Dear Friends,

Here it is almost the New Year again. Boy, you bang out 365 days and there you have it, another year, huh? Each year we receive two or three holiday letters from friends with an annual update on their family’s achievements and travel. I thought I might try my hand at it.

My probation has gone wonderfully throughout 2004 and I haven’t even thought about drinking until just this minute. Thanks to all of those who have asked. My obsessive-compulsive disorder is practically under control. I can tell because we don’t spend nearly as much dinner conversation talking about how I want the bath towels folded in thirds. And, speaking of happy successes, after years of struggling to lose those few extra pounds every mother puts on during adoption, particularly when the doctor orders bed rest, in 2004 I sent my assistant to the Gap in dark glasses with a fake ID to purchase my first pair of “Easy Fit” jeans. I slipped them on in the closet before dawn one morning and I haven’t looked down since.

It has certainly been a year of growth and accolades for my children. Not one of them listened to a word I said and they each discovered several more foods they don’t like. My daughter Toshia (13) has gotten so good at pretending to do homework whenever I look at her, she has been asked to coach the extras in this year’s Hollywood remake of Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Allison (10) spent the entire year not once being any part of the daily arguments she has with her younger brother. For her second year in a row she garnered an honorable mention in the Mary-Kate and Ashley Literary Society’s annual awards presentation for her entry “Why I would Rather Look Like Mary-Kate Than Ashley.” And last but not least, Thomas E. (6) was able to stop hitting me the first time I asked one day in the early spring. I can’t remember exactly when, as he has quite often hit me in the head. I’m hoping for more great things from each of them in 2005. Dare I?

Although we didn’t plan any big trips in this past year, I often couldn’t find the freeway on-ramp returning from Toshia’s brace appointments in North Hollywood and we will, of course, cherish those memories forever. We made lots of new friends on those trips and we miss them all, especially the gentleman who told us to get the 101 E. As soon as my scrapbook club gets in their doily order I’ll be organizing those photos to show you all.

From our family to yours, we hope that in 2005 all of the bank errors are in your favor, that you find the missing piece to your mousetrap game, and that someone always gets UNO before you are totally sick of the game.

-The Poundstone Family