Greetings from Colorado!

It's been an exciting year for the Hoffmans. After our new Colorado home was finished in July 2010, our free time usually consisted of a sprint to Colorado to move a few things, while we continued to market our home in the greater New York area. We finally sold our home in New Jersey in March (ouch!) and made the much anticipated move to the Black Forest. Despite the mailing address, we are about 12 miles north of Colorado Springs proper on a heavily treed three acres.

Gary continued to spend most of his time in the Middle East (over six of the first nine months this year), so progress on settling in was slow. He finally retired from NetJets in October and things went much better when Mary had full time help with the boxes and many "to-dos" that come with a new home. The good news is that the Hoffman Hacienda is now fully operational with two extra bedrooms and accepting guests.

We did manage to spend two weeks in the beautiful Colorado mountains this year. We joined some friends for a week in Pagosoa Springs last summer and spent a week in Vail with other friends in November after Gary's retirement. We're hoping to expand our travel next year to include Hawaii, Turkey and more adventures in the U.S. west.

Marc is still in Turkey with his wife Rana. Marc continues to write and Rana is a corporate attorney for large Turkish holding company. Marc, Rana and Rana's mother were able to join us in Colorado for an early Thanksgiving celebration. We had a great time showing off the Pike's Peak region and thoroughly enjoyed the all too short ten day visit. We plan on visiting them in next year.

We're hoping to continue hosting family and friends in Colorado. We fortunately get to see Mary's family in eastern Colorado on a regular basis now. If your travels bring you to the Pike's Peak region, please plan let us know.

Our best wishes for a merry and peaceful Christmas with family and friends and a happy and prosperous new year!