Christmas, 2003

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy holidays to one and all. This has been a year of mixed blessings for the Sauvageau/Nason/Sauyet clan. As so often happens in the circle of life, births and deaths frequently seem to follow on one another's heels.

Ayden Rain Sauvageau was born to Michael and Jennifer on August 4th, and on October 16th Gee's dad, Howard (Hudge) Nason died. Strangely enough, seven years ago on October 16th, Dick's dad died and on May 8th of that year Teddy had been born.

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

As I write this, Ayden is now almost 4 months old, absolutely adorable (of course!), and a lot of fun. We got to see a lot of him during his first 6 or 7 weeks because he and his parents were living in the North Conway area of New Hampshire, and we were staying at Sebago Lake in Maine, only an hour's drive away.

Let me back up a bit and tell you more about the rest of our year. We again spent January-March in Fort Walton Beach, which is located in Florida's panhandle. We had a wonderful winter, getting very involved in the many social activities available there.

We came home and spent only about six to seven weeks here in Danbury before leaving for Sebago, where we spent the next four and a half months working on a very special project! More about that shortly.

In that six weeks we bought ourselves a new Palomino 23' "hybrid" travel trailer and a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee with which to tow it! We also put out to pasture our 1971 Winnebago motor home, which had been our camping vehicle for the past 21 years.

Our new trailer turned out to be a godsend for camping that long. The "hybrid" part of the trailer involves the beds. The trailer is a regular hard-sided trailer, but both ends fold down like a pop-up camper to provide a queen-sized bed at one end and a double-bed at the other. Both the couch and the dinette also make into beds, so the whole 23' of camper is living space. We felt as if we were camping in a palace after our 20' motor home, which included both the driving area of the vehicle AND the beds in that 20 feet!

As many of you know, Sebago Lake State Park has been the Sauvageau family's very favorite place for many, many years (over 50 years for Dick and his family!) We have a raft of stories about the park, which Dick began to realize would die out as our generation ages and stops camping. So, two years ago we proposed a project to the park whereby we would spend the whole summer there (for free, of course!), collecting campers' stories and putting them together into an anecdotal history which the park could then sell the following summer as a fund-raiser.

The park department approved the project for this past summer, and we had a ball! Some people told us their stories and we wrote them down, other people wrote their own recollections and handed them to us or emailed or snail-mailed them to us. We got contributions of anywhere from a few lines scribbled on a scrap of paper to 4 and 5 page stories. We had over 80 people contribute, and we've spent all fall compiling, writing and editing the various submissions.

The completed book (all 155 pages of it) was mailed off to the park rangers who will get it printed and bound, and will sell it next summer. We are delighted with the final product that we sent off. Now, of course, the park has the final say on format, printing, covers, etc., but we are obviously hoping they'll go with our recommendations on those things.

Speaking of our summer at Sebago, my parents did get to spend two nights there in our trailer. We all knew this would be Dad's last trip because he had so much trouble getting in and out of our trailer and tended to get a bit confused and disoriented during the night when he had to get up to go to the bathroom. However, none of us anticipated the fact that he would take ill with kidney failure so soon, and that he would be dead within 2 months! We're all very grateful that his last illness was relatively brief and that he didn't have to suffer long. But we DO miss him!

The family picture on this card was taken at Dad's memorial service and includes everyone but Amy (Scott's wife - Teddy & Kayleigh's mom) who was called home the morning of the service because of a very sick horse. That, of course, is the down side of owning your own business. Fortunately, as I write this letter, that horse appears to be on the mend.

Teddy and Kayleigh are both fine, growing up way too quickly, and still a great source of joy for their parents and grandparents. Teddy is now 7 and loving second grade. Kayleigh, at 4, is in her second year of pre-school, and is seeing the whole world open up to her. Their parents are both doing well with their jobs and generally enjoying life to the fullest.

Tim and Cristy are still living in Washington State, but are in Spokane now instead of Seattle. They spent close to 3 months in El Salvador this past year visiting Cristy's dad and other relatives she hadn't seen in several years, ever since she left there to come to the U.S. They had a wonderful trip, but returned to find the credit-card business in which they've been involved, seems to have waned. Tim enrolled in a community college in Spokane in an E.M.T. program and is almost through his first semester. He's working on taking Fire-science courses as well, and is looking at a possible move to the L.P.N. program to become a nurse. He's currently keeping all of his options open.

Michael and Jennifer continue to enjoy their toy business (Try Out Toys) and have worked at Renaissance Festivals, Bar Mitzvahs, Fairs, and anywhere else they might be able to entertain people with their Sphereplay and/or sell their toys. Of course, with the birth of their first child, Jennifer's involvement in the business has had to be somewhat curtailed. They both seem to think Ayden is worth it though! Needless to say, we think he's pretty special too!

When Dad took ill and it was clear that he would not be returning to the assisted living apartment they had been in for the previous year, Mom got the ball rolling to move into a single room in the same building. Dad had needed the assisted living services, but Mom doesn't need them and can't really afford the luxury of those services.

Everything happened very quickly. Dad died just 5 weeks after going into the nursing facility, and Mom moved less than 2 weeks after that! She had less than a month to downsize from 2 rooms to 1, all the while spending part of every day visiting him and/or trying to get his affairs in order. Basically, for the whole month of October either my sister Marty or I (or sometimes both of us) were with Mom, helping her pack, move, make memorial service arrangements, etc. We always have fun when we're together, so there was a lot of laughter along with a lot of tears.

Mom is doing well, adjusting to her new home and her new routines, missing Dad, but moving on. She's a trooper!

And that seems to about bring you all up to speed on 2003 in the lives of the Sauvageau/Nason/Sauyet clan. We hope you have had a healthy, happy year, and that next year will bring you more of the same.

Love,

Dick & Gee