Christmas 1994: Jaun Silva putting a gift under the tree

What a change in a year. In the fall of 1994 I gave up glass cutting on Cape Cod, and moved to New Hampshire to work back in the software industry. It was a big move for me, leaving behind friends, my church and all things familiar. That was also a very bad winter, with lots of snow. It was a special treat that my Venezuelan friends Juan and Arminda Silva had returned to Harvard University to do research. This year I visited them a great deal. A few weeks before Christmas we drove out Route 2 one weekend, where we purchased a pretty little Christmas tree from a roadside stand. I borrowed many of my families old ornaments, and brought them in to decorate the tree with. It was a special Christmas, with my Mother and my Sister's family all coming to visit the Silvas for a very special evening. We had spent many years with the Silvas when they attended Harvard, so this was a wonderful gift of Christmas Past.

It was a wonderful to have all of these family and extended family there for this Christmas.