Dear friends,

This year-end finds us all just as busy as ever! In fact, I am not really sure what happened to the last two Christmases; and now they tell me that the year, century and millennium are ending. Maybe one of these days I’ll have a chance to sit down and figure out exactly where all this time went!

I do know that a lot of the time can be accounted for by the fact that we have two kids, and involvement with them and their interests can be a full-time job. Andrew turned 7 this year, and started the second grade. Katie is now 12, and made the dreaded transition to Middle School this year as a 6^th grader. Both are doing well in school, and at long last, we seem to have hit a stretch where Katie actually understands math. Looks like Mom got an early Christmas present!

Truth be known, Katie is thoroughly enjoying her Middle School experience. She chose to go to a school that has a good reputation, but none of her friends from Elementary School chose that same school, so she had to start all over. I am happy to say that any fears we may have had in that department were unfounded as she has made plenty of friends. Amazingly, she was reunited with a friend from second grade, and that has turned out to be a wonderful relationship. And horror of horrors! She is "going out" with a boy in her class. Of course, in the 6^th grade, that means that sometimes they eat lunch together or talk on the phone. Mostly it means that she spends a lot of time giggling with her friends, and spends hours talking to us about how great, wonderful, sweet……etc. this young man is. I guess we can all remember those days! But, gosh! I didn’t remember that they started this soon…

Besides puppy love, Katie’s big passion this year is the flute. She is taking band in school and decided that the flute was the instrument for her. To our great surprise, she is doing very well and enjoys spending time practicing. We can even recognize the songs that she is playing – so the learning process is turning out not to be too bad on aging ears! Her aspiration right now is to play with our church band in the Easter Sunrise Service, and at this rate, she probably will.

On the other hand, there is Andrew! At seven, he is all boy – and unfortunately, very much like his father…He has never met a stranger, loves an audience and exudes confidence. And typically, like others his age, is hard of hearing, has failing eyesight and a mind of his own. He has most adults wrapped around his little finger – especially those of the female persuasion. None of this, of course, makes the job of being Mom very easy!

Andrew is still taking Karate and is now a black belt. He competed in a couple of tournaments last year, and has first place and third place trophies proudly displayed in his room. I think, however, that like most boys his age, he prefers to be outside riding his bike or skateboard. Also like most boys, he has to take risks, and so we had a beautiful scraped cheek and chin a few months ago. He wore it proudly! True to his age, his current big interest is anything having to do with Pokemon. He even has me learning about this stuff as we watch the cartoon together in the morning over breakfast. My personal favorite is the one they call Psyduck because he always has a headache, and can’t get anything right. Now, there’s a character I can relate to!

Steve is still busy working at Sports Marketing, and spends most of his year dividing his time between Winston Cup, Winston Drags and home. Despite government interference in recent years, they all still seem to be working hard on something at Sports Marketing, so I don’t spend much time worrying about the future.

Besides shuttling kids to and fro, I still spend most of my time volunteering. The last couple of years have found me expanding on my volunteer role at our church where I give my time mostly in the area of Christian Education. I help with the programming and am currently a leader for Junior High Youth Fellowship (Katie’s age), and Junior Youth Club (Andrew’s age). While the work takes a lot of time, I have found it to be a special joy to be involved not only with my kids, but also with the other kids in the church and their families. I must enjoy it, because I even found myself spending a week this summer as a counselor for our denomination’s camp in the mountains of North Carolina! Believe me – gone are the days when I wouldn’t be caught dead without make-up, high heels and long fingernails! Ain’t life grand?!!

We did manage to take some time off this summer, though. The kids and I spent our normal two weeks in Florida visiting with my father and brother. As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed the sun and relaxation! For a change, we didn’t even have to deal with natural disasters during our visit, like fires or hurricanes, like we have in the past. I also got a chance to combine a church trip to Pennsylvania this summer with a visit to my grandmother. Had a great time going home and taking a walk down memory lane. My friend went with me and that made the adventure even more memorable. As a family, we spent a week at Holden Beach, NC and did nothing but relax and enjoy the beach.

It has been a very full year in the Tucker household. The end of the year, century and millennium finds us all happy, in good health and involved in things we enjoy doing. We live in a great community and have wonderful friends. Truly, we have much to be thankful for this Christmas. Our gifts may not be wrapped in pretty paper with colorful bows, but they are the best gifts of all.

It is our sincere hope that this Christmas finds each of you enjoying similar gifts in your life. May the joy, hope and peace that are Christmas continue to fill your lives with gifts far into this new Millennium!