Fri Dec 27 07:49 EST 1996 Pre-vacation update After today, I'm off for a week. Cadence gave its employees the 2nd and the 3rd off (with pay) so I too the 30th and the 31st off with a floating holiday and a vacation day. Buy 2 days and take 8 off! We attended Christmas eve service. There was a large crowd of C&E Christians. (That's "Christmas and Easter" Christians, in case you didn't know. Yeah, we got C&E's and SMOs - Sunday Morning Only - just like everyone else.) We opened up extended family gifts that evening and saved the family stuff until Christmas morning. (I got a Timone and Pumba Pinball game for my computer but I could really use a faster processor for seamless play. Still it is a lot of fun.) On Christmas Day, we went over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house for Turkey dinner. A tray tipped and the grean bean "thing" fell to the floor with the stuffing dish following close behind in slow motion. As the second dish landed on the first dish, it shattered and splashed bean "stuff" on mom. It was a rocky start to Christmas dinner, but dinner was delicious and I didn't miss the green bean "goop" at all anyway. (We salvaged most of the stuffing!) The Russell Metcalfe III family has Christmas with the Jordans, just as the Mark Metcalfe I family has Thanksgiving with the Crawfords, so we passed in the night (my brothers being present for Christmas Eve in Wollaston). But we had 9 of the 12 grandkids accounted for complete with electronic beeping and the noises of child delight. Steve said that he stuck up for me the night before when Russell claimed he was fatter than me. Steve said, "No, Mark is still the fattest." Thanks for watching my back, brother. Steve and Joy went head to head in competition two-player Tetris and they came away bleary-eyed with no clear cut overall winner. John and I found corners to sit in out of the children's traffic patterns. We show the house today at 1pm. Actually Joy will; I'll be here at work, but only 25 minutes away if they want to sign papers today! Next week: days off with the family; new years eve company; Crawford In-laws coming late next week for my nephew's wedding which is a WEEK FROM TOMORROW!!! Oh and one last thing for you Lowellites: It's JAN LUNN'S BIRTHDAY on Thursday, January 2! You can send her email birthday greetings through Meredith's email address at Mere-Scribe@msn.com (he he he). How old is she? I never ask (anymore); I only have one eye left! ;-) God's blessing on each of you! I'll see you in email next year. I *may* check my MarkMet@aol.com mail, if I have computer withdrawl next week. Mark .+*+ .....Cadence Design Systems, Inc. ***+*+. __..''' 270 Billerica Road A house is made .*+*+**. _____[]_ Chelmsford, MA 02184 with hands. '**++**. /___/\___\ ^ (508) 446-6451 , '*I*'.::/___/__\___\ /*\ \_0__, A home is made ..I *..: |[] [] []| .:/*\ M with hearts. ######==################### ._/__=_. .|\. -------------------------- 'O====O=' metcalfe@cadence.com