Merry Christmas!

The McBride family started the year planning for Mom and Dad's move from Tennessee to Virginia. They decided shortly after Christmas that it was in their best interest to move closer to Lynelle for help with daily activities and to get into a house that was easier to maintain and safer to navigate—no stairs or steep hills. Lynelle quickly found a Realtor, and we were able to close on a nice house for them by the end of February. The siblings took turns traveling to Tennessee to pack and prepare the home there for sale. Kathy and I combined a mid-March trip to Charlotte, NC, for a veterinary conference with our turn at the Tennessee house, where we continued the cleaning process and met up with the packers. By early June, the house was sold.

At the same time all the moving activity was taking place, we started a major renovation at the main veterinary hospital, updating the interior, expanding our surgery suites, and adding a room for a CT-scanning machine. We also decided to open a third location in Caledonia, MI, about 20 minutes south of the main hospital, so we started construction there as soon as the majority of the Cascade-location remodel was done. We just opened the new location the first of December.

In last year's Christmas letter, we mentioned the saga of our becoming boat builders to rebuild the aft deck on Lotus. We finished that project this spring and were able to launch her in time to enjoy our traditional July 4th celebrations on the water. We had some beautiful weekends on board and one rather stormy one, which demonstrated the success of our rebuilding project (although we discovered a couple other deck leaks).

Dee and Dan met us at Adam and Makenzie’s house in South Haven, MI, for a weekend of winery tours, shopping, and hiking in April. It was a nice break from our deck work, and we had a great visit.

We hosted Craig and Lora for a week in early September after they traveled to Michigan to visit with our Uncle Greg, who passed away from chronic lung disease. The weather was good, and we were able to get them out hiking on our local trails.

Our fall vacation took us to West Virginia, where we enjoyed hiking and sightseeing in the mountains around Davis and Thomas and along the New River Gorge. We traveled to the Richmond, VA, area midway through our vacation to see Mom and Dad and their new home and visit with Lynelle and Jim.

We took a couple of "friends trips" this year. In August we traveled to Northport, MI, for a long weekend of swimming and enjoying the quiet Leelanau Peninsula area. In November we traveled to Carmel and Noblesville, IN, for shopping and eating expeditions.

Betty continues to do well. She had a kidney stone removed in March but seemed to bounce back well. She was with us for Thanksgiving and will be with us for Christmas.

As 2025 draws to a close, Kathy and I hope our Christmas greeting finds you and your family happy, healthy, and looking forward to a joyous New Year.

Steve and Kathy