Christmas letter

Ho! Ho! Ho! and a very happy Christmas to you and all your loved ones.
Yes it is that time again! We can hardly believe that we are already in Advent and Christmas is just around the corner. Does that mean there is some truth in the saying, “Time flies when you are having fun”? Well we will let you decide that for yourselves but here are some of the things that have happened to us over the past year.
As you may remember last year Patrick was having quite a lot of tests at the hospital and eventually they discovered he had some hormonal problems with his blood which were fixed rather easily which made him feel quite a lot better. However he still suffered with quite a lot of pain in his back and his right leg. After exhaustive testing in June they finally decided that the root cause was deterioration of the spine from wear and tear and arthritis. This meant that they could lonely offer some physiotherapy and to keep taking the pain-killers. Since then he has had a course of acupuncture from the hospital and he seems to have got a certain amount of relief although nothing will cure the problem.
Because of these health issues Bishop Declan of Clifton in whose diocese we live decided that it would be best he Patrick retired from looking after Tetbury Parish. He did this right after Easter this year but knowing Patrick you will realise that this didn’t mean that he was going to sit at home and do nothing! Not having the parish to look after he has put a lot of his energy into work for the Wild Goose Zen Sangha which he began in 2006. It has grown in strength now to the point where it could be incorporated as an organisation capable of registering as a charity for tax exemption. The legal and administrative hoops to be jumped through to achieve this are, as you can imagine, have been immense. Now it all seems to be falling into place and he has led them into having a really full programme based in Cirencester and Canterbury for 2012. Knowing his limitations he has also identified two potential teachers who will be trained to assist him in the work of teaching Zen to those who come to their retreats.
Patrick is a Zen teacher (sensei) in the White Plum lineage and to mark this the sangha came to a planting of a White Plum Blossom tree in our garden in September. A bronze coloured stone statue of a Buddha was placed near it and this autumn (Fall) it looked like this:
Maureen has been keeping in good health for the most part although she did have some return of diverticulitis earlier in the year which was eventually dealt with satisfactorily. It was good to learn from all the tests that there was nothing ‘sinister’ though. She still continues to work with a blind lady in Swindon on transcriptions of ordinary texts into Braille. This has had some difficulties recently. With all the austerity measures and the drastic government cut- backs many o the charities who were her main clients have had serious limitations to their work. Certainly we are being warned that we have still some years when there will be something of an economic crisis. We have heard today that the 180,000 charitable organisations (not for profit) that serve so many of the disadvantaged have had to lay off 10,000 members of staff in the last 2 months. These are tough times so it seems!
As a result of all this our daughter who is a counsellor who worked in the public sector for schools and mentally sick carers has lost her job as the organisations existed on government funding which was cut as part of a cut back in government spending. Fortunately she does have a few private clients who still are able to come to her though. Sarah their eldest child works for Santander bank and their son David is at University studying law.
Our two sons Mark and Christopher are both in computer technology so their jobs are not really affected at the moment. Their wives and children too are all doing OK and are all in work except for Clare, Mark and Lynn’s daughter who is still in Gateshead college doing Business Studies.
We won’t bore you with anymore family news but simply ask you to join us in celebrating the gift of life itself. Christmas celebrates the Incarnation when the Divine Creator took up our physical nature and shared with us in this utterly incomprehensible force that we call life. It surely is most wondrous and yet it remains an utter mystery. Absolutely all of us share in it yet it came to us unbidden and unearned. Yet day by day we awaken to find that we are alive and we have the chance to do with it whatever we will.
So we wish you a most wonderful Christmas and a very blessed 2012. May all the love you give to others, including to us, be repaid to you a thousand fold.
Much love
The Eastman’s, 30, North Wall, Cricklade, Wiltshire SN6 6DU. UK.