December 1999

A letter from the Bruyère Family

Dear Friends and Family,

As we sit by the fireplace listening to Pavarotti singing Christmas and looking at our tree with our old, beloved ornamented tree, we reflect again on how fortunate we are. The highlight of 1999 for us has certainly been moving into our new home. As most people have heard, we were well greeted by the now famous "plane landing in our backyard". After a few cosmetic renovations, a big 10th wedding anniversary party with over 100 adults and 40 kids, several dinner parties, a few kids sleeping over, and many visits by family, One Waxwing feels like home and we love it here.

1999 has blessed each of us. Chris' health continues to improve: after 16 months of chemo, he has now been off it for 3 months, his hair is back, and his energy is back up. The battle to overcome the tumors continues with a strict macrobiotic diet, acupuncture, naturopaths and visualization. At last report, the tumors had grown very little since going 'natural' and we are hopeful that we are on the right path. Chris is even back at Avison Young part-time.

Gabriella is still enjoying working in a close and supportive team at CGI. She continues on her personal learning path, reading voraciously and attending all kinds of seminars and classes. Art classes at the Art Gallery of Ontario have opened new doors into a new and colorful world of modern art. Her latest passion is journaling - to capture those precious moments as they pass us by as we travel into the new millennium!

The kids, as always, have had a great year. With the new home have come the usual benefits of living in a neighborhood: swinging on trees, riding bikes, ball hockey, etc... and a lot more autonomy. With Chris as Marc's coach, both kids have also started in a soccer league: after she stopped picking clover, Caroline did well. They are both continuing their piano lessons, and will be starting skiing again in January.

Caroline will be doing her ballet primary levels in ballet in the weeks before Christmas. This being her fourth year of formal dance training, she is getting quite good. Daddy loves to see his princess in so 'girlie' a pursuit.

Marc continues to improve at hockey and is getting a little more aggressive on the ice. He really took to the various boating activities up at Lake Wahwashkesh this summer: water skiing, wake boarding, and cliff diving.

Both Marc and Caroline are doing very well at school and make their parents proud!

Over the past few years, Chris' parents (Yves and Rita) and Gabriella's cousin (and Caro's god mother) Stephanie have moved to Toronto. In October, Katherine (Gabriella's sister and Marc's god mother) also moved to Toronto from Hong Kong. We are all very glad to have her so near. She moves into her new loft downtown just before Christmas.

As you can see, 1999 has been a full and fulfilling year for each of us. As much as we loved condo living, this home has helped us all grow in a certain way. We continue to focus on Chris' healing and truly hope that the new millenium brings more good news. We feel very fortunate with our family and friends and wish all of you health and happiness over the holidays and for the new year, century and millenium. May God be with each of you.

With love from our family to yours,

Gabriella Chris Marc Caroline