In mid-May, I found out that my sister, who I believed I was not out to, has known since at least last Christmas about my activities as Ceera. (I later found that she first knew around last Thanksgiving). I was told by her eldest daughter, who I also thought I wasn't out to yet, and my niece also told me that "everyone here knows now" - meaning all of my family in my home town. The good news was that all three nieces and my nephew, and their spouses, are totally cool with my being female part of the time. The niece said my sister was 'still in shock' but would probably also accept this part of me, eventually.
So at that time I sent my sister a two page e-mail, starting a discussion on what she knew, and where I stand. She replied the next day acknowledging having read it, and promised to talk more on the subject when her personal life was less hectic. Preferably, as I had suggested, face to face.
Nothing on that topic for two months...
So I sent her another e-mail yesterday, more generically checking in and updating her on other stuff for the last 2 months, but also saying I still wanted to talk about the 'Ceera stuff'.
Today I finally heard back from my sister. Almost 3,000 words worth of thoughtful, and mostly accepting, reply. And the two most important parts of her reply were "You are my brother and I love you completely, and I always will." and "I do want you to be happy and continue your life as you feel comfortable." Yay!
She isn't ready to meet me as a female yet, and might not be for a long time. It is going to take her a while to become fully accepting. But she wants to understand, and is trying quite hard to educate herself about transgender issues and to evaluate and understand our conversation.
The worst part of it was my sister's confirmation that her husband now wants no contact with me whatsoever, and does not want me to come to their home. That will make it difficult for me to attend holiday celebrations that include my sister, nieces and nephew, and grand nieces. But I'm happy to avoid him, as we never have liked each other. And we'll work something out for the holiday stuff.