Merry Christmas from Snowy Pinawa

We would not be true to the proud parent form if we did not begin this letter by boasting about our daughter, Meghan. She entered the world with a bang (January 16) and has been a going concern ever since. At 11 months, Meghan weighs 21 pounds and measures 29 inches. She is all over the house using her own unique “crawling" style (one hand, one knee, one foot), and cruises the furniture at will. Suddenly, we need eyes in the backs of our heads as she no longer stays where we put her.

Meghan has been an excellent excuse for lots of family visits. Leslie’s mom, Annabel, arrived almost immediately for a wonderful week with her first grandchild. Andrew's parents were not far behind, appearing on the weekend to join the celebration. The rest of Leslie's family came out to meet Meghan at Easter, spending several days in Pinawa. We introduced her to Andrew's family on a two week trip to Toronto. Andrew combined business with pleasure, attending conferences mid-weeks, while Leslie and Meghan enjoyed shopping, lunching, and Margaret's craft group.

Leslie was on maternity leave and summer vacation until August and has returned to teaching half-time. Her new assignment is entitled English Language Enrichment for Native Students. It involves working in language arts with aboriginal students, kindergarten through high school. She is enjoying it much more than her previous grade eight/home economics/counselling position. This is fortunate, since her "progressive" employer refused to allow her to job-share in her previous position. She quit her tenured, permanent contract (in a bit of a huff) and was fortunate to be offered this term assignment which depends upon annual government grants.

Andrew still goes to work. His job hasn't changed much.

Leslie and Meghan are very proud of Andrew, who was awarded the Medal of Merit for being a clever guy and dedicated Scouter (he says I should put "for all his volunteer work in scouting"). Andrew is still very involved at the provincial level while maintaining a Venturer Company in Pinawa. Leslie has officially signed on as assistant Venturer advisor and takes meetings when Andrew is away.

We've enjoyed having Leslie's brother, Michael, living with us for much of the year. He attends University of Waterloo and has had two co-op work terms with AECL in Pinawa, January through April, and September through December. Mike was quite fearful of small infants when he arrived, but has developed into an enthusiastic uncle. Meghan is very fond of him and enjoys his juggling (especially when he drops the balls).

We will be spending our Christmas in Prince Albert with Leslie’s family and look forward to a relaxing time while Hugh and Annabel busy themselves spoiling their granddaughter.