[PRCo] Re: HAPPY HOLIDAYS

[Fred Schneider]

I too wish all of you a pleasant holiday season ... and may love of and for family and friends overwhelm
the impact of stores and traffic jams.
I'm loosing interest in the holiday season.  My wife is on anti-depressants and high blood pressure
medication; she hasn't gone near a store for Christmas presents.  Neither have I.  In my case, it seems
that I take a trip somewhere, then go to the hospital to be put back together again.  I'm scheduled for
December 29th for my second go round at rotator cuff surgery on the right shoulder.  I simply don't feel
like making stores rich.  So what is Christmas all about?

Probably the nicest event of the season so far was dinner last night.  He have two great friends ... he
is a retired Episcopal minster (my wife went to his church in suburban Philly 40 years ago).  His wife
has a love affair with Switzerland and runs tours there as a hobby.    We got to know them through the
tours.  Now John is suffering from cancer ... don't know if anything can be done other than prolong
life.  But last night he was just so upbeat and happy to be part of the world that it came through to
us.  It was an absolutely fantastic evening.  And I wonder, how can a man, who has walked on an
artificial leg all his life and now faces dying, be so happy.  But he was.  And it affected us.  After
they left, Marie said, "We made two people very happy."   I think that is what Christmas is about.  May
each of you be blessed with something similar during Christmas.

If my own health allows, we are planning to spend Christmas in Williamsburg, Virginia with Ed Lybarger
and Janice.  That should be nice.  Again, great company.  And maybe a glass of wine or two.  Peanut
soup.  Perhaps venison or rabbit.   And if time and luck permits, perhaps even a Christmas day service at
Bruton Parish Church  (not quite as old as St. Mary's Anglican in Crich, England, but about as old as we
go).

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An invitation to a replay of a show:   I was scheduled to put on a show on Pennsylvania Birney cars at
the 2003 East Penn meet last May.  (Didn't do it because of emergency back surgery ... credit Bob
Deitrich of this list and Rich Allman for showing the slides and reading my script.)  I've been asked to
put on a replay ... Birney cars in Pennsylvania including an added discussion of what is a Birney.  Will
the Pittsburgh Birney be included?  Closest I can come is a builder's photo of them as a Medway and
Dedham car.  You'll just have to imagine it repainted in orange and maroon.  The spotlight will also be
shared with Stan Bowman, who will present Philly Birney cars.  Scheduled date is 1st Friday in February.
Location is the "College."  I take this to mean Haverford College along the mainline in Philadelphia.
(If I'm wrong, Bob will correct me.)   If any of you are going to be in southeastern Pennsylvania on
February 6th, I would be delighted to meet you.

Fred Schneider