The 42nd Annual Stewart Christmas Letter

(Down Under Edition)

G’Day,

For the first time in our lives, Laura and I are spending Christmas in another hemisphere. We’re in Mudgeeraba, Queensland, Australia with Kathryn and Travis. Laura arrived here in mid-November, and I followed in early December - seems I had a few Bee Gees slander issues with Australia Immigration to clear up after my Oz trip earlier this year. We head back to Vancouver just before the New Year.

Kathryn finished up her job with Teach Away ( the company that transferred her to Oz and set this whole thing into motion) at the end of November. She’ll be starting a teaching gig at a local language school in January, before she hops on an airplane for a Nepal trek in March 2014. It’s quite an experience to sit in the front seat of your daughter’s standard transmission truck and be driven all over Queensland. Awkward when I find that the brake on the passenger side doesn’t work.

Travis loves his job with Virgin Australia - although I’m not sure I could handle his commute (25 minute walk to the train station, then an 80 minute train ride each way). They really enjoy where they live, though, as it really is the vacation spot for most of Australia (Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise). He’s an engineer with Virgin, and his job is technical enough that I can’t understand it. Something to do with “plane fall out of sky - very bad”.

David is still teaching in Korea, and will be there till the end of March as well. When his contract is finished, we’re unsure where he’ll end up - maybe Australia with his sister? His apartment in Seoul is full of painting and drawings - and his life revolves around working and painting. Dave has a Korean family, but none of us can figure out what his wife or kids’ names are. He’s been there on and off for 2.5 years, so something’s up.

Laura continues contract teaching (Early Childhood) - see a theme here? She truly loves going to work each day, and I have to remind her how fortunate she is having a job she would probably do for free. She can pretty much work when she wants, and take extended time off whenever she wants as well - which works out just fine for us. I had a smart remark all lined up, but I can’t say anything slanderous about Laura this year as the lawsuit from last year is still pending.

Me, I’m lucky to have a pretty well established routine now. Working part time for a friend of ours doing a bit of everything (thank you Dave), and enjoying a bike ride most days when the weather is tolerable. I have taken to collecting bottles during our rides, and I can often be seen towing a grocery cart full of empties through town. (PS: As long as you’re north of David and east of Coast, we won’t have a problem.)

Laura and I made a huge change this year and sold our house*. We moved into a one bedroom basement suite, invested the proceeds of the real estate, and have decided to chew up Kath and Dave’s inheritance by travelling as much as we can. So far, so good. This paragraph is the only one that’s actually completely true.

Thats the short version of 2013 for the Coquitlam Stewart’s … email me for the 1,023 page epistle. 

Wishing You a Fantastic Christmas 
and an Exceptional 2014**


Love,
Doug, Laura, Kathryn, Dave, Travis 
and Bo TPD


*Special shout-out to all those Port Coquitlam taxpayers for the Dog Poop Bags!
**Actually, also true