I wrote extension methods to return a default value if the element didn't exist. Go to this CP article:
Downloads: SQLXAgent - Jobs for SQL Express - Part 1 of 6[
^]
and scroll down to
SqlxCommon\FileExtensions
, and look for
ExtendLinqToXML.cs
BTW, I generally don't us the built-in .Net serialization stuff, because I want more control oevr what's happening. Yeah, it can be a hassle, but wwell, you know.