This is he whom seers and sages
                                           sang of old with one accord,
                                        whom the voices of the prophets
                                           promised in their faithful word.
                                        Now he shines, the long-expected;
                                           let creation praise its Lord
                                           evermore and evermore.

December 28, 2022

Dear Friends and Family,

Here I am writing my Christmas letter a few days after Christmas
again!  This year my excuse is that I was sick with a terrible case of
influenza A starting right after Thanksgiving.  (I went in to test for
COVID and that was negative, but they tested for RSV and flu at the
same time, and the flu test was positive.)  I am finally much better,
but not feeling 100% yet.

Thankfully, I started to feel well enough that I was able to play
guitar and sing for our Christmas Day worship.  We had a song service
with readings and eight hymns.  I played guitar on all eight, along
with our pastor's wife Karen on piano.  We had a great time preparing
and playing together.  The verse quoted above is from one of the hymns
we did, a favorite of mine.

In other musical endeavors this year, besides playing for church about
once a month, I was able to play and lead the singing at Tree of Life
Bible Camp again this year.  Camp went on hiatus for two years because
of the pandemic, but we were blessed to be able to restart this year.
We did lose some of our long time helpers and frequent campers, so it
was a considerably smaller group than usual.  I hope more will
consider coming next year!

I mentioned in last year's letter that I'd bought a ukulele.  Learning
to play it has been fun and much easier than I expected; my guitar
skills transferred quite a bit.  At camp I switched back and forth
between guitar and uke, and the uke seemed to go over quite well.
This year I had another guitarist up front (one of the area pastors,
Paul Kolander), along with the ever faithful Jordan Hochmuth on
keyboards, plus Maddie Benson singing.

At 63, I'm starting to think about when I might retire.  No plans
right now, but it won't be too many more years.  I finally saw a
lawyer this year to put together a proper estate plan with an up to
date will and living trust.

There is a lot of uncertainty at VMware these days because we are
about to be acquired by Broadcom, a large hardware company.
Personally I'm optimistic that things will go okay, but many
colleagues I've known for a long time have left.  I think that's
really as much because of pandemic fatigue and discontent making a
change look attractive, as because of serious worries about how things
will be post-acquisition.  If things do go really poorly, I'll
probably just retire early instead of looking for a job elsewhere.

We have a big remodeling project underway at church (Gloria Dei
Lutheran in Belmont).  It has sailed way over budget and behind
schedule, due to all the price increases and difficulty in acquiring
components as the world economy ramped back up after the pandemic, but
most of it is complete now.  We tore down a small old building ("the
cottage") that was no longer usable, regraded that area, extensively
remodeled the fellowship hall (church basement), put new windows in
the church, etc., etc., and as the final main step still in progress,
we are thoroughly redoing the parking lot and entrances.  As treasurer
I really haven't been too involved, basically just approving the bills
for payment from our loan.

Other than the recent flu, my health has been good.  My lymphoma is
still in remission.  In midyear I did some physical therapy to help
with back spasms, and that (including continuing daily exercises) has
been successful in making my back feel a lot better.  Recently I had a
vitreous detachment in my right eye.  I was surprised to learn those
are normal for everyone some time after age 50.  Mine was no problem
(though I still have an annoying floater), but in general there is a
danger that you could get a retinal tear or detachment at the same
time, and if that happens, it's an emergency.  Everyone should learn
the symptoms so that you know whether to go in on an emergency basis
to make sure you don't wind up with damaged eyesight.  Look it up
online to learn more and be prepared!

I did have a scare with my cat's health.  One weekend, Katinka started
throwing up frequently and refusing to eat.  With cats, that kind of
thing can quickly spiral and be fatal, so I took her to an emergency
vet clinic right away.  They tested carefully and didn't find anything
wrong other than dehydration, so they gave her fluids and sent her
back home with me.  She still did not want to eat, but after trying a
few things, I got her to lick baby food off my finger little by
little.  She gradually started eating more and feeling better, and in
a couple of days was back to normal.

I didn't travel much this year, other than a visit to Minneapolis in
March.  My niece Amy (aka Sage) lives there, as well as her son Sasha
and granddaugher Marit, plus it's where the women's NCAA basketball
Final Four was played this year.  I'm a big Stanford WBB fan, and they
made the Final Four this year, so this was a great chance to combine a
family visit with watching them play.  Amy joined me at the games.
Sadly, Stanford lost in the semis, but we attended the final too
anyway, a convincing win by South Carolina.  I'm hoping to travel more
this coming year and see more family that I haven't seen in a while!

Blessings to all in Christ,
Tim Mann