(Happy Birthday to Mark!!)

We had spent 4 years in England, so when we came back, in November of 1972, I wrote on some "We've moved" letterhead and photocopied it for all my correspondents (and I had a lot in those days. I was still writing letters... now I only write Any Soldier letters.) In my tossing, though there are still boxes and boxes and BOXES of stuff, I found the 1972 and '73 Christmas letters. Here is 1973, hand-written:

Blytheville, Arkansas, here we come! After the first of the year our address will be c/o 97 OMS, Blytheville AFB, Arkansas, 72315, U.S.A. As we are spending Christmas with Rich's folks, our holiday address is 912 Harker Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15220. [ As it turned out, Rich had to stay in Blytheville over Christmas so I was there on my own with the three kids and my Mom.] I'm sorry there are no pictures this year, but hope you all understand.

We moved Nov. 20, after a year spent preparing. It flew by. We visited many of our friends all over England, and many visited us, which made the year special. In September we had our 7th anniversary.

Rich worked as maintenance training officer at Mildenhall and helped with the Open Day in October-- a super show, highlighed by the famous aerial demonstration team, the RAF Red Arrows. Jan took two archeology classes, and Chinese at the village college [6 weeks of Chinese, I remember NOTHING!], and belonged to the playgroup committee. It was an exciting year, culminating in a new building for the children's school.[We had been meeting in the Methodist Church meeting room, and it was only available certain times. We moved to a portable building on the Village College grounds.]

Roni became 6 in November. She continued in the English school, learning a lot. During the summer, she was enrolled in the base library reading program, and she won a prize for reading the most books.

We were also proud of Monica, who put herself heart and soul into the part of the Statue of Liberty, and won second prize, in the fancy dress at the playgroup summer fête.[Roni was supposed to be Uncle Sam butr threw a fit when it came time. Suddenly I think of Alex as payback! S. was to be Mickey Mouse, but was also uncooperative. I tried for Yank costumes, of course.] In September she started school. She was 5 the next month. When she's grownup she will be a Brownie, a ballerina, and a princess.

S. started playgroup at Easter and was lucky enough to be in the new building a few times. He had a train ride when Rich took the car to Felixstowe to be sent home. He's train crazy and plans to be a train driver when he's big. He turned 3 in May.

Our family is completed by Heinz the dog and Pouncy the cat, who will join us in Pittsburgh.

May YOU have a happy and holy Christmas and a _Super_ New Year!

(signatures.)