Dear family:

It is Sunday evening and the boys are all huddled around Nintendo 64, which is a hand-me-down video game from Patrick, Daniel’s roommate. Unfortunately, there are only three working controls, and four boys, so the scene is not perfectly harmonious. I had no idea when I became a parent how difficult some of the judgements that I would be called upon to make would be. Peter has an overnight guest for the weekend, so that gives the two of them a privileged status. The game "belongs" to Stephen and two of his friends have come over to play, however Christopher claims that he has had significantly less playing time. And on it goes. Benjamin at this moment is happy just watching, but the problem with him is often that he wants someone to play with him when the others have abandoned it.

It was such a pretty day outside that we sent all of them outdoors for the afternoon. Then we had a round of a board game, Cranium (that had been one of Christopher’s birthday presents) until David had to leave for a meeting at Lehigh. This board game is sure to be a hit with the college students, as it combines elements from Dictionary, Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, Charades, and a few other games in an attempt to engage both right and left brained people. Peter would like to improve it by including a math skills category. Perhaps the highlight of the day, though, was that I kept a promise to Stephen and made Christmas wreaths, his favorite Christmas cookie. Mom happened over just as we finished, and she had a good laugh at the scene. I win the prize for being the tardiest Christmas cookie baker (that was my first batch of homemade Christmas cookies this year) but the scales will testify that none of us has wasted away for the lack of them.

Another homemaking project that I was pleased with myself for pulling off, even though I was a few months behind schedule, was canning applesauce. Last year I skipped it entirely, but we were down to our last quart, and nothing is as good as homemade applesauce. So, with some help from Mom, we made a bushel of Stayman Winesap into sauce and canned them. Now if only I could get around to reading my Christmas mail...

I neglected to mention in my last letter that we finally got to see the video of Mom and Dad’s Microsoft commercial, thanks to Judy, who taped it from a television program. Their starring role is all of three seconds, but they are very recognizable.

School has started up, and this semester a new wrinkle is that Peter is taking Engineering 1 at Lehigh, which meets four times a week. It is taking all the available drivers in our combined households to keep up with the commuting. Peter did meet my deadline for getting his driver’s learner’s permit, but the absolute earliest he would be able to get a license is in April. In other car news, Daniel showed up one night this past week to claim his license (which he had voluntarily surrendered for six months to save on insurance fees) and to take our ‘92 Escort back to Baltimore. I would much rather have given it to a stranger (preferably on the opposite coast) but we did throw into the deal a few fervent prayers that it would hold up through his college years.

It was nice to see Daniel, if only briefly. His skiing trip to Salt Lake City was a huge success (he came back with all limbs intact) and he obviously enjoyed his taste of the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Returning to reality, he spent a day at the dentist before going back to his warehouse job in Baltimore. He and Patrick arrived around 11:00 P.M. Wednesday night, famished, and we had to leave by 8:00 A.M. the next morning so it really was a whirlwind.

Another school wrinkle this semester is that Christopher is taking a course in digital typography at the local community college. The dean of admissions was very skeptical about accepting him because of his age, and we had a number of phone calls and a private interview before she gave the go-ahead. Fortunately, Christopher can ride the local LANTA bus. His class meets twice a week for three hours. It will be a challenge for him to keep up with all of his work, but I’m glad for this opportunity to pursue a subject in which he has a special interest. I’m taking bets that Chris will end up a Mac devotee when all is said and done. Chris succeeded at last in making it to a meeting of the homeschooler’s chess club Friday night, though if you want to stay on his good side, don’t ask the age of the child who beat him!

Both Chris and Steve attend monthly book discussion groups at the public library for their respective age groups. These are usually just a few students and one of the children’s librarians – I’m surpised that more homeschoolers don’t take advantage of this free opportunity to have some group literature discussion. They fit in the assigned books between making progress on books of their own choosing. Stephen is working on the Tolkein series, and this is the year of the giant books for Chris – Les Miserables, The Odyssey. I had a stomach bug for a couple days and thus managed to finish two good books unrelated to school myself – That’s Not What I Meant and I Thought My Father Was God. Otherwise, all of my reading has been about the French Revolution.

One January tradition is the National Geography Bee, in which the local homeschoolers have participated for many years. This was the first year that we had only one family member of eligible age; that was Stephen. He acquitted himself well and kept up the honored tradition of his brothers by being eliminated on a question to which he knew the answer. When asked what grass was the staple of the panda’s diet, I relaxed, since Stephen and Chris know all about bamboo and frequently ask to visit Doug Seidel, who has a healthy crop of it. However, Stephen didn’t know that bamboo was a grass, so the question stumped him. As the seconds ticked by I desperately tried to send him the answer through mental telepathy, but our connection was poor and thus ended the chance for national glory. I am proposing an award for mothers who survive sweating through more than five of these bees in a lifetime.

Mom has been working away at her Christmas letters. One or two nights a week we watch a video from the James Herriot series, All Creatures Great and Small, which we find delightful, though Mom professes to be shocked at all the drinking done in England. One evening (it happened to be Christopher’s birthday) we went to the local artsie movie theater, and saw the excellent documentary, The Endeavor, about Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated trip across Antarctica. What an amazing story! I take it as proof that men are by nature incomprehensibly crazy. The boys have a special interest in Shackleton because their art teacher is married to his grand-nephew.

Peter didn’t go with us because his week was caught up in preparing for semester exams. I think he has also been busy fixing his computer, but I have become so tired of computer complications that I repress any knowledge of them any more. Currently, my computer is working fine and has been brought up to the high operating standards of my offspring thanks to the concerted efforts and contributed parts of David, Dan, Peter, and Chris. I expect this happy state of affairs to continue for about one more week before something mysterious goes wrong.

Peter is planning to go on an exchange trip in June with his German teacher, so we are putting the pieces together for that excursion. They will be based in Saarbrucken, the same place Uncle David went to so many years ago. I don’t get the feeling that Peter is all that eager to go on this trip, for the simple reason that in Germany they usually speak German, and he will be staying (by himself!) in the home of a German family. He tried to persuade me to take him with me to visit Uncle Peter in Great Britain, where they have the good sense to converse in English. He isn’t the only one to want to accompany me. Christopher, my friend Susan Fletcher, and even Mom have proposed joining me.