Our Christmas Letter

Someday I’m going to figure out how to send a Christmas video instead of a letter. This year our cards are traveling west to California, south to Florida and Alabama, north to Ohio, and (via email) all the way to Vietnam. Some of you we haven’t seen in a few years and some of you probably see too much of us. Wouldn’t it be fun to get a DVD instead of a letter? You could pop it in and pretend we were right there in your living room. Or … be glad we weren’t, as the case may be. This year, like most others, didn’t leave a whole lot of time for creative Christmas cards – so we’ll both have to settle for the letter.

And since I’m putting the year in writing, let’s just get the bad stuff out of the way first. Each one of us had our own unexpected medical crisis. Brenna managed to fracture her thumb by smashing it in a door – but she did get to wear a cool soccer cast for a week. I became an odd statistic that led to surgery in June. Michael took a middle of the night trip to the ER. And Daniel managed to skid face down on blacktop, earning himself the nickname Rudolph. Everybody’s happy and healthy now, as we finish out the year - just some extraordinary memories for 2008.

The biggest excitement this year has been kindergarten. Brenna loves it, no big surprise. But let me tell you, getting me out of bed every morning has been a trial. Yes, me. She’s a happy little sunshine in the morning, and I’m…well…I’m not. We make it to the freezing cold bus stop every morning, then I plod back home mumbling mean thoughts to the county for making me walk her down there. But like I said, she loves school and has a very thoughtful and sweet teacher. The first report card informed us that she’s quite Satisfactory in every way.

Daniel must like her being gone all day, because he decided to start telling us all about everything. I absolutely love this stage of verbal development because there are new words and phrases nearly every day. Just tonight he looked up at Brenna and said, “You’re amazing!” (I’m sure in about ten years she’ll wish I HAD done a video.) He’s conquered potty training and moved to a big boy bed this year. When he’s not doing high flying seat drops on the couch or leaping from the arm onto whoever is in his way, he’s talking about race cars, Diego, and his truck book…because those are few of his favorite things. (cue the music)

Our trip to Tennessee with some of our Ohio family tops the memories list again this year. We absolutely love Dollywood. The Mountain Slidewinder and River Battle, to be exact. We also spent a week on a mountain in Montreat, NC while Michael attended a church music conference. And summer isn’t summer if we haven’t been to Ohio. Our time there always flies, but it’s great to step away from city life and slow down!

On the job front, not a lot has changed. Michael teaches and works part time at a Presbyterian Church. I chase Daniel around all week and work Saturdays. He would love to have more time to write music and I’d love to have more time to write words. We know we’re blessed beyond measure and look forward to the celebrations of 2009.

It’s easy to keep up with us all year long on Facebook or The Peapod Four. (which I just realized I can’t hyperlink on your letter so here’s the address: www.thepeapodfour.blogspot.com)

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a 2009 full of wonder, joy and love.