Moroz Family Christmas Letter 2022

 Moroz Family Christmas Letter 2022 Rough Draft

2022 has come and gone and we have had some amazing experiences with our family and friends!

December 2021 had us wrapping up a complete kitchen renovation with painted kitchen cabinets and a huge island while also preparing for a Moroz family Christmas in Saskatchewan, but Covid changed that as Darren picked up a case of it at school and promptly passed it on to Nicholas and Jacob. Krista and her super immunity escaped it and has still not had it! Our trip to Sask became a very quiet 2 weeks at home and not venturing out anywhere. Some quiet family time was a wonderful thing with lots of games and tv and Darren of course repainting the entire 1300 sq ft main floor in 3 different shades of grey his wife picked out. 

January brought some colder days, and we sent Nicholas back to Ontario for university. Darren continued painting for a couple more weeks and at last, the house got put back together. February was quickly upon us and another virtual Teachers’ convention for Darren to help run from behind the scenes introducing numerous keynote speakers and interviewing them. Flights had opened up and after a 2-year delay, Darren was able to take Krista away for the weekend to Las Vegas Nevada! He had promised her a trip to see Shania and what an experience we had from the 4th row Centre! Hiking around the Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon and Freemont Street kept us socially distanced for the weekend and we returned home without any covid issues. 

March flew in and the snow started to melt quickly so Darren and Jacob had a quick getaway weekend to Kicking Horse Mountain for 2 days of skiing which involved a great deal of bribery to get the teen off his computer. Nicholas was incredibly busy with school at Brock University and running tournaments for the Brock Badger Men’s Basketball team who were champions of the league! Darren got down to Lethbridge for the final weekend of the Brier with some great friends. Nicholas had his 21st birthday on the 10th and Krista had her ‘39th’😉 on the 22nd. 

April arrived and we had a chance to sneak away for our 23rd anniversary to Nuevo Vallarta with no kids for the first time ever! We went with another couple and just relaxed and soaked up the sun. Once we returned, Jacob decided he wanted to go with a friend to Puerto Vallarta! Our baby is on his own in another country without his parents!? Thankfully everything went fine, and he had an amazing time.

May arrived and Spring had sprung. Nicholas wrapped up 3rd year of university, and got a job at the golf course until he went to work at the Niagara Canada Summer Games in July/August. He decided to make a quick 5-day trip home to Calgary with his girlfriend Olivia. We had a great visit, and they went out to Banff for a day and even got to a Flames playoff game with us. Darren continued to be extremely busy at work preparing for the ATA Annual Representative Assembly all May Long Weekend back in person for the first time in 3 years. The following weekend we got away to Victoria BC for the first time in 2 decades after Darren secured flights for $112 return! We rented a car and drove way up north and across the ferry to Quadra Island to visit old friends Marc and Jennifer Doll and hang out on their acreage. We did some hiking and sightseeing and had very little rain for a few days exploring the Island and it was amazing! 

June arrived in a heartbeat – we had a huge rainstorm that flooded our street! We headed north to Leduc for Noella’s daughter Kasia and Nick’s wedding and had a blast with our Absolute family. We even got another weekend away to see Garth Brooks in Edmonton!  School wrapped up on the last day of June and we were on a plane for our most epic family adventure ever!! 

We started with a direct flight to Boston with Nicholas flying from Toronto to meet us. Highlights included Cheers, Boston Fenway Park, Harvard, Duck Tour, and Foxboro Stadium before heading to Cape Cod and then to Connecticut to visit our friend Taras and his family! The next day we drove into NYC and over 4 days we went to a Mets game, Central Park Bike tour, Times Square, Chinatown, Little Italy, walking the Brooklyn Bridge, Fireworks NYE on the riverside with a few million people, Edge Tower 100 floors and 1100 ft above NYC, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway, United Nations, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and an off-Broadway show with a friend of Darren’s from high school performing! Amazing! 

On to Philadelphia where we did all things Rocky Balboa, Philly Cheese Steaks, and the Liberty Bell and we perfectly timed the Annual reading of the Declaration of Independence! 

Next, we spent 4 jam-packed days in Washington DC where we toured the Library of Congress, Capitol Building, Washington Monument, Smithsonian buildings, Holocaust memorial, National Air and Space Museum, White House, Lincoln Memorial, and countless museums. You need a month here to see everything! 

We arrived back in Calgary on the 12th and the next morning Darren took off to Sturgis South Dakota for 10 days on his Harley with his teacher buddies! 

He arrived home the night before he and his band headed to Waterton Lake to play a wedding and do some impromptu hiking with Krista! 

The next day was another adventure to Saskatchewan with the Trans Am though Krista flew to Saskatoon a few days later and we headed to the Saskatchewan Roughrider Game where we got to walk onto the field with the Canadian flag for the anthem! We headed to the Morrison Family Reunion for a couple days near Yorkton followed by visiting great friends at Greenwater Lake and then Uncle Ray and Auntie Cheryl’s 50th Anniversary near Bjorkdale. 

Krista flew home while Darren spent a couple days in Saskatoon visiting friends then back to Calgary so he could volunteer from 6am-6pm for 6 days at the Shaw Charity Classic Golf Tournament organizing all the golf carts for the pros and their caddies.  The day that ended it was off to Banff for ATA Summer Conference for a week! Once he got home, he signed on to help a good friend of Krista’s by painting/renovating a townhouse condo for 6 weeks. It was a monster job but looks amazing. School started the last week of August but Darren participated in the CSSD Golf Tournament and they finished in 4th place with -7! Yahoo! 

A very exciting time in September for our boys as Nicholas began a 4-month practicum with the Toronto Raptors organization working mostly with the G League 905s. Jacob decided he had saved up enough money to travel and flew to Sydney Australia for 6+ months to work and travel. We are missing them both immensely but know that they are living their best lives and we couldn’t be more happy or proud. 

Darren and Krista suddenly had a very empty nest so took full advantage of it by hiking in the mountains, attending festivals, Flames games, and numerous rescheduled concerts that all fell in September and October including Colin James, Michael Bublé, Styx/Heart, and an Abba Tribute band! 

Thanksgiving was very quiet but a couple weeks later we made a quick trip to Ontario to visit Nicholas and Olivia. We went to the miniature exhibit downtown as well as watched Olivia in the Ultimate Frisbee University Championships. Darren attended the Public Education Rally in Edmonton with over 5000 people. Darren’s band played at a masquerade ball and Krista came with a table of friends. It was a very fun night! 

November brought a massive dump of snow. We got to more concerts including Tom Cochrane, Jesus Christ Superstar, Billy Joel cover band at the CPO, and Bryan Adams before heading up to Edmonton for Remembrance Day weekend to do some shopping and get away for a few days. One of our best friends became a Canadian citizen so we got all decked out in Canadian gear and celebrated with them!

 December has arrived and we prepare for the Christmas holidays. Always an expensive month but with some dental surgery and transmission issues, Darren managed to drop an extra $10k and is actively seeking a part-time job painting more houses 😉 We are excited to welcome Darren’s mom and dad for a week over Christmas as we missed out seeing them last year with Covid in our household. Nicholas arrives on the 22nd via Las Vegas where he will be finishing the last week of his internship with the Raptors 905s. We will be missing two family members from last year with Jacob staying in Australia until the spring and our cat Elli who passed away in June. 

January will bring busy times in our lives as Darren runs in an election as a Calgary District Representative for the Alberta Teachers’ Association with voting in March along with many Ukrainian band events in January and February. 

2022 has blessed us with many great experiences and travel. We wish you and your family all the best this Christmas season and many blessings in the upcoming year!

Darren, Krista, Nicholas, and Jacob