My mom always writes a letter to send out with her Christmas cards that sums up the year, and I've been doing it for the last two years as well. This year, I thought that I'd also post it here so that the Internet-savvy users of my family can check it out here, too. For those of who you who don't know, Chrissy is my identical twin sister.

Dear friends and family,

It’s my second Christmas in my little house! This year Chrissy and I put up the Christmas lights without help from Dad. Dad was not unwilling to help us, but this year we have our own ladder and I wanted to spite my fear of heights. I haven’t really overcome my fear of heights, but it didn’t stop me from getting the lights up. My little Christmas tree is assembled and has most of the lights and decorations, but I still have to get another box out of the closet.

I didn’t get as much done on the house as I wanted to this year. My friends D’Arcy and Jeff moved to Redford this summer, a few blocks away from my house, so rather than spending my Saturdays re-staining the deck or painting the railing on my porch, I spent it having fun. However, I did get a Magic bathtub and an alarm system installed. The Magic bathtub is much easier to clean, and I haven’t had as many problems with my skin allergies since it was installed. I had been having a lot more trouble with my skin allergies since moving here, probably because I do a lot more outside work than when I was living at home. I went to see an allergist, and I now am getting allergy shots each week. I also have a prescription for Allegra.

Last December when we were working feverishly to finish Galactic Civilizations, the entire development team got sick. I was so sick that I couldn’t hardly sit up let alone drive to the doctor’s office, so my mom had to take me. But my co-workers and I were freaking out because we had the deadline looming. We ended up getting a month’s extension because our competitor, Masters of Orion III was due to come out the same month. In exchange for our delay, their publisher put a flier for Galactic Civilizations in every box of Masters of Orion III. This was a huge success for us, particularly because Masters of Orion III bombed. Galactic Civilizations won several awards and is still very popular. We’ve released several updates, and we have been receiving praise for our great support. I even have a fan club. We are finishing up a second expansion pack for Galactic Civilizations, and it looks as if it will eventually be in stores. Once we finish the expansion pack, the Galactic Civilizations team will be shifted to our political simulation game, The Political Machine, so that we can crank it out more quickly. Then it’s on to Galactic Civilizations 2, which will feature a 3D engine. We’ve been hiring more people and we will probably continue to hire more people little by little. We’re currently looking for a building to buy so that we’ll have more room.

This will be our second Christmas with our new choir director, Maureen Livernois. She pushes us hard, but we’ve learned a lot and we’re all better singers. Our Advent concert was very successful, and we look forward to an even more successful Easter concert. Maureen said that she won’t rest until we’re recording professionally, and I’m not certain that she was joking.

Some of you know that Chrissy and I took in three little stray kittens this summer. We found good homes for all three of them, but I was sad to see them go. Life is easier without the kittens, but they were very lovable and I miss them sometimes.

My niece, Elizabeth, turned 3 this year. Chrissy, Dad, and I drove down for her birthday. We had some minor trouble with the minivan, but we were able to get it fixed the day after we got there. Elizabeth is very bright, and warmed up to us more quickly this time. Bob and Esther are expecting a boy in April. We’re all very excited. We were hoping to go to Atlanta for New Year’s, but with Mom having trouble with diverticulitis, we decided that it would be better if we stayed in state. So Chrissy and I will be getting together with some of our friends for a relatively quiet New Year’s Eve.