December 1995

Dear Family and Friends,

As the end of the year draws near we always look forward to hearing news from our family and friends to brighten up our holidays. We hope that you feel the same way, and that this letter finds you happy and healthy, and brings you a little bit of similar cheer.

Our big news of the year: We bought a house! Well, actually we are just borrowing it from the bank, but we are still quite proud of it. It is a very cool little Cape Cod across the street from a park. We moved in August 19 with much help from wonderful friends. Tom is very much enjoying renovating things to make the house our own. Lisa is admiring Tom, helping when she can, and wishing that everything was done. So far we have one room that is almost completely done: the bathroom has a new shower, paint job, pedestal sink and medicine cabinet.

We took many trips this year, but, as usual, we didn't take them together. Tom went on work trips to Boston, Germany, Washington DC, and Utah. Lisa went on work trips to Italy, Turkey, and Germany. Tom went on pleasure trips to Colorado (skiing), Paris (from Germany), and Dayton (an air show). Lisa went on a pleasure trip to Utah to see Doris graduate. Hey, Tom got to take more pleasure trips than Lisa did! No fair! Well, actually the ski trip was while Lisa was in Italy so that wasn't Tom's fault.

We actually did do a few things together. We went canoeing with Kathy and Vern, did a Murder at the Mansion (look for clues, ask questions, and guess whodunit), and took a few short weekend trips, including Lawrence in August to help Rita and Manuel John move Laura (our flower niece) into Ellsworth Hall at KU (go Jayhawks!). In March we celebrated 10 years of dating, and in September we celebrated our first year of weddedness. We're looking forward to many more, which hopefully will include a bit more travel together.

We had visitors, too. While Lisa was in Germany, Paul (Tom's dad) came to visit for two weeks and work on the house. He and Tom worked hard and got an incredible amount done. Tom's sister, Ginny, and Ginny's boyfriend, Danny, came to see us in October. Tom's grandmother, Virginia, stayed for four days over Thanksgiving, highlighted by a little World Wide Web surfing.

There is one big thing that we wanted to do this year, but didn't. We didn't go on a belated honeymoon. BAD Tom and Lisa. Maybe next year we can take a belated-belated one.

Well, that about wraps it up for us. We are looking forward to hearing from and seeing many of you soon. We consider ourselves very lucky to have such wonderful family and friends. We have a guest bedroom in our new home, so just let us know when you're coming! Our door is always open, figuratively speaking, of course.

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year!!

P.S.: And as always, Be Safe.