HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Welcome to our second annual Christmas cyberletter! We're glad you got here.

Lots to tell about in 2007: Semester at Sea, kids, knighthood (!), travel (Argentina), retirement (Janna). Read on.

David was named UVa's first Academic Dean of Semester at Sea (our partnership began this year), so we both spent 65 glorious days this summer on the MV Explorer travelling up and down the Pacific Coast of Central and South America: Mexico, Panama, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Guatemala. We saw Teotihuacán, the Panama Canal, Galapagos, Machu Picchu, Tikal, Isla Negra (home of Pablo Neruda), and a zillion other amazing places. Janna served as the Assistant Librarian. The images below capture some of what we experienced on this voyage with 310 students from dozens of universities across the country. (Click on any picture to enlarge).







(If you're interested in the full blog on our voyage, and many more pictures, click here: http://www.latoday2007.blogspot.com).

Kirk and Libby flew down to Peru to be with us, trekked to Machu Picchu, and then sailed up to Costa Rica before returning home. It was terrific to have them with us, of course!


Both Kirk and Krista are doing well. He loves teaching science in a Charleston, SC, magnet school, and he's making some real money pedaling a pedicab through the historical center in his rare spare moments; Krista is managing an Outback Steak House in Durham, NC, and enjoying the company of the charming and smart Chad.

Perhaps our coolest and most surprising piece of news came in a letter that David received in October from the Spanish Embassy. The King, Juan Carlos de Borbón, invited him to join the Orden de Isabel la Católica, the equivalent of a Spanish knighthood. A ceremony took place at the Embassy Residence in Washington; very elegant, great fun.



In the spring, David was invited to do a lecture tour of Great Britain, speaking at London, Cambridge, Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Swansea (Wales); the trip was full of wonderful friends, beautiful countryside, and exciting moments. Here's a shot at Cambridge:


Before that, he did another three-week J-Term course in Valencia, Spain. This is Valencia in January:


We had (and will have) a busy Christmas: first, we go to Argentina (Buenos Aires and Resistencia, up near the Paraguay border) to see friends and attend the wedding of our friend Mempo Giardinelli. Then, we've been invited back to the MV Explorer to lecture on the Seminar at Sea New Year's Voyage from Nassau to Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama and the Caymans. Janna's mother (she's 88!) is joining us on the cruise. And last (as if this weren't enough!) we'll spend a week on another friend's 40' catamaran in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Good way to start the new year.

But the BEST WAY to start a new year is Janna's idea: she is retiring as of January 1st. While she still enjoys the job at the Virginia Quarterly Review, she's decided that she needs more time to keep up with David's travels and plans. Plus, there is volunteer work, sewing, visiting kids, and other assorted activities that need to be tackled.

Our families are well, and we are grateful. David's mother still lives in Media (PA) and Janna's lives in Seattle. Here's a picture of Dick, Diane, and mom (with Maggie, the shrunken dog):


This was a banner year for the Silly Moments of Gratuitous Celebrity Worship section of our Christmas letter. Who do you recognize below? (Answers to follow).

(Answers: Barak Obama, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Sting, Marvin Bush, Hillary Clinton and John Grisham, Lily Tomlin, Marvin Hamlisch. How many did you get?).

We hope your year has been filled with excitement, good health, good friends, and loving family.

Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and please let us hear from you.

David and Janna