Christmas Letter

Every year we go through the same thing. Who's going to write the Christmas letter? This year Kevin drew the metaphorical short stick and was stuck writing it. Then I noticed at the bottom of the page that this blog was listed. Hmmm... haven't written there in over 6 months. So for those of you who are here checking to see what else has been going on in our lives, here's my version of the past year.

Julia has had the most changes this year (not surprising in the case of a one-year-old). She reached all those milestones that children her age should. Her vocabulary is pretty vast, but she doesn't always know when to use the appropriate words. For example, she will scream and keep saying please and me too without letting us know exactly what she wants. It sometimes takes quite a while before we can decipher what the want was. Julia enjoys reading a lot just like her big sister does, but she has also really taken to some math concepts (somebody had to have mommy's love of math). She loves to count. Okay, she loves to count in her own unique counting system: One, two, three, eight, nine, ten! She knows shapes very well. She is still quite the mommy's girl. She wants to be by my side constantly, but would rather be "up". She adores her big sister. And of course, nobody knows how to have fun quite like daddy. Despite her early "terrible two" attitude of late, it has been quite the pleasure watching her personality develop more and more.

Chloe has also grown a lot (again, what else would you expect in a young child). She adores her little sister and spends most afternoons bored while Julia is napping. Reading is still her favorite activity. Some stories she can "read" to us based on the pictures and her memory. Other stories she likes to read by trying out some rhyming words. Often stories go something like this: it, kit, hit, tit, rit, vit. Arch books are among her favorites. It's so much fun to hear her retelling the Bible stories. She has learned a lot this year during our family devotional time. She can recite much of the catechism and knows several hymns. If she's in the right mood, she can outsing part of the congregation on a Sunday morning. Chloe enjoys trying out all kinds of grown up activities. She likes to help me cook, sort and fold laundry, dust, vacuum and anything else I will let her do. I try to let her help me as much as possible; I know this stage of willing participation won't last forever.

As for me, well, there's a reason I don't like to write the Christmas letter. Nothing new has happened to me aside from all of the new stages my children are entering. While sometimes the daily routines are quite monotonous, there are other times I'm happy to lead a quiet life. As with any other vocation, motherhood has its ups and downs, but there is always something to bring a smile or something new to cherish in my heart. I'm blessed to have a wonderful family. Kevin mentioned my brother Andy who was diagnosed with leukemia in September. I have added a link at the top of the blog to Caring Bridge. My mom has been updating there, and you can look back to read the whole story.

And Kevin? He's just as hard to write about as I am! He's still enjoying being a pastor (again, aside from problems that arise). He's still a wonderful husband and father; the girls and I are blessed to have him. Doesn't sound like much has changed. He tried to take on a new hobby -- finishing our basement. Early in the year he spent one day working on it with his dad and brothers. Nothing much has happened down there since then. You'll have to ask Kevin about that new hobby of his sometimes.

So there's our year as best as I can remember at this point. No big events to report this year. Now that I've written this long summary, I can go tell Kevin that I wrote our Christmas letter too. He'll be so pleased to hear his work was not done in vain!