Christmas 2003
I am getting to this a bit late this year. All of the issues of life seem to make time go so quickly. I have started a bit of a project over the past few weeks. It got in the way of the normal effort of writing the annual Christmas card.
When the kids were small I had the chance to record them on 3/4" video equipment. The big, heavy cumbersome rig was owned by friends and on occasion we were privileged to borrow it. The tapes by themselves are big (bigger than most camcorders today) and we didn't play them much. I am lucky enough to own a 3/4" playback deck. Here’s Anna at age 5 in 1992.
Babies cry
They're never dry
They poke their fingers in your eye
They love to eat
Their never neat
They pour cold oatmeal on your feet
They dribble fruit and burp to boot
But all the grown-ups say, "How Cute!"
Hard to believe that Anna is now 16, Eva is 13 and Maria is 12.
Anna is a Junior in High School. She is preparing for the SAT and getting good grades. She is part of the "Production Club" which means a few long days backstage when the school is doing a play. She painted the stage floor with a huge map of Greece for the play this spring.
Eva is finishing her last year at Middle School. She plays the violin and has started dabbling with web page building and other computer type things. Making MP3s of music are a recent interest.
Maria is also making web pages of her favorite subject, Killer Whales. She can look at a picture of a captive whale and tell you the name of the whale by the arrangement of its coloring.
Monika and the girls are involved in Scouting. They have a Troop with all their friends in it. The girls organize their own activities. This summer they went to Camp Mason and did some wall scaling and climbing
Monika is busier then ever with her translating work for the courts and other official needs. She travels across the state and also does work at night translating documents. The courts even seem to know when she is not away from the house on assignment as they have the need for translators over the phone. She still teaches the "Gifted and Talented" kids how to program the Lego Educational Division products during a series of Saturday classes
I am still programming away at a medical educational / marketing firm in Morristown. I also have done a few part time programming jobs, but I must admit that I am slower than I used to be. Not too many 2AM programming sessions any more.
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.
We hiked and visited friends. Cousin Joanna came from Austria along with Monika's brother Bogdan. During a hike the kids invaded a blueberry patch.
We took lots of pictures and video of the trip. While we were there we were able to build web pages and upload them. Internet Cafes are all the rage in Poland now. If you missed our dispatches from the road, you can find them here.
We hope you have a Happy Holiday season. We wish all people everywhere hope, peace and freedom from oppressors.
