Dearest Honey, Molly, Boo and John and that vast crowd known as Cynthia's family:
I first met Cynthia while building a boat in Big Sur at what was to become the Esalen Institute in Big Sur and remember Joanie B. singing to us on the deck as we hammered earnestly away with dreams of far of and exotic places in 1963. I first started spending Christmas in Indonesia swearing never to pass that time of year north of the Equator or in a Christian Country. Now I am filled with ambivalence as to which be worse, Jingle Bells on every corner or Muslim Prayers screaming at full blast all over town five times of day, the worst of which is at 4:00 AM. The Internet age as well as your constant updates, however, are making this one of the momentous of Christmas occasions ever. I hitchhiked from North Carolina to Big Sur as a teen and discovered a family which was far more real than that my unworthy progenitors had constructed. However, the lure of the tropics has brought about my retirement here in Seminyak on Bali, a Hindu Island with a gentle and colorful religion, unimposing and filled with colorful parades and rituals. No matter where I am or with whom, Cynthia and Cynthia's issue will always be an integral part of my life with memories of true love and intellectual bantering over dinner and a jug if red wine.
Love to one and all and the happiest of holidays,
Jeremy