December 19, 2002




Dear Friends and Family,

Once again I'm writing my Christmas letter from my Mom's house in
Milwaukee after having run out of time to get it done at home.  Work
has really been keeping me busy, and it's great to be far away from it
and here among family.  This Christmas we'll have a bit more of the
family here than last year, but it will still be a small group.

My niece Beth is in Japan, where her husband Tom has started a 3-year
tour of duty -- he's a meterologist with the Air Force.  They're
expecting their fourth child, and most of us probably won't meet him
or her until they get back!  A long time to wait.  I did get to visit
them in Tuscon for the 4th of July weekend, and it was great to get
together with Beth, Nathan, Meagan, and Ethan, although Tom was away
for a training class.  Most of the nearby scenic areas were closed
because of recent fires, but we had a nice visit to the air museum and
a fun afternoon swimming in the Air Force base pool.

My brother Bill and his wife Nancy couldn't make it to Milwaukee this
Christmas either, though they did get to see my Mom this past spring
at my niece Amy's graduation from law school in Minneapolis.
Unfortunately I couldn't make it then.  Bill's daughter Leigh plans to
come to visit my mom in January.  As they're all on the east coast,
and I no longer make business trips out there with my new job, it's
been a while since I've seen any of them.

My sister Mary (Amy and Beth's mom) still lives here in Milwaukee, and
Amy will be driving down on Christmas Day with her two boys, Sasha and
Misha.  It will be great to see them again -- Amy made it here for
Christmas last year but wasn't able to bring the boys along.

I don't a lot of travels to write about this year, but I've gotten
around some with my guitar.  I spent my usual week at summer Bible
camp in the Sierra foothills, working as music leader and assistant
camp director.  This year my guitar was the only instrument, but I had
a variety of different folks come up to help me lead the singing.
Then a couple of weeks after camp, the pastor at our WELS church in
Livermore invited me up to help lead worship in the park at their
annual church picnic.  For that we were also able to recruit Tim
Williamson from Sacramento to play keyboard -- he had played with me
at camp the previous year, and we were able to play together again
smoothly even with practically no rehearsal time.

I also played guitar at the WELS men's retreat again this year.  This
was the third year of this annual retreat and my third year playing
there.  It was a treat to work with Chris Vick, a guitarist who I met
at the first retreat and who was inspired then to get back into
playing seriously.  He now plays every week in the band at the San
Jose WELS church's contemporary service.  I'm back to playing for
Sunday School every week, with a different twist now -- instead of
playing at the opening devotion when people are straggling in, I come
in after the lesson and sing a few songs with just the kids and their
teachers.  That's been great fun, and the kids really enjoy it.  I've
also gotten the chance to play with larger groups at a couple of
worship services.  Our church has several professional, classical
musicians, and it's rather an honor (though humbling as well) to get a
chance to plunk along with them on my folk guitar!

My job at VMware is still fun after 16 months.  Actually, sometimes
it's a little too much fun and I end up working too many hours for my
own good.  I need to pace myself better in 2003.  The company is doing
very well, but is unlikely to go public while the market for tech
stocks is still so weak.  I didn't join to get rich quick, though; I
joined because it looked like interesting work with a nice group of
people and good prospects to be around for the long term.  So far it's
fulfilling that well.

This year went by so fast, and it hardly seems time for Christmas
already.  But I'm looking forward to the chance to celebrate the birth
of our Savior once again.  I pray that his peace may rest upon you
too, now and always.  "For to us a child is born, to us a son is
given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace."


                                        Love in Christ,

					Tim Mann