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WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH THE HUGHES FAMILY?

Our lives are like an open book—literally! Every year for the past 25 years we have published a 16-page Christmas newsletter titled Hughes News, summarizing the year in photos, anecdotes, and song parodies. (In 2005 it was 10 times that size, setting a world's record for the longest Christmas newsletter ever, but that's another story.) We invite you to browse through the most recent editions, below, and let us know how you like them.

December 2011
2011 was a milestone year for the Hughes family as Doug's Dad, Kenny, celebrated his 90th birthday with cousins from both sides of the family. This issue of the Hughes News is also filled with fun photos from SantaCon, LovEvolution, BlizzCon, and two musicals we were involved with. As is our tradition, you can sing along with this year's parodies about:

• Kaitlin's library job
• Diane's new pal Roscoe
• Kevin's trip to Disneyland
• Karin's Stanford job
• Doug's thoughts on the new Roman Missal translation

December 2010
Travels during 2010 took us to the Mexican Riviera for a Meyer family cruise (in which we surprised Diane's parents), Indiana, Pennsylvania (for Kaitlin's graduation), Seattle (for a cousin's reunion), and Baskin Robbins (for several birthday cakes!) Karin ziplined, kayaked, snorkeled, and spelunked through Hawaii, and we composed parodies about:

• Kaitlin's graduation
• Diane's 30-year anniversary
• Kevin's trip to BlizzCon
• Karin's new Subaru
• Doug's commentary on the local sports teams

December 2009
This year's edition of the Hughes News Christmas newsletter document's Doug's 60th birthday bash (a murder mystery party), his new obsession with Twitter, and various musicals we have done. In addition, you'll find the usual song parody tributes to each member of the immediate family, and updates on what we've been working on relative to our careers. Sing along with Christmas carol parodies about:

• Kaitlin's choir
• Diane's allergies
• Kevin's security beat
• Karin's job search
• Doug's publishing project

December 2008

Karin graduated from San Jose State University with a degree in Recreation & Leisure Studies. She then went to YMCA of the Rockies for a four-month internship, to complete her academic requirements. She kept a video blog about her adventures here that did not appear in our newsletter. The newsletter for 2008 includes:

• photos from Karin's graduation
• various birthday bashes
• Karin and Kevin's new careers
• our traditional song parody tributes to each member of the family
• business travel highlights
• our continuing involvement in community theater

December 2007

In 2007, our niece Alissa got married and we flew to Seattle for the wedding, by way of an Alaskan cruise. We then made the trek again in September to celebrate Doug's parents' 60th anniversary. Highlights of this issue include:

• 60th anniversary photo
• caricatures of the family
• zipline photos from Alaska
• a song from Doug's unpublished new musical
• travel photos from four different states
• Kaitlin's college adventures

December 2006

Kaitlin graduated from high school. In between all of the extracurricular activities, she and her friends wrote, arranged and recorded a song that they performed for the Bacculaureate Mass, called "Purple Dress Up Box" that celebrates their transition from childhood fantasies to the "real" world. This year's newsletter features:

• lyrics from the Purple Dress Up Box song
• photos from Bob & Evelyn's 50th anniversary
• a couple of family reunions
• and a tribute to Kenny's stint in the service.

December 2005

After 20 years of publishing their annual Christmas greeting as a desktop-published and hand-assembled 16 page booklet, Doug and Diane decided to pull out all the stops and create The World's Longest Christmas Newsletter™. They had just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in November, and figured it was a good time to do a retrospective of their quarter century together.

The newsletter is posted on a self-publishing website called lulu.com and available for purchase in printed form as a 160-page, 6x9" full-color, perfect bound paperback book. You can also download the electronic version free of charge. Highlights include:

• How their love story began
• The complete Hughes Christmas Carol parody songbook
• Quotable quotes
• 10 years of holiday stories
• Updates from the relatives
• A 25-year photographic retrospective of the Hughes family's history

This unusual publishing feat was a publicity stunt suggested by the marketing department at lulu.com, which offered to pay for printing the books in exchange for the right to promote it as a world's record. They issued a press release, which has led to interviews on three radio stations including the Canadian National Public Radio program, The Current (visit their website to listen to a replay and click on "Part1" of the broadcast). The story also appeared in the Sacramento Bee, the Silicon Valley Wave, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Tacoma News Tribune, and the Baton Rouge Louisiana Advocate newspapers.

December 2004

Highlights of the 2004 edition:

• Kevin graduates!
• Family reunion
• Involvement in theater
• Trip to Disney World
• More song parodies
• Annual photo highlights

Looking for the stories that used to be on the home page? Visit the archive.