The Friday after Thanksgiving is traditionally the day on which the Burdett Christmas tree goes up. This year Bob went golfing. The record warm weather this fall has us a little behind schedule but we are catching up. The tree went up a day late along with the toy soldiers that now light up the front entrance to the house.

We are also taking our first shot at electronic publishing this year. Matt is working to get the Christmas homepage up and running on the World Wide Web.

Bob is still working at Lucent Technologies in Omaha. He turned 50 this past October and celebrated the occasion with his farther in law (Mike = 80) and son in law (Jay = 30). To commemorate the occasion, Bob was presented with two toy soldiers.

Bob and Terry shared a Tootsie Roll shake during the birthday bash.

Terry, who for years had a paper cutter for a desk, moved into a brand new workroom of her own at church; with lots of bright light, storage space and counter tops to work on those mass mailings. She continues to work part time and enjoys a very flexible schedule. Terry's interests include; sewing, crocheting, crafts, church (fifth grade girls), QVC (1-800-345-1515) and Rat Poker. She is pictured on her new kitchen floor.

Matt Burdett is doing great this year. He is a sophomore at Omaha Burke High School. He is pulling down good grades in all of his classes and lettered in tennis for the second year in a row. He also enjoys weightlifting and golf. Matt can bench press 200+ pounds and if he keeps working at it he may be able to press his dad one of these days.

Terry's brother Roy and family (Jo, Leah, Sarah, Anna and Jonathan) stayed with the Burdetts for three weeks during June. It was nice to see them, as they don't get away from Connecticut very often. They are pictured with the rest of the clan, including Mark and Vanessa who were also visiting at the time.

Terry and Matt ride the horses at the Circus World Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin

Over the long Labor Day weekend; Bob, Terry and Matt flew out to The Big Apple to attend the US Open tennis tournament. They enjoyed all of the tennis, especially the up-close action on the Louis Armstrong Stadium and Grandstand courts. They got to see some good matches, including; three of the four men's semi-finalists (Sampras, Rafter & Philippoussis), Marcelos Rios and his fanatic Chilean fans, and Venus Williams. The facilities were great, the food was good and expensive, and the subway quickly got them into Manhattan for a little sightseeing. Matt and his mother are pictured on one of the courts.