u00a0the volcano, and the little rockslides that happened now and then were super fun as well. But we\u00a0survived<\/a>! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was what I call \u201csecond-order fun\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s not much fun while you are doing it, but fun to talk about later. The next day we headed up north to Taormina, a lovely coastal town with some\u00a0spectacular vistas<\/a>\u00a0and hotels \u2014 one of which was used for some of the filming of the TV show\u00a0White Lotus<\/em>, which was set at the San Domenico Palace, right on the cliffside\u00a0overlooking the sea<\/a>. That\u2019s not why we went to Sicily, but we went to see the hotel \u2014 unfortunately, they wouldn\u2019t let us in. So we went to the\u00a0nearby ruins<\/a>\u00a0of an amphitheatre, which also had amazing views. And then we went to another beach, where of course I had to go for\u00a0another swim<\/a>, despite Anna\u2019s warning that there were stinging jellyfish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in Canada, we went to see\u00a0Hamilton\u00a0<\/em>the musical at the\u00a0Princess of Wales<\/a>\u00a0theatre\u00a0in Toronto for a combination Mother\u2019s Day and 60th birthday present for Becky (since her actual birthday was during COVID), and\u00a0it\u00a0was great<\/a>. We had some visits with\u00a0Quinnderella<\/a>, and spring started to spring forth in the\u00a0gardens<\/a>\u00a0around the house in Buckhorn. Pretty soon it was time to head up to the cottage to get a look at the massive pine tree that decided to fall during the winter \u2014 and by some miracle, this\u00a060-foot-tall\u00a0tree<\/a>\u00a0wedged itself in a tiny space between the cottage, the woodshed, and a cabin. But we didn\u2019t have time to clean it up; we spent the weekend putting up windows\u00a0on the porch<\/a>, creating a room which we can use when it\u2019s buggy or windy or raining. My nephews Scott and Curtis, my son-in-law Wade and I even went for a (quick)\u00a0swim<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it was time for Quinnderella\u2019s\u00a0first birthday party<\/a>, which had a ball pit and a water table and a slide and somehow it all fit in Caitlin and Wade\u2019s\u00a0backyard<\/a>. And when we got together with Becky\u2019s family at a resort near Kingston with a bunch of rental cabins, we had\u00a0another birthday party<\/a>. We even introduced Quinn to her cousin Brynlee Ann, who was born on Quinn\u2019s first birthday and made the trek up to Otter Lake despite being only\u00a0a\u00a0few days old<\/a>! Back at the cottage, we had all the usual kinds of summer fun paddling around the lake and swimming off the boat, and we had a special guest in July, when our friend Anna came for a visit from Italy \u2014 went to\u00a0see the bald eagles<\/a>\u00a0on a nearby island, had\u00a0a\u00a0big dinner<\/a>\u00a0in our new\u00a0screened-in<\/a>\u00a0porch, and Anna and I spent a day hiking the Track and Tower Trail through Algonquin Park up to a fantastic\u00a0lookout<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since Caitlin was off all summer, we had lots of time with her and Quinn at the cottage, playing in the sand and going for walks. Just look at\u00a0this<\/a>\u00a0fantastic picture of Quinn and Caitlin at the beach. Pure joy! Later in the summer we did our annual\u00a0backwoods camping\u00a0trip<\/a>\u00a0with Marc and Kris, and this time we did a couple of portages from Little Wren Lake in the Algonquin Highlands into Raven Lake and then into Gun Lake. And we took some friends as well \u2014 Patrice and Therese came, and they were real\u00a0troupers<\/a>. And along the way, there were lots of\u00a0kayak\u00a0paddles around<\/a>\u00a0a mirror-flat lake, some beautiful\u00a0sunsets<\/a>, and even some golf in the fall, where Becky and I had a great game on a lovely fall day and\u00a0made a\u00a0new friend<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fall also brought some spectacular\u00a0colours<\/a>\u00a0on the lake, and then soon it was time for Thanksgiving. Our new screened-in porch was unfortunately not very useful for Thanksgiving, because it suddenly turned from being 30 degrees Celsius to being 3 degrees and rainy.\u00a0So we brought the tables\u00a0inside<\/a>. And of course we went for our\u00a0annual hike<\/a>\u00a0to the top of the lookout. And Zoe even made it home in time from Australia, where she was\u00a0visiting her boyfriend Jack<\/a>\u00a0(why did she choose to date someone who lives 10,000 miles away? You\u2019d have to ask her!). She has also been loving her new apartment in the Junction area of Toronto, and is rising up quickly in the ranks of customer service at Empire Life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A big fall project was roofing part of our cottage and my cousin Chris\u2019s cabin, which Scott and Curtis and Wade took charge of, since they all have\u00a0skills in that department<\/a>\u00a0that I don\u2019t. I tried to help as much as I could \u2014 which turned out to be a bad idea, because I pulled a bunch of muscles and tendons in my leg and knee, and spent the next few weeks hobbling around like an old man (which I kind of am, I suppose). Lesson learned: next time, just stay inside and watch TV while\u00a0the boys work<\/a>. And then it was time for Halloween, and Quinn\u00a0became a ladybug<\/a>. And Becky and I went on a whirlwind trip out West, where we visited our friends\u00a0Lori and Barb<\/a>\u00a0in their new home in Predator Ridge, near Vernon, BC and went for a great hike along\u00a0an\u00a0old railway trail<\/a>\u00a0through a giant canyon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it was off to Calgary to visit our other friends Alan and Jilaine and attend Becky\u2019s company\u00a0Christmas\u00a0party (where we wore something\u00a0in keeping with<\/a>\u00a0the \u201cbusiness casual\u201d rules), followed by\u00a0a\u00a0quick trip<\/a>\u00a0to the mountains in Canmore. In other Ingram-family news, Meaghan moved over to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and is really enjoying helping old people figure out how to delete photos from their iPhones or defrag their hard drives or whatever it is they do over there. And Meaghan also has a new roommate, who has been working out great (translation: actually pays the rent on time and cleans up after themselves!). Caitlin, meanwhile, had to deal with Quinn\u2019s\u00a0very first day of daycare<\/a>, a huge step for any parent (which Quinn passed with flying colours, of course) and is looking forward to and\/or dreading a return to work, depending on the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0And that\u2019s about it for the Ingrams this year. As always, we hope that you have had a chance to spend some time with the ones you love over the holidays, and that 2024 brings you health, wealth, and the time to enjoy both!<\/p>\n

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Yes, it’s your favourite time of the year — the Ingram Christmas Letter is finally here! In what has become a somewhat depressing annual event, I am typing this in mid-December and it\u2019s plus 10 Celsius, not a trace of snow on the ground. The part of me that hates shovelling snow is happy, but the part … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Ingram Christmas Letter for 2023”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crsspst_to_mathewingramblogwordpresscom":true,"mf2_syndication":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267273"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270076,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267273\/revisions\/270076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}