Arctic Mark in Stanley Park

Gordon Family Christmas Card

Season's Greetings from the Gordon Family to all of our family and friends down in the south [and thanks to Arctic Mark for letting us post this on his blog]! We wish all of you the very best of the holiday season! We have missed all of you up here in Holman, and we look forward to seeing some of you over the holidays.
We don't usually like these "holiday newsletters," but this has been a year of major accomplishments and big changes with all of us, so Sean and I thought we would send one out just this once.

First of all, Sean has decided that, despite a very successful career so far, he's had enough of law enforcement, and is quitting the RCMP. Part of the reason is that he was just told that he is soon going to be replaced by this legendary Danish police "super-dog" named Lasse, just purchased by the RCMP for $70,000 (U.S.). Apparently this dog can do the work of 10 regular human officers, and is much cheaper to feed and clothe! So, following up on his lifelong dream, Sean is planning to try his luck (so to speak) as a professional "celebrity" poker player in the new year. I guess we'll be spending a lot more time in Las Vegas and Atlantic City!

[Sean wrote this next part] After a brief tantalizing taste of supply teaching for Mark's high school class here in Holman, Vanessa has decided that she loves having total power over a bunch of layabout teenagers so much that she's going to return to school to get her teaching degree. She really feels that bossing her own two kids (and her husband) around won't be enough to sustain her in the long term. (I fully support her decision - and I'm hoping this will take some of the heat off of me!]

As for our beautiful children, Siobhan is growing by leaps and bounds, and continues to astound us all with her brilliance. In the past year, she has completed her high school graduation requirements in world record time, earned her black belt in karate, and published her third novel in as many years. Not bad for a three-year-old! We're so proud of her! (Although we are going to change the spelling of her name to "Chiffon" to avoid any more confusion.) And little Ronan is no slouch, either! He has already learned to gurgle in six languages, and can drool and spit up his food like no other baby we've ever seen! And did I forget to mention that Chilly has just been accepted onto the Canadian Canine Olympic Team for the upcoming World Championships of Tail Wagging? Truly, it's been a banner year for all of us. Well, that's enough brag-- I mean enough news for now. We hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a lovely new year!
Love,
Vanessa & Sean & Siobhan/Chiffon & Ronan & Chilly