Winter started early this year. During the last week of November, we got around 5 inches of snow on campus. Greater Seabeck received even more. We are bracing for another 8 inches tomorrow. Of course with every snowstorm, also comes the inevitable power outage. This time it was only around 8 hours. I learned you can finish making Swedish meatballs with noodles on a gas grill. It is very pretty here when it snows. It really helps get you into the Christmas spirit.

We received some sad news in November. Two of our long-time guests passed away. Betsey Page was a member of University Unitarian Church and was a staple at Eliot Institute events. She was always smiling and would come into the office and tell us about her cats and what they were up to. We will miss those updates. We also lost Skye Richendrfer from the Celtic Arts Foundation. He was the driving force behind the Mastery of Scottish Arts Winter School here at Seabeck. I loved working with him and admired his dedication to his music and culture. He leaves enormous shoes to fill.

In staff news: Mark Regan, our Food Service Director left us to take a job at Olympic College. This job has weekends off and quiet summers which will help him find quality time with his daughter. We will miss him around here. He left the place better than he found it. Monte Werren, Maintenance Director, will return soon from much-needed foot surgery. We expect him back and better than ever by the end of the year. Gloria, her husband Peter, and I enjoyed a reunion of the International Association of Conference Center Administrators in early November. Part of the enjoyment was seeing old friends and part was the fact it was held on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. 

I have hosted many exchange students through the years, but I have only hosted Europeans in the last few months of school. This year I have Julian from Chile. I started hosting in October and will probably have him the rest of the school year. It is a very new experience for me because of his nationality and the time of year. Everything is new. He saw his first snowfall earlier this week. He joined his first Thanksgiving Day, Apple Cup, tailgate party, etc. This newsletter is a little late because we were out trying to have his first sledding run down the hill behind Madrona. It really is fun to see things through new eyes. I discovered it’s harder to throw a 16-year-old who is 175 pounds down a hill than the 80-pound 10-year-old that I last tried. I also don’t remember worrying about broken hips 20 years ago. He will either keep me young or kill me.

You will receive a letter in the coming days from us. It is the annual end-of-year appeal letter. We debated whether we should send one this year. Our guests and donors have been so good to us over our history and especially the last couple of years. We don’t want to keep asking and asking for support. I decided to send it because many of donors wait for it and like to make a year-end gift before the tax deadline. To prove that point, we didn’t publicize Giving Tuesday this year for the same reasons, yet we still received gifts on that day totaling in thousands of dollars! Thank you to everyone. We wouldn’t have made it without you.

We are looking forward to a fairly quiet middle of December. We will fill our days resetting for the coming year. We hope you plan to be a part of our 2023.

Until we see you next year, let me be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Chuck