1997

January 9th, and probably 10th.......maybe even eleventh.

Merry Christmas everyone,

   Well, it's that time of year again. Actually it was that time of year about a month ago but it took this long for the combination of inspiration and guilt to reach a boiling point. I am officially starting the 1997 Willis family Christmas letter. Right now! .............But first, let me explain a few things to you. In preparation for this letter, I went back and studied letters from years past, just so I could keep the continuity and style that you have become accustomed to expect. Kind of like Tom Clancy does with his novels. (Tom & I have a lot in common) Anyway, I made a discovery. This year was pretty much the same as last year. And the year before. And before that. Oh sure, I get to change the number in the "Emily had her __ birthday in January" sentence each year, but other than that, it's the same old thing. Now that's not necessarily bad, since the things I tend to write about are the same things I read in the Christmas letters that you send me each year. But we all know that the kids are doing well in school, that our lives are full of PTA meetings, church functions and soccer games, that we all lead a pretty basic suburban life in America. But I have decided that since you have invested at least 5 minutes and 32 cents to send the Willis's a card this year, you deserve more. That's why this year, I'm going to lie. Of course I will tell you about the few exciting things we did this year. And I will use my typical month by month format. But just because we had a boring February doesn't mean you have to be bored reading about it. You people are good friends, and you deserve the best. Ready, set,......GO!

JANUARY

   Emily had her 9th birthday in January. I guess the highlight of the month was writing last years Christmas letter. If I remember correctly, the entire process took most of the 31 available days. It's really tough to find Christmas cards 3 weeks into January, so if you were one of the lucky ones that got a Valentines card with your Christmas letter, you now know the reason. The other hard part was getting the family photo shot. Rocky really gets excited at picture time and it takes at least 36 exposures to get one decent photo. Maybe next year we will video the whole photo session and just send everyone a copy. Parental Discretion Advised. January ended on a happy note, as my mom's parole finally came through. It's really nice to have her back with the family.

FEBRUARY

   I'm sorry. Even I can't make up anything exciting for this month.

MARCH

   Sarabeth had her 4th birthday in January. The calendar says we had a party for her but since I don't remember it, I guess it was something Jane took care of at daycare. No wait, it's all coming back to me now. How could I forget. We took Sara and eleven of her friends to the symphony that night. It was "A Mozart Festival" conducted by Janos Furst, with violinist Leonidas Kavakos as soloist. Leonidas has always been one of Sara's favorites. It was a lovely evening that the kids from daycare still talk about to this day! The other big event this month was Jane's week long conference in Chicago. Jane really enjoyed it. The rest of us survived it.

APRIL

   The month started with a week of vacation. We pretty much just hung around town and did a bunch of little fun things. We did sneak in a quick trip to Keokuk, Iowa where Emily presented her award winning paper entitled "Clairvoyant Readings, A Palmistry Perspective" at the Midwest Pyramid of Enlightenment Psychic Fair. The crowd loved it and gave her a standing ovation. Of course, we knew they would.  This is the month that outdoor soccer started. Just for fun, I stopped typing for awhile and counted all the times that "soccer" was written on our calendar. 96 times. Sara will probably start playing this spring. I can't wait.

MAY

   May was pretty basic. A lot of soccer, scouts, church and dancing. Of course you all know how I love to dance. Well, early in the year I finally talked Jane into taking ballroom dancing lessons. I think it was the idea of the benefits of the exercise, combined with her general distrust of Lolita, my regular partner, that convinced her to do it. She soon fell in love with the feeling of sliding gracefully across the floor, wrapped tightly in my arms in our matching satin and rhinestone outfits. Well the end of May, as you know, is always the Ohio Valley Regional Dance Competition. This year it was held at the Elwood Moose Lodge #317 in downtown Elwood, Indiana. We sent the kids to the grandparents and headed north for the week end. We entered and won our weight class. We get a chance to perform at the Nationals next month in Birmingham, Alabama. I'll bet you can't wait for the next paragraph.

JUNE

   Our flight was delayed over Atlanta and we ended up eating so many of those little bags of peanuts that we missed our weight class by three pounds. We had to dance in the middle-weight division. Everyone knows that the middle-weight division has been owned by Tommy and Missysue Donaldson for the last six years. They won it again this year. Jane and I were so nervous, we didn't stand a chance. I guess it was good experience for us, although I had my heart set on walking away with those 1st place belt buckles. Maybe next year. Jane and I left the girls again and flew to Tampa for about four days, to get over the disappointment of the dance contest. We had a great time just hanging out and doing basic Florida tourist type things. Beaches and stuff like that. Real laid back.

JULY

   The highlight month of the year. As has been a regular part of past letters, this is when I tell you about the golf tournament that I won. This year I won the top prize and am in proud possession of the traveling trophy. A 3 foot tall, 25 pound hunk of wood and some silvery looking metal that looks real good strapped on the hood of my truck. It kinda makes up for the sting of losing in Birmingham. Then a week later, all the Willis' came to my house to help Bruce open up the Indianapolis Planet Hollywood. We got to party with all the celebrities, walk down the checkered carpet with Bruce while 10,000 screaming fans were chanting my name. OK, maybe all 10,000 weren't chanting my name, but I'm sure I heard some. Anyway, Bruce and his band performed & he got us all up on stage near the end of the show. We then went into the restaurant and ate, drank & got real merry. We spent the next day watching ourselves on TV and getting the photos developed. I really wanted to use the picture of me with my arm around Cindy Crawford as our Christmas picture this year, but Jane said no. Actually the best photo was the one of me signing an autograph. Honest. It was a great experience that just goes to show, that if you set your goals high enough, and work as hard as you can to achieve those goals, maybe your cousin will become rich and famous. The month ended with passes and tickets to the Brickyard 400, thanks to a great friend from NC.

AUGUST

   This was a pretty basic month. School started, soccer started up again, and I rushed into a burning building and saved a small child and her puppy. I don't really consider myself a hero, no matter what the Mayor says. .........................OK, lets stop it right here! I'm tired of lying! It takes way too much imagination and thinking. Besides, if I stick with the truth for the rest of the letter, I may be able to keep this all on 3 pages.

SEPTEMBER

   We didn't do nothin exciting all month. As a matter of fact, I'm really not sure if we even had a September this year. At least Jane says she didn't have a birthday this year.

OCTOBER

   I had a birthday on the 13th, which wasn't all that exciting, but I guess it beats the alternative.

NOVEMBER

   Emily, who by the way goes to a year round school, had most of this month off. We started with a few days in a cabin down in Brown County. It was really nice to get away from the city, back to nature. To be able to lean back in your rocking chair in front of a wood burning stove and watch HBO is roughing it for me. Grizzly Adams I aint. I went back to work and Jane took some extra time off to be with the girls and do girlie things. While this was going on, Jane was trying to decide about a job offer. She will leave IU at the end of the year and start at Methodist Hospital in 98.

DECEMBER

   This was a really busy month. There was soccer, of course, and all the other typical meetings and appointments. Add to that a weekly Advent performance on Sunday mornings for Jane and I, church and school programs for both girls. I had a part in the church choir Christmas program. I played that great religious figure, Frosty. Throw in a couple of church dinners, a round of caroling, shopping and at least 3 different Christmas celebrations with various family groups. We ended the year asleep on the couch, sometime before Midnight.

That's it. Another year recorded for posterity. I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as we enjoyed living it. Well, at least living most of it. I know that for most of you, this will be our only correspondence during 1998. I just want you to know, that a least once a year, we think of you and remember some fun times. Friendship is really a neat thing, isn't it? Peace.