Dear Family, Warmest holiday wishes to all of you! My deepest apologies for not being a very good webmaster and list manager over the past year. I'm afraid I am guilty of being sort of a "jack-of-all-trades; master of none." There are so many different things that I try to do on a volunteer basis that I'm not sure I'm much of a 'help' sometimes. I try to balance my volunteer time between my church, the kids' school, genealogy and various other causes. As I have admitted previously, the one 'job' I try to do best is be a good mom to my two small kids. Until they are grown, everything else takes second (or lower) place. That being said, I still LOVE genealogy, especially the concept of this list and bringing distant cousins together. Although our list isn't always very active, since its inception just over a year ago we have developed into an incredibly supportive family of which I am extremely proud. Thanks to all of you for making that happen. My new year's resolution for 2001 is to try to make ALWINE genealogy a priority once again. There are many e-mails in my filing cabinet that have connections to the ALWINE/ALLWEIN/ALWIN surname. I have responded to most of them, and nearly always invite them to join our mailing list, but haven't followed up. In January, I will do a mass mailing to all the e-mail addresses I have with connections to our family, outlining information regarding this list and the web site. I also have things to be added to the web site. I am hoping to be able to update everything myself, but I'm starting to realize that having an assistant (even just a back-up) might be a good thing. If anyone on this list has experience with web site design/maintenance, or an aptitude for the Internet/computers and a strong desire to learn, please let me know. It's not as hard to learn as you might think (I taught myself by trial and error when I volunteered to host the Conemaugh Township, Somerset County, PAGenWeb site for Rootsweb a few years ago), but it does take time and dedication. Again, thank you all for your support and understanding. Hope your Christmas holiday was wonderful, and that the new year brings you much joy (and deeper roots for your family tree!). My personal 'family' holiday greeting can be found at http://members.aol.com/carfpaige/xmas.html Christine Alwine Paige ALWINE-L List Manager carfpaige@aol.com Evergreen, CO