Dear __________,

It's Christmas, and family news time again.

We can now add our voices to those of our retired friends: "I don't know how I ever had time to go to work". It's proven to be really very easy - and attractive - to lie back and accept inundation by a deluge of personal projects, refreshingly now shorn of any constraining voice of a boss imposing discipline. The consequence is of course wall-to-wall frantic activity, much of which is entirely inconsequential to anyone but us, but which we are nevertheless enjoying very much, thank you. The competition for time between this self-indulgence and the several consulting jobs which Dick undertook early in the year has produced a clear (so far) winner: doing what I like 1, work 0.

We remain located in Cincinnati, and though long-term plans are still eventually to relocate to the Berkshires in New England with a pied ‡ terre in Boston, it looks as if family considerations will keep us here in for a while. In the meantime, Lois has developed an interest in tennis to complement her passion for ice dancing, thus providing us with a means of keeping up our circulation.

Travelling still offers many of life's highest points. A week at a resort in Tennessee in May led us to invest in a time-share (swapable every year for similar accommodations in a world-wide network, an option of which we intend to take fullest advantage), and in August we had a delightful sojourn in the Smokies with Pete and Luc Ifland. Our big idyll though took place in September/October, when we steeped ourselves in nostalgia for six weeks in Europe, visiting old and dear friends.

After a few days in Surry and a week in the Scottish Highlands, we were joined by our four children for a week-long family tour in a "narrow-boat" (72' long, 7' wide), through the canals (and pubs) of the English Midlands. Then we went south to the lair of the Bournemouth Mafia where we were warmly hosted for three days by Geof and Meg Dodd, with sybaritically magnificent luncheons laid on by Frank & Connie Myerscough and by John Whitefield, providing the occasion for reunions with Harry & Tsuki Caudle, Joan Gillard, Bob & Meg Tanner, and Trig & Waltraud Treadaway. There followed a further three days in Oxford staying with Dene & Joan Brice and dinners with Jim & Jean Flux. Next we were off to the continent for ten days in Brussels in son Arthur's Sablon apartment and more reuing with Belgian friends, and with Jack & Barbara Devlin. Finally we went to Germany for a most pleasurable three days with the Treadaways, and then home to two baskets of mail. A similar journey, but this time following a more southerly route, is planned for 1991.

The kids are all still single, our offers to baby-sit grandchildren for a few hours per year notwithstanding. Arthur transferred to P&G's Brussels headquarters in July for a (nominally) three-year packaging research assignment, and in August Sue, still running GE Aircraft Engine's college recruiting program, moved into a nearby house with a (girl) friend. In October, Richard transferred from P&G Germany to Cairo, where he is managing several of the Egyptian company's brands. Peter is still doing esoteric things with main-frames at Carnegie Mellon University. They're all four home for Christmas, bless 'em.

Merry Christmas, and may the New Year bring only blessings to you. Most cordially, from

Dick and Lois Neergaard December 1990