Christmas 2000

Well after taking a one-year sabbatical from writing a Christmas letter, I decided to take a crack at it again this year. All of you people that crossed me off your Christmas card list because you didn’t hear from me last year, please dig your lists out and add us back on. Unfortunately I didn’t quite complete it on time, but I figured if you can wait an extra 32-days for Florida to count its votes, you could wait a few weeks for our Christmas letter.

Lynette and I were married in March of this year at the Sandals resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica. It was a great “NO WORRIES MON” way to get married. We were joined by our friends Bunny, Sean, Christine, and my sister Lisa. It was obviously a very special time for us. The wedding was outside, and other than the occasional noise from Jet Skis zipping by or airplanes flying overhead it was beautiful and went off without a hitch. We met the minister just before the ceremony and after meeting Lynette for a few minutes, he revised our vows and made me promise to be patient. Talk about the gift of discernment J. We had a three piece island band play at our wedding. It was fun to listen to “here comes the bride” played in Reggae style. As the song was playing I couldn’t help but think back to the movie “The Runaway Bride”. A flash went through my mind of me chasing Lynette down the beach in my tux…Fortunately after a few moments of anxiety, I saw Lynette come around the corner and, best I could tell, Sean was not dragging her. The selection of music throughout the ceremony and reception was lets just say interesting. We were asked to dance our first dance to “I found my trill on Blue berry hill.” While perhaps we might not have selected that song ourselves, it did create a life long memory and needless to say has become a favorite of ours.

When Lynette and I got married, Klondike also gained a sister Jasmine. Jasmine is a five pound Malteese, Klondike as you may remember is a Bichon and weighs about eleven pounds. They really have a blast together. Jasmine (like Lynette) quickly established that she, despite being half the size of Klondike, was the alpha dog. Klondike and I are quite comfortable in our masculinity so have adapted quickly to our new roles. Klondike and I are both extremely happy, but have both gained a few pounds since they moved in. We are hoping to loose it chasing Jasmine and Lynette around the house in the new year.

As I write this we are flying home from the vacation of a lifetime. Our first morning was spent in a small café over looking the Eiffel tower in Paris As we ate our croissants and sipped our coca-cola light we watched in amazement the traffic fought its way around the Arc De Triomphe. Later we strolled though the streets of Billagio stopping in shops and enjoying the beautiful lake view. Our evening ended as we ate risotto and drank fine Italian wine at a café overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice. We watched for hours as the Gondoleers floated by singing romantic Italian songs. Next we were off to NY where we watched an outdoor Christmas ice skating show with a view of the Statue of Liberty in the background. Later during our trip we made it to Egypt for a tour the Pyramids. It is amazing how small the world has become; we were able to do all this in a 3 day long weekend. OK so we actually did all of this during a weekend trip to Las Vegas, but we had a great time never the less. Even if you don’t gamble, it really is worth a trip to see it all. This was the first time Lynette had been to Vegas in about 15 years and my first trip that wasn’t business related. With all the site seeing we never managed to find much time to gamble. All in all Lynette lost about $2 at video poker and I didn’t make a single bet. The reason for our trip was to attend the wedding of some friends of ours from Mexico City. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was great fun. The reception was in the Venetian hotel and lasted for almost 8 hours. While most of the music and talking was in Spanish we really enjoyed ourselves. They definitely know how to celebrate! While in Vegas we also had the opportunity to go see the Blue Men Group. It was a great show and would recommend it to anyone that has the chance to see it.

I am still working at i2. For the first six months I traveled every single week, but it slowed down quite a bit during the second half of the year. Unfortunately I only traveled 85,000 miles with American this year so I will have to give up my Executive Platinum status. Small price to pay for staying home, but I must say American treats you like royalty when reach that level. I was upgraded to first class for free on most of my flights. Lynette who has worked for i2 for four years decided to quit her job and go back to school. She was originally in the travel department, but when i2 decided to outsource the travel function she moved into the IS department for a few months. After doing some sole searching she decided she really wanted to go back to school, so she is starting at a community college in January. She is going to study fitness and nutrition. Needless to say, I am packing in the cheeseburgers and fries, because I fear in a few years my diet will be restricted to carrot juice and brussel sprouts as Lynette learns more about the evils of fast food.

We bought a boat this year. It is a 23-foot Chriscraft, kind of a family ski boat. We keep it on lake Texoma, which is about an hour and half away from our home in Addison. We went up to the lake most weekends this summer and really enjoyed it. I must say Lake Texoma is a far cry from the Bahamas, but it sure helped as beat the heat in Dallas.

We also took a short trip to Nassau this summer. We had a great time. We went to Friday night dinner at the Sailing Club and Lynette was able to meet many of my childhood friends. It still feels a little funny to be allowed upstairs in the club with the adults, but I am sure given time I could get used to it. We were very fortunate to get a chance to go to Rose Island thanks to Phil and Sil. As were relaxing on the beach drinking Kalik and eating Kentucky Fried chicken, I couldn’t help and wonder why I ever left. Where did I go wrong…….

For the first time since I started at University of Florida, I didn’t make it to any gator games this year. Being in Dallas, I didn’t get to see too many of them on TV either. Fortunately I was out of the country during the FSU game so I didn’t have to sit through that. Perhaps we can petition the supreme court for a re-match. We are not going to be able to make it to the sugar bowl either. Playing Miami again does bring back some bad memories. I hope Spurier has a few tricks up his sleeve, because I think we are going to need them.

Well if there is any hope of you reading this before Easter, I better finish this off and get it in the mail. We do hope you had a Merry Christmas and Have a Happy and Healthy 2001…

Love,

Ted, Lynette, Jasmine & Klondike