And then there is Denise. 

"Take the picture already! 

I have stocks to downgrade, reports to write, calls to make,

and Charlie won't nurse himself!"

In case anyone missed it, Denise had a very successful year working herself to the bone for ... Merrill Lynch which ... is being bought out by Bank of America instead of ... going down in flames like Lehman Brothers and ... you get the picture.  On the downside, Denise had to keep slaving away as stock prices plummeted, milk tainting scandal spread through China, and that bout of walking pneumonia plus tonsillitis or mono or something else (never quite positive) that she had on a two week Europe/US marketing trip which resulted in a week of hospitalization when she got home all while pregnant or with newborn resulted in a challenging and sleep-deprived year.  On the up side, Denise earned a top analyst award again this year (you will have to look up her name and Starmine yourself if you care since she won't want me boasting too much on her behalf), worked too long and too productively to not be a valued member of her department, and will in all likelihood still have a job and a promotion to Managing Director (she's been put up for it and the signs are positive) when all the dust has settled (which is no small thing in the current financial crises).  Of course, it helps that Denise's version of maternity leave means overworking herself from the comfort of home.  Oh well.  PS Denise had the good fortune of having an old friend from her university days, Vanessa, and husband, Robert, with daughter, Jojo, move to Singapore from New York and what the heck, anyone who can get Denise to put down the Blackberry to drink cocktails on the veranda of the polo club can't be all bad, decadent, yes, but not bad. 

            Katie, Katie, Katie.  What can one say about Katie?  Okay, at the grand old age of 5, she is growing, maturing, becoming, but she still has that near maniacal enthusiasm that she gets on occasion which reassures us that she is still much little girl (thank goodness, some of her peers are watching High School Musical and getting tattoos - okay, I'm lying about the tattoos).  Katie started at a new school having been offered a spot at the hard to get into UWCSEA, so we moved her from her old Montessori school (which Maddy has started). 

Katie's first day at UWC.

I know, it doesn't sound terribly exciting but ... SHE RIDES THE BUS ... I know, I can't believe it either.  Where did the years go?  All in all, it has been a good move.  She loves her teacher, Mrs. Saez, she listed all of the girls and a good number of boys in her class as friends, and she seems to like it when her Dad turns up every so often to help with a cooking class or swimming or to play Santa (sshh, don't tell anyone).  She has also made two new good friends (Natalia and Sophie) who moved into Pebble Bay this summer and ride with her on the bus to school.  Ironically, Natalia and family went to the same school Katie did in Hong Kong for a bit and now they are in the same class, though we didn't know each beyond a nodding acquaintance back then.  She had her first sleepover with Natalia just a few weeks ago.  Again, where have the years gone?  Katie is also busy learning Mandarin, gymnastics, and Tae Kwon Do ... what was I doing at age four or five other than playing in the mud and breaking things?  No idea, but I can't read Chinese ...  It wasn't all forward rolls and giggling girls.  Katie conveniently got infected insect bites that landed her in the hospital for a few days over her birthday causing us to cancel our originally schedule birthday, blowout bash though Katie did have a number of visitors in the hospital which brought her some joy (and presents) between the IV antibiotics and minor surgical procedures. 

"Maybe I can get the doctor to put skin on this guy." 

I'd be just as happy if none of our future b-days are that memorable or medical.  Fortunately, we were able to use much of the food I had already baked in preparation in a last minute, impromptu party with the condo kids.  I would tell you how great it was but I was semi-delirious with a 102 fever from a bug I picked up in the hospital. 

            All hail, Madeline - the Empress of Pebble Bay!  Do I exaggerate? 

"If you are the empress and you know it, clap your hands ..." 

Maybe, but not by much and I'm her Dad so I have certain bragging rights.  Madeline's unrelenting gregariousness and frequent presence in the playroom earns her greetings from many children and adults that I know and more that I have no clue about.  There is nothing like having your kid being greeted warmly by people who then look at you like you just dropped in from another planet.  Okay, maybe this needs explanation for some.  In Singapore, like Hong Kong, hiring full-time domestic help is not terribly expensive and a lot of people do it, so we have a great Filipino maid named Jenny (or Auntie Jenny to the kids) in our employ and she is usually the one to take Mads to the playroom (on the occasions that I take the kids, the dozen Filipino helpers who are there minding their charges all look at me suspiciously and one pipes up with "Where's Auntie Jenny?" and it devolves into Perry Mason from there with helpers wondering where I hid the body). 

Where's Auntie Jenny?  Right here.

But this is all to say that Maddy gets invited places and introduced to people through the vast helper network that I have only vague knowledge of.  I fear her third birthday in January may require logistics for thousands ... Anyway; she remains mostly fearless in her social ease and entirely fearless in her physical courage which terrifies me all too frequently.  Imagine if you will – Madeline climbs onto our coffee table, judges the distance, and leaps the couple feet to the sofa.  She lands, bounces, squeals then stands on the sofa, glances towards the coffee table, and starts judging the distance.  This is where I intervene as a mutated version of the Ballad of the Green Beret plays in my head – “Flying children in the sky.  Fearless kids who jump and die.  Mads who means  what she does say.  She scares her daddy everyday.”  Madeline also started at Katie's old Montessori this year and seems to have picked up an occasional Indian accent from her majority Indian classmates. 

Maddy's first day of school.

With the way things are going, Maddy may become a Bollywood star while Katie is busy with Kung Fu pics ... a scary prospect.  She has settled into her school quite well with almost no tears and perhaps the highlight of her school year was receiving a shirt with the school logo on it which we have yet to convince her that she can't wear it every single day ... she loves the shirt.  But perhaps the most amusing aspect of Madeline these days is her musing then pronouncing ... for example, "Daddy drives the car.  Mommy never drives the car. (pause) Mommy can't drive!"  or "Daddy cooks dinner.  Mommy doesn't cook dinner.  (pause) Mommy can't cook."  Needless to say, we are equally fascinated and concerned about what she may next reason and declare.  PS Maddy is the impish one and is also quite likely to critique one with a mix of potty talk and Tagalog words (the main dialect in the Philippines). 

            And me?  Well, I wrote the Christmas letter.  What more do you want?  Okay, so mostly my days are regulated by when certain children have to be at a certain place at a certain time - Take Katie to the bus stop.  Take Maddy to school.  Get Maddy from school.  Get Katie from the bus stop.  Take Katie to TKD or gymnastics or Chinese.  Take Katie/Maddy/Denise to the doctor.  Etc.  On occasion, I get dragooned into helping out at a school or doing a magic show, though with Charlie's arrival it becomes logistically more challenging.  

"Abracadabra and presto, my bald spot is bigger, bigger, BIGGER!"

And of course, for those that were paying attention I did a dramatic overhaul of the family website (www.chai-mulkerin.com) which led to long hours of misery in hopes of diminishing future long hours of tedium updating and maintaining the site.  I also continue to obsess about the future of our kids given what we are doing to the environment and ways we might get through it which has led to a great deal of obsessed reading, watching, and listening to books, videos, and podcasts on my part.  After a comment from my brother-in-law, Stuart, last summer something like “What are you going to do with all this stuff you’re learning”, I decided to put together a website (www.thesustainablelife.info) which I hope will put some of the stuff in a balanced, rational context (while citing or linking to my source material).  Thanks Stuart.  However, with Denise certain that the world needs pictures of Charlie every other day I'm devoting most of my time to the family website, so the website is mostly infrastructure awaiting content at this point (though getting the infrastructure set up is a good first step).  And in a sad repeat of history (high school vice president, dorm president, graduate student president), I have ended up the vice chair of the condo's owners' council - a job so prestigious that it was awarded to me on the basis that nobody else would put their hand up, I had to get home to the family, and it was clear that the meeting wouldn't end until someone volunteered - in other words, it was awarded on the qualification of who would be in the most trouble for coming home late which in retrospect may not be a bad approach to political appointments.  On the upside, after spending months at the playgrounds hearing residents gripe about the disrepair of the equipment, I spearheaded the effort to get new equipment which now lets me enjoy the gripes of residents commenting on why the old equipment was better.  Thank goodness my fellow residents didn't see my original plans for the live tiger play pit and the burning coal building blocks as they would have likely ignored the safety warnings about not poking the tigers in the eyes with burning coals.  While I harbor secret fantasies about a group of swing set partisans upset by their removal uniting to kick me of the council, I fear I am locked in for the foreseeable future - oh, the joys of community involvement.  With that said, we have a pretty good community in the condo and had a fun potluck with a bunch of the "playground families" (or at least those I ran into in the weeks leading up to it) right before we left for Little Rock for Christmas - despite my somewhat erratic organizational skills, it turned out quite well.

             I am finishing this in the wee hours now that the kids are long asleep and we are all mostly over the jetlag (after only a week) and the various illnesses picked up before or on the trip from Singapore to Arkansas.  Oops, Maddy just slowly slipped feet first from the bed ... I hoisted her back in and she's closed her eyes.  Anyway, it has been a heck of a year for us and probably a heck of a year for a lot of you between the great, the good, and the bad and next year will likely be eventful as well, so we will keep you in our thoughts and good wishes (except for you, yeah you, you know who you are - okay, I was getting maudlin - easy enough to do when the kids are sleeping).  While our house may be cluttered with toys frequently under foot, our door is always open if you want to drop by.  If Singapore is inconvenient for you, you can follow our foibles on the website.  Have a wonderful Christmas (or holiday of choice) and a Happy New Year! 

            Best wishes, Mark, Denise, Katie, Maddy, and Charlie