FELIZ NAVIDAD 2011
from the Rodriguez/Dominguez Familia
FELIZ NAVIDAD & MERRY CHRISTMAS
{To our ever-expanding circle of friends that may be celebrating other holidays during the balance of the year: Happy Holidays to you!}
Most “Holiday Greetings Letter” tell the story of what went on last year... Well, we thought that in the spirit of doing things a tad different we’d talk about what is coming up next year...
Needless to say, the biggest day of 2012 will be April 8th! (Google it if you don’t know what it is... Let’s just say that it is the "real reason for this season" for those of us that celebrate the Spirit of Christmas.)
Then, of course there is November 6th, 2012... AND: If you don’t know what THAT date is, you will certainly hear more about it in the months to come... Remember: “Hope seen will never match hope dreamed; change for the sake of change is not always wise; and, beware - very aware - of the bitter aftertaste of unsweetened tea.”
Back to the personal: Our wonderful familia continues to grow in experience, relations, and life. In 2012 we look forward to one graduation and two weddings. (There might also be a funeral - or two - and we pray those will be celebrations of life, not broken circles of life.)
Celestino and Samy (our nephews) are getting married! (Not with each other - with Amanda and Jessica, respectively.) We look forward to going to the great City of Houston in March and returning to the awesome ATL in August for those weddings. It is extremely neat to see these young men - and their new wives - begin a new chapter in their life. We wish them the very best... And may their marriage be as long and happy as Tio Carlo and Tia Maya and Tio Chucho and Tia Lila (who celebrated ther 67th & 65th wedding anniversary this year!)
On Memorial Day Weekend (Sunday, May 27th, 2012) Iggy will graduate from Swarthmore. This is truly a momentous occasion, as he begins a new phase in his life... We are not sure yet where life may take him after graduation... But, wherever that might be, we are confident his adventures will be fantastic, fulfilling - and fun.
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO JOIN US FOR A
WEEKEND OF CELEBRATION
FOR IGGY’s GRADUATION
HERE IN OUR HUMBLE ADOBE.
See THIS LINK for the invite
and the requested rsvp and/or good wishes.
{Breaking News! We just learned there will be another graduation next year. Ana Tere will be graduating from Loyola (in L.A.) in December! We certainly look forward to being there as well.}
2012 is also a very special year for us Cubanos. Next year there will be a procession of the VIRGENCITA DE LA CARIDAD (Our Lady of Charity) in Cuba celebrating the 400th anniversary of this most revered event in the history of Cuba... For the many friends and familia that may be going: FELICIDADES & MAY THE EXPERIENCE BE ALL IT CAN BE.
For each of us in our immediate familia 2012 is a welcome year:
- Geraldina begins the year with plenty of plans to continue doing work at the National Institutes of Health Cancer Institute in the area of her personal passion, HIV/AIDS... If the last couple of years are any indication, she’ll be traveling throughout the world doing what she loves to do.
- Reemberto’s 2012 will surely see new adventures and challenges in his work with the Silver Spring community. There will be festivals, feasts, and fun to be had; as well as the inevitable circumstances that are bound to happen in neighborhoods and communities... And, he may even be going to Ethiopia (as he did this past year to El Salvador) to begin a 'sister city program' between Montgomery County and those beautiful places.
- Rembe, Jr.’s work with the Washington Nationals will continue in search of that elusive World Series Championship... Who knows? 2012 might just be the year for the Surprise of the Century in Major League Baseball!
- As mentioned above, Iggy graduates - and that always brings joy, anticipation - and angst.
- Beny will surely continue eating too much, sleeping too much, and yapping as any good Chihuahua is entitled to do!
Other than venturing to our nephew’s weddings, we are sure the year will also take us to somewhere yet to be determined for family vacation... Those are always fun and we look forward to going where the spirit moves us.
While we could stop the letter here, holiday protocol requires that we share with you what we did in 2011 (including the last part of 2010, since we sent out our last Family Letter.) Well, rather than tell you long stories, we’ll do a graphic and web-link journey.
Among the 4 of us we visited over 30 cities throughout the world - literally. Geraldina did most of the international travel for work; we did vacation in Argentina and Spain; and we did our usual trips in the USA (always making sure we carried our proof of citizenship, of course!)
See map link for places we visited; and see link to photo-albums for some of adventures we took since our last Holiday Letter.
MAY YOUR HOLIDAYS BE PRECIOUS &
MAY LOVE FILL YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH
YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, & FOES.
See you in 2012 & beyond!
Reemberto, Geraldina, Rembe Jr., Iggy (and Beny)
p.s.: What you see below is our Familia's "Coat of Arms" designed by Reemberto and fabricated by a local stained glass artist. If you want to see an explanation of its symbolism, visit HERE.
Pictures of the 'kids' (and us) from when Rembe Jr. was born (1980) through last year in Spain
ADVENTURES TOGETHER (mostly)
SINCE LAST LETTER
Click below for pictures (and some videos) of some of the places we've visited (mostly) together:
PLACES VISITED SINCE OUR LAST HOLIDAY LETTER
We've been blessed with the opportunity to go to many places throughout the world in the last twelve month; some together; some individually; some for fun; some for work... (Click HERE to see the full-size map.)
