Happy Holidays from PHILADELPHIA!  Well we finally fulfilled the promise we made to our families back in 1994 when Beth joined me in Toronto.  We’ve moved ourselves and our offspring back within driving distance of our relatives in Maryland and New Jersey.  So how did we get here?  Well, as usual it was a career move for Chris.  In June he accepted the position of Senior Vice President of Marketing for ARAMARK Corporation, a large food service company based in downtown Philadelphia.  Chris started with them in mid-August and we moved into a house in the western suburbs a few weeks later.  We’re settling in nicely and starting to make new friends and get familiar with the area. 

It seems that just as we got our home in Atlanta fixed up just the way we wanted, it was time to move again.  Naturally, our house in Pennsylvania was in need of major repairs when we moved in, so we’ve been rather pre-occupied with contractors these past few months.  As we had hoped, a steady stream of family and friends from New Jersey has greeted Beth since we arrived and we have made several visits up to New Jersey as well.  We are all looking forward to attending Christmas Eve dinner with her family there this year for the first time since 1997.    We were also treated to visitors from our neighborhood in Atlanta.  Beth had lots of fun showing them around her favorite spots in Philadelphia and New York.   

Charlie’s had a busy year as well.  He and Chris were lucky enough to get tickets to see the University of Maryland (Chris’ alma mater) basketball team play in and win the NCAA Championship in Atlanta in April, along with our good friends Jim and Daniel Charanis.  Charlie also completed his first season on the neighborhood swim team. But the biggest news is that Charlie began to attend public school this year.  His is doing great and has been making lots of new friends in his afternoon kindergarten class.  In fact, many of them were able to attend Charlie’s “Leprechaun” birthday party at our home in October.  He is also really looking forward to starting basketball and t-ball this spring.  We are so proud of him. 

Of course, Henry refuses to be outdone by his older brother.  He’s grown into a precocious little boy that loves to chase, play, wrestle and even fight (sometimes) with Charlie.  Henry began attending a local Montessori school in September and has really developed a passion for learning.  In addition, he’s building his own group of friends that more and more seem to give him his own social calendar.  One source of great excitement for Henry last month was a special visitor to his school.  As part of a 9/11-remembrance art contest, Henry’s school was chosen by Jim Henson Productions from 10,000 entries nationwide to host Bear in the Big Blue House for a day.  It was quite a production and we’re told that the visit will appear on a home video due out next year.   

Our youngest Patrick will turn two years old next week, and continues to be more of a handful than we recall either of his brothers being.  Perhaps he’s just competing for our attention.  If so, he seems to be leading in all categories as we’ve learned we can’t turn our back on him for a moment.  In fact, we had to install child-proof handles on the exterior doors of our home after a visiting contractor spotted Patrick half-way down the street wearing only his pajamas one morning.  He also routinely escapes from his crib and empties the contents of any box, bottle or glass he can lay his hands on.  We love him dearly, but hope he mellows a bit as he gets older.

Well, that's all the news for now. We hope you have a wonderful holiday and a happy and healthy New Year.  To check out news from previous updates, just click on the date you'd like to see: 

December 22, 2001 Update

December 23, 2000 Update 

December 19, 1999 Update 

October 10, 1998 Update