Christmas Gems

This is Ryan on Christmas Day in the hot tub at Scott and Linda's.  He's disappointed you can't really see the steam coming off his skin nor can you see the snow (they got walloped and have a lot more snow than we do), but not so disappointed that he isn't using this as our new desktop background. 

This was one of those unexpected Christmas surprises that come along once in a while if you are very lucky.  This year, I received a couple of those and they made me feel very fortunate as well as helping to get me into the season a little bit finally.  Over the years I have tried to learn to be gracious when receiving a gift that comes as a complete surprise.  I think Christmas should be about paying these forward.

So, a little gem for you involves the Ryan family and some recent new information I've uncovered.  I was seeking to find out a litte more about a story Uncle Tim told about some kind of shooting accident with the Ryan boys (Grampie and his brothers).  I didn't get anywhere with that, but I did discover some interesting news about Dad's uncle William Ryan Jr.  William Jr died in New York City at his home on Madison Avenue at the age of 38 in 1933.

There are so many little gems for me in this shot little obituary I got.  First, I guess I never realized any of the Ryan boyos left the Gloucester or Massachusetts or fishing life.  It was a pretty big surprise to learn that Uncle Bill (as I"ve dubbed him) died in NYC.  He was buried in St. John's cemetery in Queens--which I have visited for the Italians!  Little did I know there was one of our Ryans right there (well, it's huge so it's probably not "right htere" but nevertheless).  The article also note that he worked on Ellis Island for the immigration station hospital!  How interesting that must have been!  Makes me wonder if he contracted something in his workplace that led to his early death.  There is also a daughter listed that I did not previously know about.  The 4 short paragrahps in this article provided all kinds of sparkling gems for me to ponder over. 

I know it's been two weeks since I've posted here.  Yikes.  I didn't quite realize all that time had gone by but I appreciate that Judy, Paula and Chris are contributing.  That makes this a whole lot more fun for me, so thanks for that!  Happy New Year (can you believe it's been a decade since 2000??? Why does that seem so weird to me?)