Dear All,

Sorry for the lateness of our epistle this year but John had bronchitis and was very ill this last month but he is finally on the mend.

This year seems to have past quickly, perhaps because the lads are growing into young men and we are getting old, it doesn't seem 5 minutes since the millennium.

If you have access to the Internet (Which you most probably have) you will find photos of us on our web page that John has constructed:-

www.ma.tthews.org

In February we went to Italy to show Mark and Paul the "carnevale d’Ivrea". We only stayed a week unfortunately, because they wanted to learn to “Snowboard” and Ski, we didn't have time to go and see all our Italian friends. However we really enjoyed it and the lads have taken to winter sports.

As soon as we returned from Italy, I had a little accident in my car where a youth in an old car crashed into the rear of my car as I waited at a roundabout. No one was injured except for a bit of damage to the cars. I gave my insurance details and my address. Afterwards I found out he did not have insurance and the next evening, while we were eating dinner, someone broke the back window of the car and set fire to the back seats! Luckily someone saw the flames and called us within seconds otherwise the car would have been completely torched. The damage was costly and now the insurance has gone up a lot but at least we are all safe if not a little shaken. The incident scared us all a little, not having been victims of vandalism before, and so we have put in CCTV!

For our summer holiday we went to France for a week and then to Holland in Eurocamp sites. The second week was at a

“Theme Park” like EuroDisney called “Wassenar” and so the lads had lots to occupy themselves with, as you can see from the web pages.

Mark continues to study to be a Chef and his latest hobby is “Warhammer” that is to say a war game with models. Paul is in his last year of school and does his GCSEs in May 2002. He continues to learn Tae Kwon Do and is going for a blue belt next. Paul also has kept up his Snow boarding by joining the Tamworth indoor Snowdome and goes many weekends. John still works for Transco (Gas), in the last week has been promoted to in “IS Strategy Consultant”. that is to say he has to investigate new technologies and recommend the direction Transco should take in their use. I continue to work for Traderman where little has changed. This year I have decided to do more exercise and so have joined a Gym, and both John & I attend dance classes (Salsa, Rock and Roll, Sequence) I also do “Line Dancing” (American) and go two times a week to the swimming pool by greeting up early and going before work.

Family news:- We celebrated John's sisters 50th birthday with the rest of her family. My sister had a baby a month ago, her first boy called Mikael. It seems very strange cuddling a newly born baby after so many years but he is very good. Also in the new year my brother John and his wife Karen are adopting 3 children. They don't have children of their own and it will be a handful as the children are ages 3, 4 and 6 but they are brother and sisters so they did not want to split the family group. We are at home for Christmas and my mother and sister will be coming with baby. We are then off to John's sister for a few days.

OK enough for this year all that remains for me to do is wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year. With lots of hugs and kisses from

Antonietta, John, Mark and Paul