This year we obviously set a new record for people at our house for Christmas. My own kids were there including Joe with his new wife Kathy, Christopher and Brooke, Sarah who is a college student, Panjee and Tricia. David is serving in the Air Force and could not make it home for Christmas. In addition, our family expanded with the addition of Nancy's sisters Cookie and Menchu as well as Cookie's husband Richard this past February.

You can send comments to Menchu, Cookie and Richard at their regular e-mail addresses. You can also send an e-mail to Nancy at her e-mail address which is listed below.

Don't forget to look for the link at the bottom of this page which will take you to the next page.

Larry

Panjee has been taking piano lessons for more than a year. She recently also started taking voice lessons. Here is a photo of Panjee at a pre-Christmas program for piano and voice students. Panjee has been singing in the choir at church along with Richard, Menchu and sometimes Cookie.
Santa and Mrs. Claus visited Polo, Illinois just prior to Christmas to meet with the local kids. Panjee and Tricia paid them a visit and told Santa what they hoped to receive at Christmas. Little Tricia was very good and was not frightened of Mrs. Claus.
The three Pascua girls pose for their first Christmas together in the United States. From left to right are Nancy Plachno, Menchu Pascua and Cookie (Maria Luz) Pacetes. Nancy will be in the United States three years in March but this is the first Christmas in the United States for Menchu and Cookie. It has been a happy year with everyone living together in our house.
Opening presents on Christmas morning was less organized than typical because of the number of both people and presents. Next year we may go back to trying to get a little more organized. If you look carefully, you can see little Tricia sitting on the floor just a little left of center in the forground. If you do not spot her immediately, look for a red outfit. In addition to our own gifts, we were also thankful to receive gifts from my two brothers and their families as well as my mother and Tita Irene.
Tricia really enjoys parties. She was 16 months old on Christmas day. From left to right is Sarah, Kathy, Joe, Tricia, Christopher and Brooke. If you look on the table in front of Sarah, you can see Tricia's keyboard, mouse and mouse pad. Any day now we expect her to ask for the rest of the computer.
Since we already had a photo of the three Pascua girls, we decided to include a photo of my three Plachno girls. From left to right is Panjee, Tricia and Sarah. Normally, the Plachno family has a preponderance of boys. It is probably a Plachno record for several generations for me to have these three pretty daughters.
Christmas is obviously for kids. Both Panjee and Tricia were delighted with their gifts. Here, Panjee and Tricia show their Christmas presents under the tree after we were through opening gifts.
Larry and Nancy relax after our Christmas Party. Larry is starting to show a little extra weight in this photo. Nancy is responsible for the decorations on the mantle and on the walls in and around the house. We also had a second Christmas tree in the living room.