CHRISTMAS 2002

Dear Friends and Relatives

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with happiness and success and contentment. We hope you are in good health and that each year is better than the one before. We also look forward to hearing from you at this time of year so we can share the highlights of your lives.

The highlight of our year was the marriage of Joel and Vicky on July 6 near Westport, Ontario. The location they chose was a rural bed and breakfast and the weather was perfect for the outdoor wedding. Friends and relatives came from as far as Alberta, Manitoba, Thunder Bay, Texas, and Maryland. Their honeymoon cruise in Hawaii was just what they needed to shed the stress of Joel's thyroid operation, and finding out a week before the wedding that the lump was NOT cancer. Vicky continues her teaching career in Smiths Falls and is commuting to Toronto on weekends to earn a Specialist Certification in Physical Education. Joel is doing hospital placements in pediatrics now, and will be writing his exams next spring. Graduation is June 2, 2003. MD/MBA. WOW!! To see some wedding pictures, please visit https://www.angelfire.com/ab/it.

Lynn earned a nice promotion within NavCanada, and she continues to work extremely hard at her career. Kris's company, QNX, is surviving very well in spite of the high tech slowdown. (Visit http://www.qnx.com) He spends much of his time as a hockey parent and team manager for the youngest children, and has just started the back yard hockey rink. We all spent the Nov. 23 weekend at Kris and Lynn's, and called it our "Early Christmas". Kris and Lynn and the children spent 3 days with us on the boat last summer, at an island with a sauna and hiking trails; we discovered that our boat can indeed sleep 7! They also drove to Manitoba to visit the relatives.

Joy has traveled a lot this year, many times to Toronto and Thunder Bay, and to conferences in Quebec, Newfoundland and California. I was able to go along to St. John's, and we renewed a good old friendship with Ulrich and Blanche who showed us great scenery and warm hospitality. Joy generally comes home every second weekend, and on special occasions like Christmas parties I fly to London. Joy and I also spent a weekend at a superb resort in Mexico, the Aventura Palace, and took tours to the ancient Mayan ruins. We would highly recommend this resort.

May all your happy days far outnumber the sad ones, and have a happy festive season.

With love from

Rudy and Joy (P.s. Guess who retires Jan. 31... :-))