Happy Holidays for all ……………

We are all doing great this holiday season, even though we find ourselves in separate parts of the world. Barbara and Gustavo and the kids stayed in Brazil during Christmas, but they will be visiting California in January. Blanca spent the Thanksgiving holiday with us in California, but now she is in Florida. She is re planning to visit in March -- after the arrival of the Walsh twins. The rest of the family in Spain and luckily all in great shape and good spirits.

 This past summer  Lamberto, Blanca, Mom and Dad spent some quality time in Spain with the Francos and the Solanas it was good fun. We are making big plans for all of us (Borges, Walshes and Francos)  to travel to Spain the summer of 2006.

BLANCA

Blanca is doing well. She spent a month in Spain this summer and then a few months in Los Gatos with the family. Now she is back in Jacksonville working at Baptist Hospital and enjoying Christmas Jacksonville-style (fried pizza?).

This past year Blanca was offered the starring role in a small, independent movie filmed in Jacksonville. However, the always camera-shy Blanca refused the starring role and instead played a supporting role as a pharmacist. None of us have seen the movie, but we hear that Blanca played quite well onscreen -- despite her inexperience in the field of acting. She really enjoyed the filming, so we wouldn't be surprised if she decides that acting is her new calling. If you know Blanca as the shy, reserved and quiet young lady that she is, you may find this new career path as shocking as we did.

As a result of her movie-making experience, Blanca was invited this past Fall to the Film Festival in New York City. She spent a week in the big city and met quite a few famous (and not-so-famous) celebrities in the process.

BORGESes

Barbara has started taking tennis lessons…... and she must be paying lots of money for these lessons because the instructor told her that she has a natural talent for tennis. When Claudia and Barbara were growing up, it was a common joke in the family that Barbara had not inherited any of the genes of her tennis-champion forefathers and that she was quite possibly the worst tennis player to ever pick up a racket. Understandably, we are all quite confused about her instructor's views on Barbara's natural tennis talents. Maybe her new killer backhand has something to do with her new, higher center of gravity!

This winter, Barbara and Gustavo attended the wedding of Athena Onasis and in Sao Paulo. If you know anything about Barbara, then you can image how excited she was about being invited to such a noteworthy social event. The entire gossip-magazine reading population of world (mom and Claudia included) had read about what an extravagant and exclusive event this would be -- an invitation to this type of affair elevates the invitee to legendary status.

CLAUDIA

Claudia is looking significantly larger these days -- and it's not from all the turkey and stuffing. She and Marte are expecting TWINS (one boy and one girl) this coming March 1st. They feel incredibly blessed to be having two babies in one shot and have already begun to plan for their arrival.

The reality of adulthood hit this year when, instead of finding the usual young adult gifts from Santa beneath the Christmas tree, they found two car seats, a double stroller and a new camera to better photograph the babies once they arrive. They could not be happier.

By the way, don't be offended if you don't hear from or see Claudia or Marte anytime between mid-February of next year and sometime in the late summertime. We have a feeling that they are going to have their hands pretty full for the months to come!

MARTE

Marte is certainly excited for parenthood... so much so that he is dancing for joy! A few weeks ago Marte was overcome with happiness and practicing a little Irish jig in his parents' living room (just Marte and Lucy, the Walsh's small terrier).

As the music intensified, Marte's footwork got faster and Lucy got so excited by Marte's dancing that she found a little bit of Irish in herself as well. Lucy started to jump up and down in imitation of Marte's jig, but she got a little bit too close. She quickly became entangled in Marte's fast-moving size-15 feet and Marte had to lunge to one side in order to avoid stepping on the dog.

He ended up with a badly-sprained ankle that blew up to the size of a basketball!! He and Claudia got to spend the rest of the evening and a large part of the night in the emergency room getting x-rays on Marte's ankle. For those of you that know Marte well, this story will not be too surprising.

MOM

Mom has really settled into her work and social life in California. She has made many friends at work and she is making up for all the wild nights of young adulthood that she missed by getting married and having children as age 19. This summer she traveled on an all-ladies adventure to Prague and then invited [six] friends from school to Spain.

LAMBERTO

For those of you in California, please be warned that Lamberto (decorated former kart racer) is now legally in possession of a California driver's license.

He has been driving alone on the roads for a few weeks now and the results so far have been surprisingly good. Truth be told, he drives much better than any of his sisters ever did. However, all those years of racing on the Florida kart circuit seems to have engrained in him the rule that the driver should accelerate into turns rather than brake.

As such, passengers not qualified in the racing environment are likely to feel quite petrified as they transition from a straight easy coasting to a centrifugal hellhole whenever he approaches a turn.

It continues to be a struggle to keep on top of Lamberto's studies, as he does not seem to be particularly interested in school. The most frequent comment from teachers on Lamberto's report card is "Socializing affecting work."

To his credit, however, Lamberto has never had any disciplinary problems in school.... until recently. A few months ago Lamberto was cited with a warning when his teacher caught sight of him forcefully flipping off his friend during class. As it turns out, Lamberto's friend flipped him off in a camouflaged way (scratching some body part in Lamberto's direction with his middle finger). Lamberto thought it would be amusing to return the message in a less circuitous way…and he did so while the teacher was looking, so he got caught.

While in 4th grade he set up a remote control operated farting machine under the teacher’s chair, so all is changing for the better

 DAD

Lamberto, mom and dad traveled to Northern California and Nevada over the holiday break. Lamberto did some snowboarding up at Lake Tahoe and mom and dad did some sightseeing and casino loitering.

On their way back home, they stopped in the old-West, gold-mining town of Virginia City. Dad, reliving the John Wayne dreams of his childhood, purchased a leather vest and Sheriff's star and a cowboy hat. Lamberto and mom thought it was a fun way to enjoy the day in Virginia City. However, dad kept on the vest, star and cowboy hat for the rest of the trip back down to Los Gatos. 

During the drive back  and to make up for some eggnog additives, the family made a late night stop at a empty liquor store . Mom and Lamberto waited in the car while dad went into the joint. He and the clerk – who was about to close -  were the only individuals standing under the floodlights.

Suddenly, a pick-up truck occupied by a few individuals of menacing looks parked in front of the store. As they were readying to leave the truck and enter the premises, they grasped sight of dad wearing his full-blown sheriff's outfit and star.

They never left the truck, they restarted the engine and sped away into the darkness of the night .

Dad is now certain that his decision to remain fully clad as a man of the law worked to thwart a planned criminal act, and so he plans to keep wearing his vest and star whenever the terror alert raises above “yellow”