To all our friends and family, Greetings!

Christmas 1999

Here we are, hale and hearty and another year wiser. Hopefully this finds you the same!

Well, this has been a fairly quiet year, except we did have a rather large concert in July, called Woodstock99, across the street from Jim's office. Outside of a little extra traffic (about 25 buses at a time down our little road), there weren't any big problems. You probably saw the "riot" on the TV news, but the town and air base were not destroyed. It was hot, smelly, dirty, and noisy . . . but interesting and fun!

We had a nice 25^th anniversary surprise party near Detroit, which was Leo's idea. Our Official Christmas Photo was taken there. We had a good turnout despite the heat. We'll go for another 25!

This past May was Jan-Luc's graduation from Fredonia with a degree in Communications. He started sending out resumes, and almost immediately was hired by the Woodstock concert. He was a Production Assistant for the Pay-Per-View people, and did just about anything. After the concert was over and things cleaned up, he decided to move to New York City where all the movie action is. As a freelance P.A., he has been kept busy, mostly at Nickelodeon, where he has a window office with four doors and wheels.

Marieke studied at Essex University in England and came home in June. Now she is stuck back in Syracuse for her senior year with no plans for "Life After College,"so don't ask. She traveled around Europe during the long spring break. Jim, MM and Kateri went to visit her then (at least that was the excuse) and dropped in on the Sellers family again, toured Edinburgh, and saw a wee bit of Ireland with Maura Magee.

Leo has put in a year at Batty & Hoyt, an industrial equipment supplier, in Rochester. He recently moved into a more sumptuous apartment and received a cat. Softball leagues in the summer, and helping his girlfriend run a Catholic youth group, keeps him busy. The Turkey Bowl's 11^th season this year showed him that he's no spring chicken anymore.

Kateri enjoys 9th grade at RCH (Rome Catholic Junior/Senior High School). She played soccer this year and got herself a "Most Improved Player" award. The record wasn't as good as last year's, but we're happy with it. Kateri basically sat around the house during the summer. She wasn't in the RCH school play because of our trip to England, but next year she's going to be in "Bye Bye Birdie."

July 1^st, Mary Margaret was hired as the Director of the Catholic Deaf Community of the Syracuse Diocese (a real title!). The diocese is about the size of Belgium and she does get to travel all over it. Unlike subbing, it's a year-round job that's a challenge and keeps her busy. She was also in Tucson in January, and Chicago in October, plus a few trips to near Poughkeepsie on the Hudson; all business. Great fun.

Jim, MC the cat, and Smo the guinea pig haven't been doing much.

Keep in touch! E-mail us at vandamme (at) juno.com, and we'll send you the kids' addresses. Enjoy the rest of our website. We hope you are healthy and happy. Best wishes for the coming year!