We have changed our font this year in part to present a more personable letter. Our apologies for this slightly delayed Christmas letter. The Thompson family was on vacation in Mexico for most of December and only recently returned to the States. This past year was emotionally and financially profitable for us, and if 1998 is as half as good as 97, then this year will still be very good. All of you will be in our thoughts and hearts in the coming year.
The Thompson Family as a whole has entered the Information Super Highway with reckless abandon. Every day during the school year, E-mail connects family members to each other. Besides E-mail, several Thompson members have Web pages. Check out http://www.pon.net/jmt, and http://www.pon.net/david.thompson for John and David’s web pages. Now lets get caught up on the year in review for each Thompson family member.
Lance officially retired this year and is spending more of his time playing the stock market. He is an active member of the “Gold Diggers Club”, a local organization of people interested in gold mining. He often goes on mining trips with members of this club. This year has been a rather poor one for his gold collection. Many of the mines seem to be played out and mining just isn’t as easy as it used to be. His total finds this year add up to just under 1/2 an ounce.
Lance and David went to Idaho, Washington, and Montana this summer in the hopes of getting rich by finding a large nugget in the gold fields. They metal detected for gold for 10 days. Alas, they came away poorer for the gold but richer in the experiences that they shared together.
David is at Cal Poly SLO and has between 3 and 5 quarters of school left. He is majoring in Biology/Ecology and has finished a minor in International relations. He is president of the Solar Car Team. This Team is building a solar racing vehicle to race from Wash. DC to Orlando in the summer of 1999. 
The experience and friendships gained from this club are invaluable and will last a lifetime. Take a minute to surf the Solar Car Web Page. This winter David is starting his senior project which involves studying the migration of the monarch butterfly. He also keeps busy by serving on the Mechanical Engineering Student Council and being active in the California Rare Fruit Growers club.
In the beginning of 1997, David returned from an adventure of a lifetime. He went to Korea, Thailand, and Nepal for 3 weeks. While in Nepal he hiked the Khumbu Everest Trek to Everest Base camp. He became so sick from food poisoning and altitude related symptoms that he had to be carried down from 16,500 to 15,000 feet. He had no strength and could not even walk. To read about this trek and other monthly travel articles written by Dave, check out Dave’s Travel Corner.
Elizabeth has found Santa Clara University extremely stimulating and challenging. She is major-ing in Anthropology and enjoys her classes. The beginning of the next school year will find her studying in Salamanca, Spain. This will test her knowledge of the Spanish language but will enable her to experience a different culture and make new friendships. Besides the rigors of classwork Elizabeth stays very busy by volunteering her time to help underprivilleged children of Spanish ancestry learn English. She also plays the violin for a local symphony.
Marianne recently became the C0-director for the Institute of Bio Spirituality. This keeps her very busy and she will be travelling to Washington, DC at the end of February for a conference.
Marianne enjoyed her recent trip to Mexico and especially loved the small towns of Oaxaca and Tlaquepaque. These towns are rich in history, bountiful in culture, and plentiful in arts and crafts. Upon returning to Santa Rosa, our house underwent a
redecorating due to the many new crafts that she purchased in Mexico.
Marianne & Lance will be travelling to Europe this fall to vacation and travel with Elizabeth. David and John will also be spending 5 weeks in Europe this summer.
John is majoring in Political Science and is minoring in Communication and Music. He will graduate from Davis this June and has 2 months of summer vacation before he starts Law school. This school year has been an exciting one for John. Not only is he taking stimulating classes but he is a Resident Assistant for one of the off campus dorms. This job requires much patience and challenges his communication skills.
John purchased an absolutely beautiful sailboat in early summer. He completely restored it to its original beauty and it now sparkles and glides across the waves. There is one trip that stands out among John’s many boat trips this summer. He brought his boat to the San Francisco Bay and sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge. He capsized near the jagged rocks on the Marin county side and had to be plucked from the frigid water by the Coast Guard. 
He was told if he had remained in the water for several more minutes he certainly would have had hypothermia. We are all glad that John survived this almost perilous expedition.
We know that your year has been as rewarding as ours by reading the fascinating Christmas cards and letters. We remain connected to you by the strong but sometimes delicate bonds that have been formed between our family and yours. Please keep in touch and we look forward to seeing you all at various times throughout the year.
Lance, Marianne, David, John, Elizabeth