Greetings from the other side of the world… or nearly anyways. I’m in Poland now – a wonderful 6 hour time difference away from home.

Once again it has been a great year. Anna (17), Eva (14) and Maria (13) are all doing great in school. Anna graduates this year (gulp) and is deep into the college application process.

This summer we went to Poland to visit Monika's family and to see the sights. Monika's mom and dad went with us to a resort in the mountains. It kept them from having to do the cooking and cleaning for a house full of guests. They had a great time seeing all of their grandkids together.

What else can you do to top the Road Trip we did last year?
You have to do a BIGGER ONE.
This time it was three weeks and way more places to go.

The crowd at the tree seemed a little smaller this year. People seemed a bit more cautious than normal. I guess it is normal for the times. Previously the flags around the plaza were of all different nations. During the holidays they were replaced with gold and green banners. This year it is the red, white and blue. Personally, I would prefer just a white flag of truce.

Back in 1988 when Anna was a baby, we visited Washington, DC. We went to the Smithsonian Institution where we came across the huge 1401 Pacific type locomotive in the Museum of American History. It is quite a contrast of a tiny baby with a huge locomotive.

Every few years we go back to this same spot and take a family picture.

For our vacation this year we rented an RV again, and hit the road north to NY, VT, NH, MA, RI and CT. We climbed Mt. Washington in New Hampshire and spent a bit of time hiking and exploring the Franconia Notch section of the state. Along the way we visited the "normal" tourist places like the Vermont Teddy Bear factory (complete with a bear shaped maze in the cornfield) as well as Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory. It was a great trip.

No one had e-mail or even good Internet access back in 1998. I would buy an mail a Christmas card and send a printed letter inside.

We usually send out a Far Side Christmas card each year, but for some reason I can not find any in the array of office supply stores here in Northern New Jersey. It is hard to believe that Paramus can support an Office Depot, two Staples and an Office Max. I guess you'll have to laugh at my favorite Far Side.

When I was a kid, a relative always wrote a lovely Christmas letter. I started doing it on the Internet in 1996.