Dear Friends,

In a thinly veiled effort to avoid writing Christmas cards, here is our attempt to share some of our year with our friends and family. We hope you’ll forgive the absence of a card - in place of this expense we’ve donated the money to TEAR Australia, to purchase and raise a goat for a community much more needy than ours or yours.

Early in the year, we spent two weeks in New Zealand celebrating the milestone of twelve months of married bliss! There were many, many highlights (as our poor families who sat through some 400+ photos can attest!), but a couple that come easily to mind so many months later, were a quad bike ride across some amazing country side, and a scenic flight around the peaks of the southern alps. The quad bike trip took us across (and through) a river plain at the base of the Franz Josef glacier, and then through some dense vegetation – all in the rain! The jury is still out on whether Bianca’s choice to not drive her own bike but rather ride on the back of Steve’s was a borne of bravery or cowardice – we’ll let you make your own decision.

A few days later we swapped the mud and rain and four wheels, for the wings of flight and an awesome view of the southern alps. Leaving from Tekapo, a small town in the centre of the South Island, we took a 60 minute flight up around Mt Cook and the surrounding alps for some spectacular scenery. It was a little late in the afternoon (and a tiny plane), so not the smoothest of flights, but we both managed to hold in everything but a smile until our return to terra-firma. The photos truly don’t do it justice (but Bianca looks cute!).

Steve’s work at Brisbane Sound Group continues, however it can probably no longer be termed “full time”. In August he launched a new company in partnership with a colleague from the Staging Connections days. The company is called Pixel Line and has invested in some very high end, full high definition projection equipment. Our core market is corporate events, and so far things are going very well. This work does take up a lot of weekends however, and a number of week days as well - luckily things are pretty flexible at Brisbane Sound! Here’s a taste of a recent event – the screen is 25m wide x 5m high and is projected by three of our Barco High Definition projectors.

The birth of Pixel Line has meant the odd sacrifice, the loss of our garage to a fleet of black boxes being one, and a change to our method of transport being a second. Steve was able to convince Bianca (ok, Steve took the most convincing) to give up the luxury of the Honda and move to some ‘more functional’ means of moving around those black boxes. Enter the Renault Master, which is best described as a big white van – well actually, it’s a really big white van. Sticking to our commitment to being a one car (but two bikes) family, this has made trips to the shops for milk and bread at least a little bit more interesting.

Bianca continues to toil away at Suncorp though has moved through a few different roles this year. Back in April a move to the GIO Insurance Online division meant weekly travel to Sydney for one night a week. This led to the occasional airport catchup with Bianca flying back in to Brisbane on a Thursday night at the same time as Steve would be heading off somewhere else in Australia for weekend work. Financial pressures at Suncorp have forced some redundancies over the last few months – with Bianca being ‘offered’ one in late November. Under a redeployment program though Bianca has moved to a contracted position within another department - and Suncorp are quickly realising they might not be better-off without her after all!

Much to Bianca’s prickly amusement, Steve’s charitable contribution for the year was to take part in Movember. Movember is an annual charity event held during November. At the start of Movember, guys register with a clean shaven face. Participants have the remainder of the month to grow their moustache, raising money along the way to benefit men's health - specifically prostate cancer and male depression. Steve, and a number of inudstry colleagues, formed the “Grumpy Old Men” team. Some rather dodgy facial hair was grown and groomed, and funds (over $2000) were raised all to benefit the Movember charities – The Prostate Cancer Foundation, and beyondblue. Late in the month, most of the team was together for an event held at the XXXX brewery in Milton, the great wall of kegs providing an irresistible backdrop for a team photo (keen eyes would pick out Nathan Hindmarsh - named an honorary team member just for the photo op).

Family highlights in 2008 featured a wedding and two engagements. On November 1st we joined in the celebration as Bianca’s brother Lawrie and his fiance Bec were married. The beautiful ceremony was held outdoors on the banks of the Brisbane River at Indooroopilly, followed by a lovely, laid-back reception. The outdoor setting also provided scope for Archie (Bec & Loz’s faithful, excitable and very energetic dog) to be the centre of attention. A great time was had by all.

Steve’s brother Dave proposed to girlfriend Heidi earlier in the year and their big day, in April 2009, draws rapidly closer. And late breaking news, just a few days ago Steve’s brother Graham proposed to girlfriend Jess! Graham has been teaching in Gladstone (where he met Jess) for the past two years, but returns to Brisbane after Christmas to take up a pastoral position at the church.

Steve continues to devote some of his spare time to tech ministry at the church. This year’s highlight was, as always, the Carols by Candlelight held just recently. Perfect weather ensured a great turn out, all of whom got to see an excellent show. It also provided another outing for the new projectors – a standout improvement on previous years.

That’s pretty much our 2008 - all that remains is some big family Christmas celebrations. For the first time in a few years all the immediate Wray family is back in town, and of course the Thomas clan gathering promises to be larger (with no doubt more food) than ever. We are both very blessed to have such close (geographically and otherwise) and supportive families to share life’s special moments with, and who are standing by to pitch in at moment’s notice whenever we find ourselves in need. Our hope is that you and your family can share the same love, joy and laughter that we look forward to this Christmas. Our best wishes to you and your family for a happy holiday and a safe and fulfilling 2009.