Xmas letter 2005

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

To kick off this new blog for the Morris (nee Brichetto) family, Westchester-Los Angeles branch, we're including the text from our annual end-of-the letter below. You can also download this document at a PDF file (9.9MB), complete with a sampling of photos from 2005. Enjoy. And check back to this space frequently in 2006 and beyond to keep track of all our family news.

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We are very excited to announce that our house remodel is over! It’s been a long time coming: more than a year of getting and refining plans; choosing a contractor; finding and moving into an apartment; picking out appliances, colors, flooring, cabinetry, fixtures, etc.; and then finally moving back in around Labor Day! YAY! What a relief. Now we just need to do a bunch of landscaping, and then all is done (right?).

We managed to fit in some modest travel the last twelve months. We made the usual trek up north to Audrey’s parents’ place in San Jose the last week of 2005, including a New Year’s Eve stop in Monterey, where the boys got to enjoy the aquarium for the first time. We returned north in July: first to San Jose again, with day trips to Berkeley (where we saw Venus and a big, smelly flower) and the Big Basin Redwoods. The real focus of the trip was in Aptos on the coast, however, where we got to share in the celebration of Pete’s sister Kari’s wedding to Eric Littell. It was lots of fun, and Tony, of all people, tore it up on the dance floor—eclipsed only by “Pappy,” Pete’s dad. In August, we spent five days at Pappy’s Sierra Nevada home near Shaver Lake, visiting our favorite spot on/in Dinkey Creek, doing some hiking, and relaxing. Then, after settling back in to our house, we spent a very enjoyable Thanksgiving with Pete’s extended family in Phoenix. It was something of a homecoming for all of us, and Tony especially loved seeing his first house and the hospital where he was born.

Back at home, Pete continues to happily teach away (geography and urban studies) at Santa Monica College, and to ride his bike whenever he gets the chance. He’s now road-racing regularly with the Cat. 4 squad of West LA’s Velo Club La Grange, and this fall he built up a new bike to experiment for the first time with both bike-commuting and off-road “cyclocross” racing. He’s now firmly hooked by both, and he’s made his ever-broadening cycling experiences a focus of his new blog: californiapete.blogspot.com.

Audrey carried the burden of managing the remodel: a bottomless To-Do list of errands and decisions. In addition to volunteering at Tony’s school, she continues to actively stitch. This year, she crocheted a number of items to donate to Stitches from the Heart, and several of her projects (cross-stitch, beading, crochet, etc.) won prizes at both the Channel Islands Stitchers’ Faire and the LA County Fair, where she won the Sweepstakes Award for needle art. In 2006, after two years of doing Programs, she will begin a two-year term as President of her EGA chapter in El Segundo. (“I signed up for two?”)

Tony (6) is in the second year of a two-year Kindergarten program at Ocean Charter School. He played T-ball again last spring, and soccer for the first time in the fall. With Pete as a rookie soccer coach, Audrey as team manager, and Everett (3) as unofficial practice-squad player, it was loads of fun for all. By the end of the season, Tony had become quite a good little goalkeeper, and not a half-bad field player either. Tony has also started a beginning music class (ta ta tee-tee ta). He plans to begin instrument lessons (probably violin) next year. And last but not least, Tony learned to ride his bike this year!!

Rett, meanwhile, enjoys emulating his big brother and can’t wait to go to school, ride a bike, and play soccer and music. And, yes, Rett loves garbage trucks, too. On the playground, at the park, and on the soccer field, Rett loves hanging out with Tony and all the older kids. But he also welcomes his time away from Tony—at the YMCA’s Childwatch, for example—where he can play with his own set of friends and not have to worry about big brother stealing away his Thomas trains, Matchbox cars, Bruder trucks, balls, puzzles, Legos, etc. It’s amazing how similar both brothers are, and how extremely different they are at the same time.