Vince's Journey

Julie and I are notoriuos for getting our Christmas cards out late; in recent years I can actually recall sending them after the New Year. Given everything going on with my health situation, this is going to be one of those years where they simply will have to wait until next Christmas. We'll be doing well to have everything else ready for the holiday season, much less mail Christmas cards.

Most of you are on our Christmas card list so we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a warm, safe and blessed Christmas spent with the ones who are nearest and dearest to you.

We'll be doing our typical whirlwind tour of Cincinnati and Dayton. On Thursday we'll get together with Julie's brothers and sisters for the annual Judd family Christmas...Julie's Aunt Sharon will also be joining us as she flies in from Denver on Thursday afternoon. Following Christmas Eve Mass on Saturday we'll head down to the 'west side of town' for the annual Riestenberg family Christmas...best of all is that Viv and Skeeter will be able to take part in the celebration. Julie's sister Jan will host the party. And on Christmas Day, we'll go up to Dayton to celebrate with the Hopkins side of the family. The boys both have to work at the movie theater on Christmas but they should be able to join us by 6 PM for dinner.

Next week we'll be heading to Holiday Valley in Ellicottville, New York for our annual ski trip. Ellicottville is about a 6 hour drive, a perfect distance for a 4 day trip. The skiing is very good and I understand they have great snow conditions this season. We'll be home in time to celebrate New Years Eve in Mason.

On the medical front, things should be somewhat slow until the first of the year. There is a test I need to take and I also need to have a port put in so treatments can be administered a bit more comfortably but I won't have any other treatments until the first of the year. Once I get through a cycle of this CHOP chemotherapy at least I'll know how I'm going to be feeling these next 5 to 6 months. By all indications I've been told its not as bad as it used to be....lets hope that is the case with me as well.

Again, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and all the best in 2006! We also wish The Ohio State Buckeyes all the best on January 2 as they play Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl! Thank you for being there for our family!

Happy Holidays!

The Hopkins Family