My Annual Xmas Letter

This Xmas letter was sent to all my dearest and bestest
friends. I try to send one every year since Xmas letters
are a great way to stay in touch - especially if you have
friends who live all over.  Ideally, the letter should be
hand-delivered (when I come over and they hand me their
gifts!)or at least mailed with a lovely Xmas card - it
just seems a bit more personal that way. This year, though,
most of my friends will find it in their e-mailboxes instead.
BUT only because I wanted people to get it while it was
still the Holiday Season. Sorry. I'll try to do better next
year, I promise!

Thought I'd post it on my blog in case I missed anyone
and they just happen to be reading my blog ...


Dear Friends,

This letter is long overdue …  emphasis on the words "long" and
"overdue".  As a result, it begins with an apology. I am so sorry
for  not being better at keeping in touch.  No excuses –
just an apology.

Before I go any further, wishes for a Belated Merry Christmas
and a Wonderful New Year to everyone.  I hope, that as you
find yourselves in the midst of the holiday season, you can
find it in your hearts to forgive a friend who has been so
bad at keeping in touch.

The past year has gone by in one big whoosh!  Lots of things
have happened.  For starters, I joined a new company in July.
After working as an external consultant for a consulting firm
for almost 3 years, I decided to make the switch and move to
being an internal consultant / trainer for an Asian financial
company. At first, I asked myself – “What was I thinking”
– I know nothing about finance!  My math skills are sadly
lacking.  And despite being born Chinese – my 13 years at
ICA has not taught me to speak Chinese even if my life
depended on it!  It’s been a tough 5 months – but these days
I am slowly able to catch my breath and am learning to "wing it".

Jojo started a new job as an IT Specialist last October.  He no
longer works for an anime company (no more free comics for
him – which is the only downer). His new company manu-
factures and sells printers and ink cartridges (yay! free ink!). 
He does have a much shorter commute though.  I guess we are
THE lucky LA couple since we both live 15 minutes away from
where we work. Unheard of in LA. It’s sweet!  What we save on
gas money we’ve been able to pour into other more exciting
activities … I’ll let you know when we have the time to come
up with them!

The past year we have had many out of town visitors. Always a
good thing.  The highlight was having my entire family over last
May.  All 7 Js.  It was awesome.  Lots of people and only 3
bathrooms – but awesome nonetheless!  We also had lots of
friends come visit. It's been great.  There were times when we 
had several groups overlap – which prompted my dad to suggest
we hang up a whiteboard with a calendar to make sure we didn’t
overbook our hotel/home.  But, Jojo and I don’t mind, it’s
always great to have friends over :)

We didn’t get to do much traveling this year, since with new jobs,
we were trying to get adjusted before taking any time off.  But we
did have lots of time to work on our home and grow a garden.
Okay, okay, so Jojo did most of the garden work – but I “helped”
too!  Next year we are hopefully planning on taking a few much
needed and well deserved vacations!

More of our 2006 highs and lows: I’ve started a local bookclub
which is all about a group of great women and getting to read
great books.  I’ve had several dental dilemmas (a crown, root
canal and lost filling all in one year!).  Jojo got a new car (since
we have no kids  or pets – we have started naming our cars!
Is that sad?). We went to Las Vegas twice in 3 months (not to 
gamble but to hang out in our hotel rooms – my kind of vacation).
Had grand, grand reunions – with high school friends and
friends from Jewelmer.  Jojo’s sister got married two weeks ago
– and it was just beautiful.  We’ve enjoyed our nieces and nephews
and are still the reigning "cool aunt and uncle".  We celebrated
my 31st this year, and Jojo’s 38th, as well as our 2nd wedding 
anniversary.  Time flies!  My brother, Jules graduated from his
MBA and the twins are done with college.  It was great to celebrate
that with them too.  I went back to school earlier this year to get
certified in HR and my hubby is going thru self-schooling hoping
to get CISSP certified too.

More news: I went thru about 3 months of job searching which
was a true test of patience and one’s self-confidence until finally
landing the job I now have.  Then it was tough saying good-bye to
my old job and leaving familiar faces and friends.  On the other
hand, my hubby found his new job without even trying – after
one interview! And had no trouble saying good-bye to his old job.
How fair is that! My blog turned 1-year old this year. Our
backyard  orange tree turned two (sadly still no fruit!).

It’s been a tiring, exciting, happy, wonderful, stressful, hectic,
super, great year.

And as for the question that I know is on everyone’s minds, the
answer is “NOPE, we are not pregnant yet”. But we are hoping
that 2007 will be THE year. Hopefully my next Xmas letter will
have some baby news  included.  Wouldn’t that be great?

On that note, I hope you are all having the happiest of holidays.
God bless you and your families.  Have a wonderful 2007.   AND,
I am really looking forward to hearing about what’s up with each
one of you!

Love,
Joanne and Jojo