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We, Sharon and Jay Brentjes, hope that this Christmas season is full of joy and happiness for all of you who read this message. We also hope that the year gone by was blissful and prosperous, as it was for us.

This is a good time to reminisce about what has happened these last 365 days. Again the two of us have been very fortunate; our health is good (ignoring old age syndromes), our family is doing well (with a new, beautiful grand-daughter), and we continue to have fun and travel to far away places as well as take some short excursions in the western USA. We are looking forward to play some more tennis, hike the trails and cruise the world. But above all, we want to enjoy good company and see our family grow older in good health and in a constant state of happiness.

Last year we saw Santa's helper beach-combing in Hawaii. This year he was spotted in all sorts of places looking for new pleasures and adventures:

He was first spotted last March near the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite.

Then, all of a sudden, we saw him along the beach in Nice and in Cannes, France.

He took the helm on the bridge of a cruise ship sailing to Ponza, Italy, and then he was spotted at the ruins of Pompeii, near Mount Vesuvius.

He had lunch with kids at the Lair of the Bear, a summer camp in the California mountains.

Some folks saw him taking long hikes to May Lake and up the slopes of Mount Hofmann in Yosemite.

Santa's helper was also present on September 27th when this little girl was born.

He picked chardonnay grapes near Santa Rosa and was spotted at Ebbett's Pass going north-east looking for snow. Perhaps he is ready to tackle another job this season.

Sure enough we saw him in Sunol to catch the Train of Lights with Santa himself.

Again we saw him in Yosemite for the fabulous Bracebridge dinner at the Ahwahnee Hotel. Again he was looking for snow, and, Eureka, he found it just in time for Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Back to the present:

“So what is new with your website?” you might ask.

“Well, lots”, I might reply. But let me explain:

It started with one of those forums on the web. Being a bit of a wood-worker, I answered several questions about crown-molding and, instead of answering email messages, I thought that having my own web site would be better. Perhaps the work I had done on genealogy might also be of interest. So, with the help of a good friend (thank you Shawn!), I developed this website. That was about six months ago and since then we have had more than 2000 “hits”, or visitors.

Of real interest has been our travel sections, and there I keep adding pictures and descriptions of recent and past journeys around the globe. We have also included sections about our family fun but keep those for access via special means. If any of you are interested in that, drop me a note. In fact, I like to hear any comments, good or bad.

“So what is really new?”

How about a snow storm in Yosemite? (click here to see our recent experience at the Ahwahnee Hotel). There is a new section about the monthly Hexcel alumni breakfast. This is a group of old colleagues of Jay and Sharon when both were gainfully employed; (click here to see some faces of the past).

Also during the last few weeks I have added a lot of details about the family tree. One of Sharon’s relatives provided names of people that go back more than 1500 years and include amongst them Henry III, King of England. So, in a roundabout way our son-in-law and Sharon’s relatives are related. But, then again, aren’t we all? If you are interested take a look at charts 4G and 8E.

The crown molding part has been a bit static, although I was of some help when one of our neighbors bought crown molding that had an unusual profile. My calculations and pictures, as well as my hands and tools, helped to resolve the problem. Sharon still refuses for me to redo our kitchen crown.

The “projects” section now includes designing and cutting mats for framing pictures and I have started some pages on cooking. However, those need lots of work yet, as do my skills. Recently I built a trebuchet, a working model of a medieval catapult. It also needs some work so I can lob oranges at our neighbors with more precision.