Category Archives: Sammy

Holiday Letter 2020

Dear family and friends,

2020 has been quite a year, with lots of great adventures for the whole family:

  • We finally got to see Hamilton live on stage at the Kennedy Center;
  • The whole family went on a wonderful cruise through Scandinavia, Scotland, and Iceland;
  • We saw Cirque du Soleil when it came to the D.C. area;
  • Sasha competed in a number of Irish dance competitions around the region; and
  • Tracy resumed her WordCamp speaking presence with talks in Washington, D.C. and Lancaster, PA.

At least, we assume that’s what our counterparts did this year in the alternate universe where COVID-19 wasn’t a thing.

Instead, like you, we spent much of our year hunkered down and doing our best to stay healthy. Fortunately, none of us caught the virus, at least as far as we can tell.

And so while our Hamilton tickets went unused and we contented ourselves to watch the Broadway recording on Disney+, we were grateful that Mark’s job at the National Institutes of Health is going well (albeit from home, of course) and Tracy’s WordPress development business had a strong year. Lois couldn’t attend her knitting camps in Vermont, of course, but busied herself knitting and cooking at home.

The kids (Sam in 10th grade, Sasha in 7th) have been “going” to school via Zoom all year, and will probably continue to do so in the second semester. Sasha’s drama club still did its fall play: a radio drama version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol; details on how to hear it will be posted on the family here when available. Sam found ways to connect with his friends through online gaming, and Sasha did virtual “movie nights” with her friends, and kept up her voice lessons and dancing remotely.

We hope you’re all doing well also in this crazy, topsy-turvy year. Here’s hoping that 2021 brings a more normal year and an end to this pandemic. Keep safe, stay healthy, and have a happy holiday season.

All the best,
The Rotton + Finifter Family

Sammy’s Thomas the Tank Engine Story

Thomas chuffed along.  Suddenly he noticed he was on the wrong track to fill up the oil car.  So Thomas backed up and chuffed onto the right track.  And then, he arrived at the oil thing.  He lined up the car.  The machine put the oil in.

Suddenly, Thomas noticed that the crank was stuck on the oil pump.  So Thomas wheeshed away to tell all the engines.

Thomas saw Duncan.  “Hello,” Thomas said.  “Did you know that the oil machine was broken?”

“Yes,” said Duncan, and he chuffed away.

Then, Thomas reached over to get his next load.  He coupled onto a very special coach.  Along the way, he met Sir Thomas Hatt.

“Hi Thomas.  I see you’re pushing the special coach today.”

And then, Thomas kept chuffing on.  He chugged away.

He passed Duncan again, who was still at the signal.

Then Thomas kept chuffing along.  Duncan backed up, and Thomas backed up.  He switched tracks and hooked up to his old cars.  And then he chuffed away.

Thomas chuffed right past the signal.  By the time Thomas chuffed past, Duncan had to stop again because the signal had gone back down.

Thomas was tired.  He was pushing a lot of loads today.  He really wanted another train to help him.  And suddenly he saw who wanted to help him:  It was Duncan.  So when the signal went up, Duncan chuffed away to help Thomas.

Then, after Thomas coupled onto the big load, he pulled and pulled into the siding and Duncan got out of Thomas’ way.  Thomas chuffed into the siding.  Duncan chuffed into the front, coupled onto the front car, and the two engines chuffed away.

My Christmas Toy Presents

Merry Christmas, everybody!

I had a great Christmas. Grandmommy and Uncle Boo were here. Santa Claus gave me lots of good toys because I was a very good boy this year. Here are some of the things he gave me:

  • A big dump truck
  • A little dump truck
  • A medium steam roller
  • A wooden train whistle
  • Diesel

My grandmommies gave me some cool toys too:

  • A doctor’s kit
  • A wooden clock toy
  • A Thomas floor puzzle

And Uncle Boo gave me a suitcase for my Thomas trains.

Sammy with his favorite Christmas present, the big dump truck from Santa Claus.
Sammy with his favorite Christmas present, the big dump truck from Santa Claus.

2008 Christmas Letter

Greetings from the Rottons:
Mark, Tracy, Sammy & Sasha

It’s been an exciting year for the Rottons.
On July 11, at 2:43 in the morning, we
welcomed Alexandra Elaine Rotton into the
family.  She weighed in at 8 lb 8 oz and is a
healthy and active bundle of energy.  We
call her “Sasha” (it’s the Russian equivalent
of “Alex”).

Sammy is now a very precocious three year
old.  He recently switched to a new
preschool located in the same building in
which Tracy works.  With Sasha there too,
the whole family gets to be together every
day.



Mark and Tracy are still working for Discovery Communications.  We invite everyone to enjoy the fine programming on the Discovery Channel’s family of networks. You can keep up with all our happenings on our newly relaunched blog: http://family.rotton.com/

You can also follow us on Twitter! Mark is @atarinut, Tracy is @taupecat and Sammy is @sammyrotton. (Sasha will get her account when she learns to talk. 🙂 )

To reach us in more traditional ways, call or email us:

301-460-6466
us@rotton.com