Happy Holidays 2016

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You may have noticed that we had 3 different "Make Your Own" Christmas Cards this year. Actually, you probably didn't notice, b/c you didn't receive all 3 varieties. So you would only know that if you happened to see that one of your friends got a different one. We did this so you would envy each other.




Every year, starting to write the Christmas letter starts out like this:

  • January:  Lots of ideas of what would been a good idea for the last letter/card
  • February - April:  Life
  • May:  2 EPIC ideas for a Christmas card that are forgotten 2 days later and never brought up again
  • June - July:  Life
  • August:  Life shutdown for football season
  • Sept-November:  Football
  • December: Panic for what to do for Christmas Letter/card. Then frantically throw something together
This year is no different! So what you get is what you get.
We made a few trips in a lot of great destinations in 2016, the highlight of which was our Icesterlin adventure at the beginning of the summer.  For those of you who, unlike Kevin Cupp, can’t decode the hashtag, we visited Iceland, Amsterdam, and Berlin.  People always ask what the best part of the trip was, and the question is too hard to answer.  So we'll boil down the highlights of each stop, and show you a few pics.
  • Iceland - Diamond Beach, Plane Crash site, waterfalls, and Glacier Lagoon





  • Amsterdam - The spirit and community of the people, the Anne Frank House and the Red Light District (but not for the reason you are thinking)
     












  • Berlin - The history, the East Side Gallery and the food
    East Side Gallery
Pretzels and Berliner Weisse mit Schuß at a Prater Garten Berlin
As for the rest of 2016, it was an up and down year, as it was for a lot of you. Here are some of the our highlights:

 Celebrating Valentine’s day with a candlelight dinner at Waffle House
Yes, it's a hear-shaped Waffle



 February trip to Vegas for 
Kilby’s 40th BirfDay







1st trip to Steak & Shake & the return of the Spring Training Trip
 





Mile Marker 0 on US1

Mother-Daughter Trip to Florida Keys





Aww..... #Punny in Austin, TX
Flaming Dr Peppers & Chicken S Bingo in Austin






It's Crystal, baby!
The return of Crystal Pepsi in August

Congrats, Bojangles
Finally conducting the Chicken Tender Challenge with the Booths and Terri





Seeing friends & family,
Fun Home & Wicked in NYC
 








We did a lot more in 2016, than just travel around, but that’s the thing that people seem the most interested in. Christmas letters are kind of like social media in that it’s a chance for people to show off the good things in their lives, and act like nothing else happened. After all, no one wants to see an instagram about how you had to plunger the toilet at a Bed and Breakfast that someone you didn’t know clogged; or read a Facebook post about how you are really starting to feel old when you wake up and hear 8 body parts crack as you roll out of bed.

Work - Virginia Tech is on the rise in many aspects including women’s and men’s basketball, and of course football (13 straight wins over UVA - did you think you were going to get through one of these letters without reading about that? Think again!).  As 2016 closes, Jed is completing his 5th month as Interim Senior Director of HokieVision.
That's a Baker's dozen wins over those guys
 A new generation of Hokies
learning to love beating the Hoos



If you are interested in more about where we’ve been this year, check out our Year in Pix, as well as Stacie’s blog.


And with that, we will close another Castro Christmas Letter. Thanks to all who have shared their lives and adventures with us this year.  Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and New Year wishes to all!


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