Merry Christmas everyone! Our Christmas letter is below.

Christmas Letter 2003

Hello to all, dear Relatives and Friends,

We have had a wonderful 2003 and would like to share the highlights of it with you.

Anastasia turned seven this year. She learned to climb using our walls and doorways, and can hide up by the ceiling in our little hallway - an unfair advantage when playing hide and seek. She has always been able to make us climb the walls, and now she can join in. We think she will run away and join the circus -- she loves to jump and balance, and her dearest wish list includes a trapeze and a unicycle! Her favorite thing to do right now is to do somersaults over the couch. Luckily all of our furniture is second-hand.

Another milestone is that she learned to ride her bike this summer and that led to her meeting all the neighborhood kids. She is very popular, even with the older kids -- often we had up to ten kids playing in our yard.

On the domestic science front, she learned to make toast and scramble eggs by herself and often wakes us up very, very, early on Saturday morning to bring us breakfast in bed.

She is a creative spirit and is always working on an art project. She also loves to write and illustrate stories -- her school library even published one! She can read but still prefers to be read to at bedtime. Upon being polled she responded that her favorite book that we have read together this year is the classic (circa about 1880) book by George McDonald, The Princess and the Goblin. (For those of you who like this sort of stuff, you will be interested to know that THIS book was a childhood favorite of JRR Tolkien and a big inspiration for The Hobbit). We enjoy her taste in movies -- her favorites this year (a tough choice) are Peewee's Big Adventure, Labyrinth (she and her friends are all fascinated by David Bowie as the Goblin King), and Calamity Jane (whip-cracking away with Doris Day).

Anastasia's real daddy Kevin Freeman has come up three times this year to see Anastasia. She is always thrilled to see him! We are all happy to see him and appreciate the effort he makes to stay in Anastasia's life. Scott is no doubt more of a "father figure" to Anastasia at this point, but I am so happy that she knows who her real daddy is and knows that he loves her!

For Scott and myself, getting married probably outweighs all other events as the most interesting!

We did a little travel earlier in the year - in May Scott and I visited his father Ken Wlaschin in LA for several days. He has a cute little bungalow in the Hollywood Hills and entertained us graciously. But the Big Trip was in June. Scott and I traveled to England and France for two weeks! First to the Isle of Wight where Scott's mother Mo lives, and then on to London, where we visited the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, The National Portrait Gallery, and Westminster Abbey, and, most importantly, Harrod's and Liberty's of London. We also had a proper tea at Scott's uncle's house, with Pimm's Cups and cucumber sandwiches! In Paris we roamed the streets on the hottest day of the year, clutching a plastic bag of rapidly ripening Camembert that we finally ate at the end of the day in our hotel room, but only after opening the windows! While in Paris we saw modern art at the Centre Pompidou, Musee D'Orsay, and the Picasso Museum; walked underneath the Eiffel Tower, and took a cruise on the Seine; and saw beautiful stained glass at touristy Notre Dame and enchanting St. Severin. St. Severin is a small Gothic church on the left bank that beat out Notre Dame in every way as far as beauty, holiness and possessing a sense of sacred space are concerned! In Paris we walked everywhere -- the Left Bank, the Right Bank and the Marais. It was sheer bliss despite the record-breaking heat.

As everyone probably knows by now, Scott proposed to me on our second to last night before coming home, in a hotel room in London on Piccadilly Circus. It was just in time for me to let him buy me a lovely wedding ring at the Victoria and Albert Museum, an Art Deco-style band of sterling silver, peridot and marcasite. In fact, earlier that week, I had already secretly selected it as the one I wanted!

We married soon after getting home from our honeymoon, in fact on July 14th, Bastille Day. It was a simple ceremony in the judge's chambers, with a casual barbecue afterwards. Getting married is a big step but for the two of us it just felt like it couldn't be any other way!

At the end of November we had another wedding, right after Thanksgiving. This was partly because Scott's mom Mo was in the country and we wanted her to be with us, and partly because my very generous parents wanted to give us a beautiful wedding.

It was a wonderful event. I wore an elegant green velvet dress that I had sewed myself. Both my sister Cynthia and my brother Bill came to be part of the wedding, and it wouldn't have been at all as special without both of them! The wedding was held at The Wedding House, a big Old Portland-style house with hardwood floors, dark wood paneling, a fireplace, and a big staircase. Marilyn Sewell, the pastor at the First Unitarian Church that we attend, officiated at the ceremony. Scott played the processional on the piano as I walked down the stairs and then leapt up to join me at the fireplace for the ceremony. Very romantic! (You can see photos of both weddings at Scott's web site: extractofmalt.com)

Anastasia and I both sing in choirs at the Unitarian Church downtown --we are the biggest Unitarian congregation in the United States! Scott jokes that the church is easy to find - just drive along until you see the parking lot full of anti-war bumper stickers. I love the church community and the singing, and even Scott comes sometimes.

We have two other family members -- a great big fluffy cat named Angel (nickname: 'Fluffball') and a tadpole who is named Little Guy, but should really be called Peter Pan, because he (or she) is almost two years old and shows no sign of wanting to grow up into a frog.

The five of us are a very happy family together! We all look forward to our future together with delight and anticipation!

Lots of Love and Season's Greetings,

Suzanne, Scott and Anastasia