Mon Dec 23 09:35 EST 1996
Weekend Update: December 20-22

At the dinner table on Friday night, Andrew asked a pointed question to
Joy, "Is Santa Claus real or not?"  There was a nice exchange of "what
do you think?" and "just tell me" before Joy went on to say that
there was a man who lived long ago who is credited as the first
Santa Claus but that he was dead now, and that people speak more about
Santa Claus as the embodiment of the spirit of gift-giving.  She further
explained to him and the rest of the children (again) that she determined
to tell the kids the truth when they asked so that they would not view
Jesus in the same way that Santa Claus was.  I know I have a couple of
people on these lists who have the same view of Jesus and Santa, or almost.
We communicated a spiritual reality in contrast to the commercialization
of a historical figure.  (Funny how both Jesus and Santa have both been
commercialized - to our shame, I add.)  We build our hopes of more presents
on Santa, feeding our materialism; we build our hopes of eternal life in
the presence of a loving God on Jesus - not the innocent, manageable baby
in the manger, but the untamed God incarnate.  Not a magic-dispensing
genie who does our bidding and caters to our wishes but God who is
God and who is Love.

We had some people look at the house on Friday, too. (A mother and her
two boys - the husband didn't see the house.)  The boys left saying, "I
want to live here."  On Saturday we called them and found out that they
weren't interested. "Too small," said the husband.  We have a showing on
Tuesday.  Rollercoaster city, folks.

On Saturday, Joy had the final rehearsal for "Dr. Newheart's Christmas
Cure," a musical presentation involving the children's department and
the teen department.  There were some key people missing - some by permission.
In fact, the lead character was at a track meet, one of only four with
college scouts in attendance.  We couldn't let that opporunity pass her
by.  She came in first, which made us feel very glad and proud of her.
After the rehearsal, Joy hosted the Children's Christmas party.  She's
a superwoman, I tell you.

On Sunday, the kids pulled their best performance ever and received a
well-deserved standing ovation that lasted for a couple of minutes.  Now
Joy and I can crash for the holidays... except for the house.

We also attended a 40th birthday party for Eric Magnuson yesterday
and there was much rejoicing.

I am at work this week (except Christmas) and it promises to be one of
the slowest weeks of the year.  I'm taking all of next week off.  The
company is giving all of us the 2nd and 3rd off, so I spent a floating
holiday and a vacation day on the 30th and 31st to have my first full
week in probably more than a year.

____|\__________Cadence Design Systems, Inc._______=======_______ , ______
____|/__#____|__Mark Metcalfe_________________|____|__|__|_______ \_0__, _
___/|_____#__|__270 Billerica Road____________|____|__|__|____|____ M ____
__|_/_\_#____|__Chelmsford, MA 01824__________|___@__@__@_____|___ .|\ ___
___\|/____#__|________________(508) 446-6451__|______________O.___________
    /                                                 metcalfe@cadence.com