12/03

Happy Holidays from the Graysons!

Another year has come and gone so quickly, and this one brings few complaints from us. We've had a lot of fun this year, and are looking forward to what the new year will bring.

Mary, now five, started kindergarten this year, with the same great teacher Jonathan had. Mary loves school and is doing really well. In particular, she has become an eager and impressive little reader. At home, stuffed animal dogs and Polly Pocket are still favorite toys, and she'll spend hours coloring, drawing, and writing, making little letters or presents for us, for Jonathan, and for her stuffed friends. She continues to excel in gymnastics, and this year she joined the children's choir at our church.

Jonathan is our big eight-year old now, and in 2nd grade this year, where his favorite subjects are still math and science. He's also reading up a storm - he reads in bed each night until we finally make him him turn out the light. The only problem with this is keeping him stocked with books, as he goes through them so quickly. He played soccer in both the spring and fall seasons again this year, and also took chess lessons at school and joined cub scouts. At home he's usually either playing with Lego, the computer, or his sister.

This is Laurie's first year with both kids in school fulltime all week, yet somehow, she's busier than ever! She volunteers weekly at the school, in the library, in the kids' classrooms, or in the lunchroom. And in addition to still being in charge of scheduling sunday school assistants this year, she was the supply coordinator for our church's vacation bible school this summer. Chris is still working at BMC, despite more than one close call with layoffs there. And he still has the enthusiasm to tinker with computers at home, too: in September he finished version 1.5 of his computer game, Storycards. He's also the assistant leader in Jonathan's scout den.

Our only trip this year, other than occasional weekends in Victoria with Laurie's family, was several days in Dallas. We had a great time at Six Flags, the Dallas World Aquarium and the world's biggest Half Price Books store. We also spent lots of time in the pool this summer; the kids both made great improvement in their swimming skills this year. We continued fixing up the house, some typical work (room painting, solar screens) and some less typical work (replacing a sump pump, a new roof). And we had several visitors, which we can't get enough of - consider this your invitation to come see us.

Amid our many joys and blessings, we did have some deep sadness. Coco, our sweet kitty of almost 14 years, passed away just this month. She bravely endured chronic renal failure. We miss her dearly.

With both kids in school, we now fully appreciate how great and much needed the "winter break" is! We are staying in town this Christmas and look forward to celebrating it in our own home as well as getting the extra rest we all want! We hope that you have had a year as fortunate and healthy as ours, and wish you many blessings for 2004.

Love,