"Once again we reach that time of year when Jews and Christians around the world gather together to mispronounce Chanukkah, which comes early this year relative to Christmas, so by the time you read this we may have already finished lighting the candles for eight crazy nights ... "

That's what I wrote 3 years ago in my "end of the year letter" for 2004. Today I started thinking about what I would write for 2007 in the letter that gets inserted in the holiday cards, and I realized this year Hannukah will once again begin relatively early in the month of December as it did in 2004. That happens about once every three years (actually 7 out of every 19 years, when the lunar Hebrew calendar has a leap month, but let's not get technical).

I also considered calling this year "Alexandra's Amazing Year!" Alexandra completed third grade with flying colors in the "gifted and talented" 'program at a new school. This summer, she went to overnight camp for the first time for two weeks in July, where she made many new friends. In October, Alexandra rode her bike without training wheels for the first time. Not to mention more successful seasons with her girls soccer team the "Blue Angels," both indoor and outdoor.

What an amazing year it has been! 2007 was the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown right here in Virginia. Alexandra got to go to Williamsburg and/or Jamestown four times this year, once in the month of May only a few weeks after the Queen of England visited (see photo above). In April during spring break, we went to Busch Gardens on a cold blustery day, but that did not deter some people from riding the water rides like Escape from Pompeii. Once again, it snowed on my birthday as it has done in years past. In January the girls went to Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg with Susan, and again with me on July 4. During the last week of June, we went to Massanutten resort in the Shenandoah valley near Skyline Drive with our friends the Frankfurts, and the big and small children got to play at the resort's new indoor water park. Alexandra got to go to Jamestown again in November on a field trip with her fourth grade class.

In August, we spent a week in the Poconos as a family, after visiting cousins in Harrisburg PA, then went on to visit my niece in New York. We left our girls with their grandparents and cousin, and Susan and I went to Massachusetts for a few days, which you can see on my FLICKR photo page.

MORE TO COME... stay tuned!