2007 Christmas Letter Hot Off the Press

THE 2007 GEE GAZETTE-- DOCTOR VISITS RECALLED & LESSONS LEARNED

DATELINE: Albuquerque, New Mexico—New Years, 2007
--Scheduled visit to Emergency Medicine Doctor in Albuquerque. The airport was closed due to a record snow storm and because there are no snow plows, snow shovels, or moon boots in Albuquerque, the trip itself only took 37 hours! It included a nice tour of the airports in Boise, Las Vegas, back to Boise (our favorite, obviously) by way of Salt Lake City, on to Oakland, Ca (overnight), Las Vegas (again) and, finally, Albuquerque. Lesson learned: If there is any snow at all in the Albuquerque forecast, your best bet for a speedy trip from Boise to Albuquerque is around Cape Horn in a canoe.
Had a great visit with Doctor Dan (Second year of a 3 year residency in E.R.), Honey (Teaching piano, volunteering at school, and working with Dan to raise 3 terrific kids), (both busy with Church assignments) Brookie (Celebrated 6th Birthday, entered 1st grade, loves to read, play piano, sing, ski and state with enthusiasm “Grandma, would you pa-leeese let us have a turn dressing OUR Barbie dolls?!?), Emma (5 years old, started kindergarten, learning to read, plays piano very well, loves to sing, dance and act. “Grandpa, you be the wicked, tyrannical and ugly demon king trying to conquer the world; I’ll be the lovely fairy princess.”) and Will (Terrific two, charming “chick magnet” grin including dimples, loves riding his tricycle and mischief of any sort, including changing all your batteries, whether they need it or not).

DATELINE: Boise, Idaho—Tax Season, 2007
--After suffering through “Form 1040 acute neurosis”, Libby had several scheduled and unscheduled visits to E.R. Doctors at the hospitals of St. Matthew, Mark, Luke and Al. Finally, she had her gall bladder removed and successfully completed her 15th income tax season as a CPA, earning her the Presidential Award of Stamina. Libby loves her church calling as the Education Councilor in Stake Relief Society, visiting family, the “Home Decorating with Easy Second Mortgage Home Equity Sub Prime Financing Network,” reading (with a different pair of reading glasses strategically placed at all 47 home reading locations) and suffering through, putting up with enjoying 35 wonderful years of marriage to me.
After over 7 years on the Stake High Council (this time), I was released and called as Park Center Ward High Priest Group Leader. We are mostly the “older” guys (i.e. who invented charcoal briquettes shortly after discovering fire). Lesson learned: “Old age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill”. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve in the Church and to be reappointed by Governor Otter to his cabinet as Director of the Idaho Department of Finance and the Idaho Commissioner of Private Cemeteries. (As the kids were fond of telling their young friends: “My dad is weirder than your dad—He thinks he can regulate dead people.”)

DATELINE: Winston-Salem, North Carolina May, 2007
--Scheduled visit to Ophthalmologist Doctor (eyes, eyebrows and eyelashes) in Winston Salem. Spent time with Doctor Chris (Second year of a 4 year residency), Rachel (pregnant with fourth son and “loving it”, volunteering at school, working with Chris to raise 3.9 wonderful boys), (both busy with Church callings) Christopher (6 years old, (“Grandma, it is WAY different than 5.”), boundless energy, started kindergarten and is learning to read, loves to draw, write, swim, bike, jump on their trampoline, and mistakenly claims ownership of MY “ba”, (A blanket—“Christopher, it is MY BA!”), Ethan (4 years old, mischievous smile, loves to swim, bike, jump on the trampoline, talk non-stop (when you are alone with him), listen to his “Ipod” (an MP3 with or without the earphones) and has my favorite choice of names for the new baby: “Tree Head”. Matthew (1 3/4 years old, happy, loves to carry around a dead cell phone and pretend it works (he learned that from me) and stars as Jose in the hit YouTube movie—“El Picaro” (Which in Spanish means “Hi—my name is Matthew and I love to climb into cupboards.”) Matthew plays the strong, silent, character while his brothers Al Phonso (Christopher) and Carlos (Ethan) are the action heroes who save the planet, and Matthew, from a fate worse than death—trapped in an already made bed, no one noticing that you are still there AND unable to reach any chocolate.

DATELINE: Lawrence, Kansas--Summer, 2007
--Carson and Deena relocate from Kansas City, Missouri to Lawrence, Kansas in preparation for her return to college to resume her study of music and/or engineering. (Unlike most of the Gees, Deena is both musically talented AND very smart!) She has been waitressing, writing music, and working out with Carson in the WII boxing ring and doing other WII exercises designed especially for computer couch potatoes. (In Idaho, “couch potato” is a term of endearment because we, as THE Potato Capitol of the Universe, tend to promote potatoes, as long as they are “Couch Idaho Potatoes”. Carson continues as a computer security guru for the federal government, receiving a big promotion this year and doing some traveling around the country in search of computer terrorists (and quite possibly, a better pizza than Pizza Pipeline). Lesson learned: If you are ever in Kansas City, have Carson and Deena give you directions to visit “B. B. King’s Bistro (and Bail Bonds) for great food, live jazz, a fun atmosphere and a very good chance that you’ll see some of your former (or current) jail buddies.
Deena has had a bad bout with blood clots, which involved too many visits to doctors and unfortunately prevented them from traveling and joining us for our family gathering in Salt Lake City for Thanksgiving. We are hoping to connect this summer.

DATELINE: Bear Lake, Idaho/Utah—July, 2007
--The Barbara and John MacPhee Family Reunion gathers at Bear Lake for their tri-annual reunion. “Grandma” Barbara, with her 5 daughters, their husbands, their 25 children and approximately 489 great and great great grandchildren, enjoy swimming, jet skiing, cave exploring, sun burning and biking on a bike built for 7, that looks very much like a “surrey with the fringe on the top,” and raspberry shakes. Lesson learned: When visiting Bear Lake, do NOT fall into the “world famous raspberry milk shakes” trap and order a plain Jane raspberry milk shake just anywhere. Go to “Le Beau’s Drive-In” (and Milk Shake Rehabilitation Center) and order “an extra-large, triple chocolate mint with a hint of raspberry milk shake!” (Trust me, I’m a lawyer!)
--The reunion was capped off with a talent show where Dan and Honey’s family performed the very sophisticated “I Love Onions” and The “Viper” (Former Scout Camp skit and a BIG hit with 5-9 year olds!) Grandma MacPhee stole the show and our hearts when, in native costume, she performed the internationally acclaimed “Highland Fling” (Sometimes referred to as the Root Beer Barrel Polka) and also taught it to the youth. What a GRAND GATHERING!

DATELINE: Seattle, Washington—Summer, 2007
--Sunni and Alan, after seeing TOO much of their neurotic cat, “right-size” by selling their one-bedroom, one-chair condo and moving into a larger primo condo with more space and a roof-top patio. (Roof-top gardens are quite common in Seattle because you NEVER need to water them). Sunni has way too many “doctor visits” every day as a managing nurse at Virginia Mason Hospital (and Spa). Alan is in school at the University of Washington majoring in Spanish (Hey Alan—once your Spanish is perfected, maybe you too could star in blockbuster movies, like “El Picaro”!).
--Sunni and Alan had an adventure this summer, spending 3 weeks in Guatemala, enhancing their knowledge of Spanish language and culture (Sunni learned how to make REAL tortillas over an open fire, Alan learned how to impersonate the father of the bride at a traditional Mayan wedding and both of them significantly improved their samba dancing skills.) They are considering moving to Spain for Alan to do a Masters program in Spanish, take more samba lessons and have a long overdue vacation from their psychotic cat.

DATELINE: Salt Lake City, Utah—Thanksgiving, 2007
--Scheduled visit with all Gee family medical personnel in Utah. We gathered for Thanksgiving/Christmas and celebrated by feasting, hot-tubbing, opening Christmas presents early, visiting the lights and manger scenes at Temple Square, attending a play at the Hale Theater, playing games like “Jungle Speed” (which is a leading cause of serious injury and divorce) and having all the grandchildren “Hop on Pop and Grandpop”. The lack of snow kept us from skiing so we were FORCED to watch BYU BEAT UTAH; pretty much deciding once and for all, which is the BEST SCHOOL! Lesson Learned—One of the great powers of a grandparent is that when the grandkids insist, for the 12th time, “Hey Grandpa, let’s play more ping pong, foosball, tag, run around the hot tub, gather all the pillows and cushions in the house, pile them on you and jump on the pile as hard as we can,” etc., you can always say, “I think I hear your mother calling you—and I have strict instructions from my doctor (Ophthalmologist) to go take a nap.”

We express our appreciation for our many blessings and our love to all family and friends who make our lives rich and fulfilling. We pay tribute to the Great Healer whose visit to earth blesses all our lives and are thankful to have this special time of year to celebrate His glorious birth and the lessons to be learned from His perfect life.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND
ALL OUR LOVE!

THE GEES