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Christmas Letter 2001
December 2001
Ho Ho Ho.... ‘tis that time of year
again.... and once again I’m carrying out our yearly tradition for a Christmas
Letter for the year 2001. As usual, I’m trying to keep this in chronological
order. All the names have been bolded so you can spot them easier.
Well, after bugging Paul for almost a
year, I finally was able to buy his Van. Unfortunately, it took 4 months before
we got it on the road. Now we call it the ‘Hippy Van’. Not that it looks like
it but that it has those velour walls that scream out ‘Get Funky!’
This year I had decided to take a real
vacation and went to see my parents while they were ‘Snow Birds’ in Bonita
Springs in Florida. It was really nice to spend some quality time with them. It
was very relaxing. We worked on jigsaw puzzles, played shuffleboard, went to
the beach (my dad found me some cool shells), played cards and lots of
shopping. Found some really good deals. My mom sure knows where to find
those great bargains! Chuck had even gone down at the same time to visit
his parents in Naples. Since it was only 10 minutes away, we decided to spend a
day together, site-seeing and shopping.
Of course, my parents came back up north to
be with our family again (now that the weather was warmer!) for Easter. Michel
and his girlfriend, Martine, were there. Lennon and Nicki
made it. Lennon showed us his pierced tongue. Carol’s crew and
our parents made it a full house. It’s always so nice to have everyone come
together like this. My mom bought a new laptop over that weekend. I
helped her set it up and showed her how to use it. It’s a great tool but since
there were some problems with it, I had spent many weekends going to Fort Erie
to fix things. Not that I minded because it was always a nice get-away for me.
Here are a few one-liners: Dan Ebbs
moved to Europe to teach. Darlene got a job a Tim Horton’s and lasted a
day before going back to Harvey’s. Carol moved back in with the parents
(hopefully to London next). Martine’s big move was from Montreal to move
in with Michel. I had a fender-bender that ended up costing me $850. Tara
had a fun time during her week vacation with her Aunt Diane this summer.
Troy moved again. Veronica moved too. Darlene got a new
apartment with a roommate.
Adam almost made a movie (he auditioned
for a part). He also graduated from grade 8. This means he now is in High
School! Boy, does time fly! We bought him a brand new bike for graduation. He
had an adventure riding his bike to Fanshawe Lake. Unfortunately, the bike was
stolen just before his birthday from the school lot. Adam had gone to
Diamond Aircraft for the day. It was Parent/Child day and Adam was
excited to be with his dad.
Mason also had excellent grades this year in his
report card. So good, in fact, that we sent him flying over London! He said
that it felt ‘freaky’ since he was sitting in the pilot’s seat. He also got a
new bike on his birthday in February and his brother was nice enough to take
him riding all over London. It was so nice to see Mason doing his
homework every night, faithfully! It paid off in the long run because when we
got his report card in November, he got excellent grades! Keep it up, Mason!
Well, it finally happened! Chuck and Sunao
got married this past July in Naples, Florida! Guess who was the best man? If
you said that I was, you’re right! He got me back! (Most of you know that he
was my maid of Honour)(tee hee hee). I think I got the better end of the
bargain! My trip down was a disaster! To make a long story short: I was asleep
on the plane and woke up to landing in the Tampa airport (was suppose to have a
direct flight to Fort Myers). It rained almost the entire time I was there.
Except for a short period while the wedding was going on. Chuck’s
parents were very kind to put me up for the entire time I was down there. It
was nice to meet his family. Had a great time! Congratulations, Chuck
and Sunao!
We’ve all been so very busy this year with
renovations to our house. The house on Dufferin Ave. was put on the market in
March. It took 8 months before it sold. We had already bought a new house and
were getting worried that we might have to carry both mortgages. But it all
came together! We absolutely love this new house! It was truly meant for us. It
has a double car garage - Craig’s tickled pink over it! He can now fix
cars without worrying about the weather. There are 2 bedrooms on the main floor
with a fireplace in the livingroom, dining room, full bath, eat-in kitchen. In
the lower level, there are 2 more bedrooms, a huge laundry room, a full
bathroom, rec-room and den, and best of all... a cold room with built in wine
rack! Woo Hoo!!! There’s also a breeze way connecting the house to the garage.
Grapevines overhang above a cozy patio. This place also has central air! We’ve
really worked up for this. If you plan to visit, please walk in the breeze way.
We can’t hear people knock on the door and we haven’t got a doorbell installed
yet. We’ve always had an open-door policy anyways. (Except to strange Russians
delivering pizza with a body guard - hehehe)
At my work, there have been some changes,
too. Larysa (who some met a last year’s summer party) is now the HBA
supervisor and Joanne is our new MBA supervisor. Also, two co-workers
have bought and moved into new homes: Beata and Laurie. This is Laurie’s
first home. We were all getting a bit worried when our contract was done and
there was a lot of talk about going on strike. Thank goodness it didn’t come to
that!
