I finally got around to writing our 2016 Holiday Letter and have posted the text here for those who may not be on our mailing list. The complete letter with many photographs can be found at 2016 Holiday Letter
Dear Family and Friends,
2016 finds the Calabria family healthy and happy in a year marked by major transitions. We continue to reside in Concord, Massachusetts but are planning to downsize (location still undetermined) when Maya leaves for college. The year has been characterized by much travel and many new beginnings. Carl continues to post daily photos on our family website and we invite you to visit with us at www.carlcalabria.com
After volunteering for 3 years as the President of Open Table, Jeanine accepted the paid position of Executive Director this summer. Her first challenge has been to find a new facility for the community dinner program and food pantry. Managing the 300 person organization, soliciting donations and preparing for the move has been both exciting and exhausting. Jeanine completed a 25 mile Ride for Food to raise money for area food relief and also completed writing her memoir cookbook to be published soon.
Since graduating from Santa Clara University last December, Kyle has been working as the Trading Operations Manager at Decker & Company, a boutique Asian emerging and frontier specialist broker. He spent three months living in Thailand as part of his introduction to the company and now lives in Menlo Park, CA. This year he obtained his Series 7 and Series 24 FINRA certifications and is waiting to learn the results of the CFA Level 1 test he recently completed.
Nicolai is a junior at Colorado College where he has just completed their semester long TREE (Teaching & Research in Environmental Education) program at the Catamount Center, located on the North Slope of Pikes Peak. Nico was named co-captain of the USA National Amputee Soccer Team and traveled to Costa Rica to compete in the Copa Internacional where the team placed third. Nico earned team MVP honors and is now the all-time leading scorer for the US.
Maya, in her senior year at Concord Carlisle High School, is deep in the midst of the college application process. She spent 6 weeks of the summer interning at prestigious Brookhaven National Labs where she worked analyzing data for a researcher who is studying the quark gluon plasma. She played varsity soccer, is co-captain of the nordic ski team and co-president of the National Honor Society. Over the summer she travelled to California with Carl to visit schools and for a mini vacation.
After 36 years in high tech, Carl began dabbling in retirement. Unsure if he will simply complete a “gap year” or begin a new chapter of travel adventure/photography, he has visited 9 countries, 22 states and 10 national parks so far this year. He spent 2 weeks with Jeanine in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and then another 2 weeks solo in Myanmar and India. Carl still plays Division 1 soccer (over 50s) and travelled with his team to Iceland to compete in an international friendly.