(Just kidding! You didn't think we'd do that to you, did you?)

The big news this year can be summed up with one anecdote: Last December, the two of us attended An Improvised Christmas Carol, an annual improv version of the holiday classic. This year, we went with a group of ten people. That's right: We made friends!

More specifically, we've found a church home: Quest, as it's known, is a candle-lighting, praise-singing, latté-sipping group of 20- and 30-somethings of many races and backgrounds. We've joined a small-group Bible study, met people for coffee and meals, attended the potlucks that accompany any and every occasion, and celebrated Thanksgiving with new friends. We hope to host our own small group in the new year, and Amanda will be singing and playing keyboards on Sundays once again. (And, yes, we're already exhausted by our unaccustomed social-butterfly behavior.)

Our old friends and families were not forgotten: Between visits to the East Coast, Maine, and the Midwest, we saw high-school friends (Steve's 10-year reunion), college friends (reconnecting with the Record gang), Indiana friends, and both sides of the family, including a Lansingh super-reunion and a cram-the-house-with-Caldwells experiment that broke the septic system.

Fortunately, we still have plenty of together time; we continue to feel like newlyweds as we run errands and take walks together after spending our day working across a desk from each other. Steve still works for the Bible League, co-authoring a series of books on church ministry, and Amanda edits novels, school papers, and résumés for online clients of varying degrees of English proficiency as well as freelancing for the Bible League.

We enjoy Seattle as much as ever. Among the many plays, concerts, arts festivals, and author readings we attended, three in particular stood out: the night we crashed a ballet and ended up serving wine to rich folk and seeing The Sleeping Beauty for free ... the serene peace of sitting barefoot in the grass, watching the golden sunset and grooving to Aimee Mann at a zoo concert ... and the interactive murder-mystery event on Whidbey Island, where our solution vastly improved on the so-called "right" one.

We've continued to dabble in a wide range of interests: A digital camera has freed us to experiment more with photography, and classes in kayaking and yoga were adventures into new areas. Amanda has entered her second year of ballet classes and is good enough to bring tears to your eyes (translation: not very good — but loving it). Steve's passion this year has been cooking: rediscovering the flavor of raw and whole foods, sampling artisan breads and cheeses, and focusing on the spiritual rhythms of the kitchen.

Please visit us in 2004 so we can show you around our city and introduce you to our friends. And let us impress you with the fact that Luna now comes when called, her terrible poetry skills aside.