Christmas Letter: 1996

December 1996

Dearest Family, Friends, and Country Folk,

Holiday greetings from Warwick, New York! Another year has flown by so quickly and as I approach that magical birthday #39, I appreciate more and more the times our family has shared all through the year (I guess I should be happy I’m not turning #40 yet). Where does the time go?

The kids have all grown so much this past year and we’ve now reached the point that Julien will borrow stuff from Chris. They now have the same shoe size, are almost the same height, but Julien still beats Chris out in “bulk” (although Chris weighs at least 10 pounds more than me)! I’m sure that it won’t be too long until they are an even match! Chris is doing well in school. He is in three honors courses and has found golf to be his sport. I’m not sure where he gets his “smarts” from - it’s sure not his mother. Next year he’ll be in high school and then we’ll be thinking about college. He is sure he wants to be a computer engineer and who knows where he’ll end up going to school. Maybe he’ll join my sister, Meg, out in Michigan! Stephanie n doing well in the 6th. grade. She played girl’s softball this spring and starts her Red Cross Junior Lifesaving Course in February. She also just began girl’s basketball and keeps me running with her love of shopping, clothes, jewelry, and her fetish for pocketbooks (all shapes and sizes). She sure is a typical pre-teenager and has a terrific sense of humor Nicolas is sports, sports, sports! We did baseball this past spring, football and baseball camp this summer, we just completed soccer, and have now just started basketball. We have already signed up for baseball this spring and who knows what else! When he is home, he hangs outside playing Street hockey and I am convinced he’ll never get through high school with his front teeth intact. He’s doing well in the 3rd grade but would pick sports over homework anytime. He, too, is tall like Chris, and soon will be a match for his dad.

Our summer was busy, but fin! We started off the summer with Chris having sinus surgery and his recovery went great! In July, the whole family went on a 4-day cable convention to Newport, Rhode Island and Julien and I even got to go out and have dinner at The Hammersmith Farm (the Kennedy’s summer home). The kids had a wild time as Disney, Nickelodeon, The Learning Channel, and The Discovery Channel came up to do activities with them. Chris even had teen nights and one night we went to pick him up and we discovered him in the front of the Electric Slide line. We were told that he had beat all doing karaoke to the song “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” (he is a country music fan). It was a vacation to remember - what a blast!

Julien is doing great at his job - traveling up to Massachusetts a lot, but really enjoying it (the regional headquarters is there). He spent his summer weekends in his garden and he’s become quite famous for the “sweetest cheery tomato.” We even grew eggplant. O.K., we only grew two, but they made the best half-a-plate of fried eggplant I’ve ever had. He and I also spent a few weekends attempting to wallpaper our entryway, hallway, living and dining room walls. We now appreciate the money paid to professional wallpaper hangers as I am not exactly sure how we got the project done without killing each other! Our most recent adventure was a trip to the city to see the Broadway play “Beauty and the Beast, which included fighting the elements of a hurricane, flooded and closed roads, and a 4 ‘/2 hour drive home!

Meg was home during the summer and we did some great day trips. We went to The Catskill Game Farm and there was a llama there that was convinced I was his mother. He constantly followed me around and knew if I could I would have brought him home. For those of you who don’t know my love for animals, we have Woody (a guinea pig that we adopted last December after we saw the movie Toy Story). That’s where he got his name from. We also have Tulip (a huge mutant bunny I brought home from the local Agway store Easter weekend). Now, you have to understand that I was sure Julien would not let me have it, so I took him from the store and showed up at Nick’s baseball practice with it to show to Julien. I was sure he wouldn’t refuse me in front of an audience of baseball spectators. His concern was “where is this rabbit going to live” and I thought I convinced him that a recycling bin would do just fine. Well, he did come home with a cage for Tulip (not for me) and the bunny has been doing great, but she is the biggest rabbit I’ve ever seen. Fm not sure if she is mixed with part dog or part dinosaur!

Now, about my dogs! We now have Gypsy, a female German Shepherd we were raising for The Seeing Eye that failed the program. We adopted her in February, and in April we started to raise another puppy whose name is Carol. Carol is now nine months old (also a female German Shepherd). The first dog we raised, Doreen, did beautifully in her training and is now a Guide Dog for an 18 year old girl who is a freshman in college down in Virginia. They are studying music together. We miss her terribly but are very proud of what she has accomplished. Now, here some the clincher! All I wanted for Christmas this year was a new puppy (to own) and the other day we adopted little “Nebraska”, an 8-week old shepherd/boxer mix. He is a little doll, but puts us up to now having 3 dogs which Julien says is the absolute limit or the divorce papers are in the mail! I’m not sure how he allowed me to have 3 dogs. It must be all that charm I ooze!
i’m still working at the Warwick Valley Middle School but am now in the Media Center (library). Part time is plenty as I’m so involved in The Seeing Eye program and running constantly with the kids. I’ve gone for special leadership training and if I could would raise 100 dogs. It’s so much fun and so rewarding!
Well, over and out for now. God bless you and yours this wonderful Christmas season. Wish we could all be together - you’re all missed and loved.

All my love and kisses... Pam

P.S. For those of you who didn’t know, I had two nephews born this year. Julien’s sister has a k new son named Joseph, and my brother, Ed, has a new baby named Eddie