May your lives be full of 
  the gentleness of peace, 
      the exuberance of joy, and
          the warmth of abiding love 
both this holiday season and
  throughout the New Year.

Christmas, 2002

Dear Friends and Family,

As another year ends we are faced with the continuing threat of terrorism and possible impending war, yet life DOES go on, one day at a time, and we wish/hope/pray daily for world peace.

2002 has been kind to us, as we've continued to work around the house, travel, and play, as well as to celebrate the marriage of our youngest son Michael to a delightful young woman named Jennifer, with whom he has been living for the past two years.

Dick & Gee Sauvageau
c/o Seacrest Condominiums - Unit 411
895 Santa Rosa Blvd.
Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32548
Phone: (850) 301-9600 ext.1411

email: geesauvageau@att.net
       dicksauvageau@hotmail.com

For the winter, we rented a wonderful two-bedroom unit on the fourth floor of a condominium building that overlooks the Gulf of Mexico. We met some great people with whom we spent a fair amount of time playing cards, golfing, shopping, eating, etc. We look forward to seeing most of them again this year, as we plan to return to the same unit for the same three-month stay. Our Florida address, if any of you find yourselves headed south, is the same as last year.

Spring and early summer found us renovating our kitchen. It all started when our existing floor was so bad we decided to tear it up. That was over a year ago. Since we weren't sure what we wanted to replace it with we put it off... and off... and off! Finally we decided to remove old paneling and wallpaper, and replace them with paint. We then bought a new refrigerator and a built-in dishwasher to take the place of our old portable one, replaced the countertops, and put in a new Pergo (laminate wood) floor. We're very happy with the results. Of course, I plan on finding a border to put up around the wall near the ceiling and buying curtains, but, hey, I wouldn't want to rush into anything!

Our summer was a busy one, with a week in a time-share in Wells Beach, Maine, nearly a week on Martha's Vineyard, several visits to my parents' and five weeks at our beloved Sebago. The highlight of the summer however, was a long August weekend in New Hampshire, celebrating Michael and Jennifer's marriage.

None of our kids have chosen 'traditional' weddings, so of course Mike & Jenn's was no exception. Married in a big open field in the shadow of the White Mountains, they chose a ceremony that drew from an eclectic combination of traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, Native American, Pagan, and New Age. It was a lovely celebration, attended by our whole family.

The newlyweds continue to demonstrate and sell skill-based, people-powered toys mainly at fairs and festivals through their business called Try Out Toys Entertainment. They have created a video that teaches some of the moves of "Sphereplay", Michael's name for contact juggling which is the art of manipulating a sphere around one's body. So far they have sold quite a few of their videos at the fairs and festivals as well as through distributors in places as far away as Italy and Japan! At the moment they are in Texas, having just finished a seven-weekend run at a Renaissance Fair near Houston. They plan on staying in the south for the winter before heading back to New England next spring.

Our oldest son Scott and his wife Amy have had a good year. Their horse farm is doing very well now, and Amy has about as many lessons as she can possibly do on her own! Scott continues to work as a senior systems analyst, (a programmer for those of you not really into computers) and overall seems quite happy with his work.

Grandson Teddy is now six years old and in first grade. His little sister Kayleigh is three. Nearly a year and a half ago Amy recognized that Kayleigh had some delayed language/speech problems and got her some help from the state Birth-to-Three Early Intervention Program. Last August, Kayleigh turned three and was picked up by the town of Andover for speech/language help, which involves attending public preschool four mornings a week. Like her brother, Kayleigh LOVES school, and we're all impressed with the strides she's making. Both our grandchildren continue to be a great source of joy, laughter and fun!

Middle-son Tim and his wife Cristy gave up their apartment in Seattle at the end of July and headed east where they have spent time visiting friends and family, camping at Sebago, attending Michael's wedding, and working a few weekend events marketing credit cards. As of the writing of this letter, they are scheduled to leave in a few days to drive down to Cristy's native El Salvador where they hope to spend somewhere between one and three months visiting her father and other family members she hasn't seen in four years. Needless to say, she is very excited about seeing all these people again!

Another highlight of our year was a three-week cruise this fall that left from Vancouver, BC, sailed down the west coast, stopping in LA, five Mexican ports - Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Zihuatanejo, and Acapulco - and visiting Costa Rica, before going through the Panama Canal, and making four Caribbean stops. It was an incredible trip! The Mexican ports tended to be VERY hot and muggy with a lot of vendors vying for our business. Costa Rica was delightful! We'd go back there in a heartbeat. And the Panama Canal was fascinating! We met some great people on this cruise and had a wonderful time!

While we were gone on the cruise, my folks moved into an assisted-living facility about a mile from the retirement community campus where they've lived for the past eleven years. This place is part of the same organization, just in a different location. Making the actual decision and then downsizing in preparation for the move were somewhat traumatic. However, my folks are happier than I've seen them in a long time. They do NOT miss cooking, cleaning, or grocery shopping at all! (Hmmm, sounds pretty good to me too!) They already knew most of the other residents there, and they love the staff. All in all, it seems to have been a very good move.

Well, as usual, I seem to have gone on longer than I had originally planned, but what else is new? We do hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, and that 2003 brings peace to all of the warring factions in our world.

Love,

Dick & Gee

P.S. After this letter was written, we had a call from the newlyweds saying that we are going to be grandparents again come June! Exciting news - they'll make terrific parents!