Dear Friends and Family,

Another busy, busy year at the Cross house! with 3 boys, it’s real exciting and interesting too. It seems like Christmas was only yesterday and I had just finished writing my last letter. Since so many of our friends and family are many miles from Houston, we don’t get to visit very often, so we try to catch up in our Christmas letter. I guess I’ll start with the guys — and first with John.

At the end of January, a big change of events at work made John the plant manager of Exxon’s Houston Chemical Plant. Compared with jobs in Technology, this is the “real world.” For John, it was trial by fire, and in past months has experienced a realm of management challenges from renegotiating their labor union contract to responding to off—site emergencies to restructuring the manufacturing organization. There continue to be many long hours —— often from the wee hours of the morning to the very late night ones —— to get from crisis to crisis. As time goes on, and John and the plant work together, I do expect the job to go a bit smoother.

Off the job, John’s a dedicated and energetic Cub Scout leader for Richard’s Webelos den. He’s always loved Scouting and his enthusiasm for it is definitely inspiring our boys as well as many others. One of John’s favorite outing, either in Scouting or just for the fun of it, is camping. In the last few years, it has become the recreation of choice and accounts for the new tent, sleeping bags, and an elaborate assortment of camping pots, pans and do- We all went on a campout in the spring with the Scout Pack. In the summer and fall, John and Richard went on a couple of campouts with the Webelos, and after Thanksgiving, John took Richard, Robert and David on a “boys only” campout, just for the fun of it, at Martin Dies, Jr. State Park near Beaumont, Texas. As John has his eyes on more camping gear, I’m sure you’ll hear more about our camping exploits in years to come.

As for Richard, he’s also had an interesting year, full of new and exciting experiences. He’s now 9, in fourth grade, and in the school choir. He’s a straight “A” student and in the gifted program called “Alpha” at school. This year in Alpha, he chose two electives —— nature and science. He just completed the one on nature at the Armand Bayou Nature Center. He loves learning about nature and the environment, and it goes so well with Scouting. In Scouts, Richard is in his first of two years of Webelos. Needless to say, he shares his dad’s love of Scouting and camping.

Richard had a special trip this summer to visit his Grandmother Cross and his cousin Cynthia, Aunt Jean and Uncle David Rostollan in Minnesota. He and Cynthia had a great time with Grandmother at her house, now called “Camp Walden.” He hopes to go again next summer. Another highlight of Richard’s year is that he became an altar server at St. Bernadette’s. We are very proud of him for this and all of his other accomplishments.

Robert’s now 7 and a straight “A” first grader who loves math, science and reading. He also loves sports, especially baseball — he plays when ever he can, and basketball — he can shoot basketballs for hours in our driveway. He’s also an enthusiastic Tiger Cub in his first year of Scouting. He loves camping and doing all the Scout stuff. On the
Thanksgiving campout, Robert joined the “dunk ‘em and soak ‘em” club by falling into the lake during the fishing trip. That didn’t dampen his spirit, and he can hardly wait for the next trip.

David’s now 4 and a sweet, bright preschooler at Armand Bayou Montessori. He’s loves coloring, cutting and putting together puzzles at school. He’s a Scout “wanna be” and now a veteran camper with two outings to his credit this year. He keeps up with the big kids like a trooper.

As for me —— can you believe it? —— I finally finished painting our kitchen after a year and a half! Here pleased it looks nice, but I’m even more pleased it’s done. Although I assumed I’d have more time when the project was over, I am still behind with many home projects. Part of my time now goes into a new project —— being Robert’s Tiger Cub den mother. It’s an interesting position —— fun and often frantic. Leading a bunch of 6—year olds is like “herding cats” —— they’re full of energy and going in all different directions at once. Hill keep you posted on my sanity.
Partly for stress relief, but mainly to get in shape for my sister Kathy’s wedding and to fight the “Battle of the Bulge,” I joined a fitness club this year. I enjoy doing aerobics and working out with weights. I also get to visit a lot of my slender and fit friends there. At work, I’m still in the Polymers Development Group of Polymers Technology at Exxon Chemical. I have several interesting development projects in the health care and automotive industry sectors. Now, if I could only arrange another project to get me to Belgium again!

Speaking of travel, we all had a super 2—week vacation in the New England area this August. He went to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and upstate New York. He saw a bunch of our “bestest” friends from graduate school and the good ole’ days —— the Lynches and Ackermans in the Boston area, the Kaplans in Halworth, NY, and the Pearsons in Cooperstown. He had great times with everyone and our little guys had so much fun playing with their new found friends, that we had a difficult time leaving. In between visits, we toured some of the sites in the area including “Old Ironsides,” Concord, Lexington, Plymouth Rock and Plymouth Plantation in MA, the Nautilus (first nuclear—powered submarine) and some of the fancy Vanderbilt mansions in Newport, RI, Mystic Seaport in CT, Corning Glass and the Baseball Hall of Fame in NY, and, of course, a host of airplane museums, including the New England Air Museum in Windsor Locks, CT, Old Rheinbeck Aerodrome in Rheinbeck, NY, and the National Soaring Museum in Elmira, NY. Some new interesting “finds” were the National Historic Sites in Lowell, MA, which recounts the history of the cotton mills in the 1800’s, and in Saugus, MA, where an iron works from the 1600’s has been restored. He also found the Computer Museum and the Children’s Museum in Boston to be exceptionally good. All in all, we had a very full and fun trip.

As the holidays approach, we are looking forward to a before—Christmas visit from Grandmother Cross and taking a couple weeks off to relax and do Christmas stuff with the kids. He hope your holidays are wonderful and that the Lord will bless you with health and happiness this Christmas and throughout the New Year.