Twas a month before Christmas in the Glewwe household
when Laurel jumped up and spoke "Oh Dear!"
"None of the stockings are hung,
none of the Holloween decorations are down,
and worst of it all,
this year's Christmas letter has not begun".

So away from the brewing of apple cider Mark did (slowly) run
(with great hesitation and heavy sighing, too).
Straight to his PC he did sit and compose the following ...

But don't feel bad for the man of my dreams
for a beer with a piece of Chambord torte I did bring him,
and he is now very happy and filled with good cheer.
Plus he has already brewed 30+ gallons of cheer.

Happy Holidays to one and all. I fear our Hmong friends will be getting their New Years greeting late, but all of us at the Glewwe household are well and happy (despite this PC fahpah).

Mark is still at Computing Devices Intl. - a wholly owned division of Ceridian soon to be sold to General Dynamics. Most employees feel things will improve, but just a wee bit nervous about their new task masters.

Diana is 15 years of age, in ninth grade, playing saxophone in band. Girl Scouts and youth group will keep mom and dad hopping - until she discovers her own mode of transportation. Her parents are beginning to see the handwriting on the wall with a 15 year old ... "Mom! Dad! Did you know I can get my license to drive? Which car am I going to get?"

Erik is 9 years of age (but wants to remind you he will be 10 on January 26) and involved with Cub Scouts (first year Weebalo), Power Rangers, and tormenting his beloved sister. Actually the older he gets, the more his interests start to broaden into remote controlled cars and just plain "Take it apart and find out how it works". For all you friends and family who were D&D players - yes! Both of our kids have succome to the mystique and are playing the game. Mark is such a bad influence.

As for Laurel, this past year, she has been working at the Lynn Temporary office and on special assignment outside the office. She is on location with the Army Corps of Engineers and finding out just how well the government works. Gee! This is a scary place!

Oh, yes. We almost forgot. For those of you have been following the exploits of Spot and her bid for the Presidency, she is still campaigning. She has now offered her expertise in the Iraq situation to President Clinton, "Bite that son-of-cat in the <expletive deleted> and don't let go until he sees things your way. Peace on Earth and Good Will to all."

Meanwhile Shadow the cat has been in the hospital. Seems she had a run-in with a hostile beast coming towards the (hopeful) Presidential living space. She took a serious hit. She is convalescing well and Spot seems grateful. (Not so grateful to reconsider her views on cats, but Spot is grateful it was not her that was injured.)

As far as this years events, we took a week and a half and went to Boston, Mass. Took in the Freedom Trail, Plymouth Rock (did you know there are many ways to spell Plimouth?), Salem, saw a moose, and visited the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Also after 17 years of marriage, Mark finally took Laurel to romantic Niagara Falls. Kids were along but it was the thought! Saw a lot of neat places and we would like to go back.

In October we harvested our gardens. We raised white pumpkins this year. The pumpkins are the same size as regular pumpkins, only white. Duh?!? They are really neat to carve and hopefully by next year we will have a fanatic following of white pumpkin enthusiests. Isn't diversity just grand!

This year was also great for sweet corn. After two days of freezing Laurel estimated we have 60+ gallons. Please excuse the gallon reference but, being with Mark and his brewing, Laurel now seems to find herself measuring by the gallons.

Speaking of gallons, Mark's big news is the purchase of an early Christmas present. An apple press. We pressed 85 gallons of juice. After giving away massive quantities of the juice, we now have a basement with about 30+ gallons of apple juice fermenting away. Laurel is still concerned the Feds don't get wind of this. Anyway, come next Fall, if anyone out there would like to come and press some apples for the juice, we would love to see you.

May you find the peace and salvation offered by the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Glewwe Family of Prior Lake

Mark, Laurel, Diana, Erik, Spot, Shadow, and Tweetie