Excerpted from Lady Medb Renata's Christmas letter...

I am still living, working and going to school in Southern California. I originally came out to help my grandma Fossett take care of her house while my grandpa was ill. I hope that I was a help to them when they needed me. I am sorry to say I lost both of my grandparents right after Christmas last year ('97). It was a very sad time for all of us, but I maintain faith that they are happy together again.

I'm glad to have moved on to Tone Software Corp. where I do administrative and secretarial work for the entire technical department. The work is interesting and challenging and I am always getting opportunities to learn new software applications. Eventually, I will be able to customize databases and reports for the office using my programming. I'm confident this is just the beginning of a decent career in computers.

I am taking classes at night through Fullerton College. This past Spring, I had a general computer class and an HTML programming class. I created a website that you can see if you like those sorts of things. The URL is: http://student-www.fullcoll.edu/~643876. I just finished taking the final for Beginning Visual Basic Programming, and I will be continuing with an intermediate VB class next Semester. I thought I was done with school, but I am happy to be back and don't mind too much the long days and studying.

The SCA still occupies the greatest part of my free time. Being in California/Caid has allowed me to be even more involved in events than I was in Minnesota. I teamed up with my friends out here to run an event in October that was really nice. We created a stage backdrop designed to look just like the Bayeaux Tapestry. Each person could then get up on the stage and pose in their best Norman or Saxon outfit for photos to be taken. OK, so photos wouldn't fit in history, but they make nice souvenirs. It is great to have a direct effect on how events turn out, but it was a lot of work.

I still juggle whenever I get the chance, both in the SCA and with the Orange Jugglers, but I have to admit that my skills have deteriorated from lack of use. I'm hoping to make it to the Juggling Festival next summer. It would be great to see my friends in the juggling sphere.

For those of you who hadn't heard, I was a juggling extra in a movie last year. I had a very tiny part, but I made it on screen. The movie is "Mafia" and I play a nun who juggles salamis in a parade. You have to watch carefully or you will miss my appearance. Actually, you have to work really hard to even see the movie. It was a real stinker and hardly survived in the theaters at all. [Robert's back appeared in the stinky film "Chasers" as well. Hmmm, seems that we all need to pursue cameos in bad films to keep with this Corvus trend! - Bran]

I hope to travel more and see everyone again soon. Even though we are getting further apart, you are still close to my heart. I wish for you the very best of holidays, and love and laughter to spare. -- MEDB

On January 2nd, the Barony of Wyvernwood celebrated its annual Hero of the Chalice event in Tampa, FL. Of course Their Excellencies, Rowen and Giuseppe were in fine form for the festivities and made wonderful hosts to the House Corvus folk in attendance! Bran had just flown in to Orlando to bring his grandmother home from NJ, so it was an easy drive to attend. While Robert flew in from Atlanta, Rhiannon, Oshi, and Sine made the incredible drive down from NC! Special thanks to Baron Peter Hawkyns for serving as Rhiannon's traveling companion. He represented Sacred Stone quite nicely in the Tournament!

To the excitement of everyone in the House Corvus, Maeve MacBrighde received her Award of Arms from the Trimarian Crown! And Bran received Wyvernwood's service Order, The Wyvern's Scale! As if these accolades weren't enough, House Corvus also won the "Best Table-setting" competition at feast that evening! This was the first use of the new Household feast gear that Rhiannon put together. We pulled out an entire table's worth for Atlantian Twelfth Night the following weekend and that was pretty spiffy as well! If you'd like to see some of the photos from Hero of the Chalice, there are a few pictures at the following website: http://www.trimaris.org/wyvernwood/photos.htm.

There's quite a bit of House Corvus news to report this month! The big news is that Otto is moving back to Charlotte with his wife Connie! They have a new address in this issue and will hopefully be back at SCA events in Atlantia very soon! Maybe Fool's 12th Night!

At Kingdom Twelfth Night in Atlantia last weekend, both Elsa and Hakim received their Awards of Arms for all of their work in event kitchens in both Hindscroft and Sacred Stone. Well deserved recognition for these two!

Speaking of Atlantian Twelfth Night, all of the members of House Corvus in attendance were pretty well occupied with various endeavors. A new Atlantian coloring book was introduced as a Kingdom fund-raiser with a lot of Bran's artwork included. Extra special kudos go to Oshi though, for all of his extraordinary work with Baroness Rachel on cooking the Twelfth Night feast! The two of them worked all day long to accomplish their delicious feast! Oshi, Sine, Hakim, and Elsa will be lending their talents to Hindscroft's Fool's 12th Night on January 23rd!