The Vaughn Family Christmas Letter

Well, it's that time of the year again. Time to catch family and friends up with the goings on of the Vaughn household. We realize that it must be hard to wait for this once-a-year update, but we'll try to put your rabid curiosity at ease.

Hank is still out of work, but feels that 2004 will "be his year." Let's hope so. After all, we all took him at his word when he said that the 90's would "be his decade." Time's running out on the ol' Hankster. He had some interesting leads this last year, however: at one point he even had the opportunity to Make Big Dollars Working Out Of His Own Home, but then realized that one needed a phone to operate a 900 number.

We know that many of you have been anxiously awaiting the news of our summer trip abroad. Well, did you know that Tijuana is not technically "abroad?" That was news to us, too. Be that as it may, we still had a lovely time. The natives were all so friendly to us. We found several that were willing to change our American currency over to the local money. The merchants, too, were more than willing to help us while purchasing our souvenirs; we found all we had to do was had over the cash, and they simply took what was needed. Most hospitable. And, yes, you can be sure that some of you will find some of our purchases under your Christmas tree this year. (We decided to keep a lovely painting entitled "Elvis and Gandhi Share A Bagel" for ourselves).

Little Suzie was in her second grade class play this fall, and boy, was she a hit! She played an ottoman in the school's production of Ibsen's "A Doll's House." Her costume was an off-brown corduroy. Well, no, actually it was more of a burnt sienna. No, make that a sort of a beige. Suzie at first was going to settle for a much smaller part, but her teacher convinced her otherwise. Suzie, after all, has always been a good student. We have now doubt that she will be promoted to the third grade this time. Let us take a moment to catch you up to speed on her latest report card:

Citizenship...........C
Handwriting.........D+
Math....................C-
Phonics................F
Spelling...............C-
P.E. ................... --
Social Studies.....C-

As you can see, Suzie continues to put up fine numbers. It must be pointed out, however, that her teacher graded on the curve. Therefore, her grades were much higher.

We have several projects that have been keeping us all busy. As many of you know, our bathrooms have been in the need of a good grouting, and you'll be glad to know that it has finally been done. We used an epoxy-based enamel that did a pretty good job. It cost $5.89 a can. We find that the bathroom tile only needs a good scrubbing once a month now. Of course, we still clean the toilet bowl, wash the mirrors, and remove the hair from the drains every two weeks. Some things never change, huh?

We are glad to report that Simba, our beloved cat, has completely recovered from his medical problems of last summer. The sebaceous cyst has almost completely gone away. We thank you for your prayers for our beloved house cat; we think the worst is over.

Chad continues to attend classes at the local junior college. We only hope that next semester they will actually let him enroll. We feel that he can apply himself when he wants to and believe that the college will forget about that business with the Dean's daughter.

Well, until next year, Happy Holidays! We are anxiously waiting for the arrival of all of your Christmas cards. Last year we had a problem with the mail, and evidentially all of your cards were lost en masse. So be sure to write a personal note telling what you've been up to these last few months, okay?

The Vaughns