Merry Christmas!
Exactly one week till Christmas! I love this holiday. If you need to get into the Christmas spirit, explain to a 6 year old why (again) we celebrate.
Our official Christmas letter to those of you that I do not have physical addresses for. At least this way, you won’t have to feel guilty about throwing it away at the end of the season. Yes, I have that problem and have a pile of these letters collected from many a year.
Dear Family and Friends,
We just got the Christmas tree up and placed every ornament for which we could find a spot, starting 3 feet off the floor. One and half year-olds, especially the ones in the 85th and 95th percentiles for height, have an amazing reach and especially great ornament grabbing abilities. The 3 older boys helped with ornament placement after I hung all of the matching red balls, which happen to be the only things that gave uniformity to the tree other than the green needles.
These little-end-of-the-year Christmas letters and their informative nature, function as a great way to remember what the heck you did with 12 whole months. Even now, I’m struggling to recall. Let’s see…where’s that calendar? Ok, here we go: everyone got older on at least one day this year, I made way too much salsa (is there such a thing?), baseball practices and games got rescheduled due to inclement weather at least 5 times! I had to make my very first Jell-O Salad for Scouts, the boys and I did a 5K wog (walk/jog - new term), the grass was aerated, we attended a family reunion with the best mutton fry and scones, Reed got glasses, and we went camping to Fish Lake. I paid someone several times to trim my bangs until recently when I learned how to trim my bangs on YouTube. By the way, I also learned how to make a pie crust on YouTube. Douglas acquired a bird from Aunt Jodi, who we named Steve, (aka Howard Bannister). Steve now seems to be my bird and I have taught him how to whistle a cat call. Then there’s the dreaded, I mean looked-forward-to, back-to-school night and the much more fun parent teacher conferences. The dry cleaners seem to get a lot of my business as does the dentist. Flu shots, Isaac’s grasshopper collection, pack meetings (I’m the cub master), a blood drive, returning over-due books, and Douglas’ hip-hop dance class for which I can give little assistance because normal people can’t move in that way, unless they have double joints in their femurs, ribs, skulls, radii and ulnas.
That was quite the list, but none of it of extremely great import. There were, however, some very great things that happened this past year. My sister Dani married a wonderful guy named Michael Scott Thomas in May. My cousin Tessa married a Mr. Jeff Beck, also wonderful, in June. Chris’ sister Lacey and her husband Jake had their first and very adorable baby, Maeli Ruth, in February. Most life changing for all of us was the premature birth, and short life, of my sister Erin and brother-in-law Bill’s baby girl, Julia Dawn. It’s amazing how Julia’s short life on Earth could make such a lasting impression on so many. My testimony of God’s existence, His love for me, and His plan of salvation was strengthened immensely by knowing Julia and spending time with her, and her parents, in the hospital. The few times I spent holding onto Julia’s little feet and humming primary songs to her in the NICU were some of the most spiritual experiences of my life -- a time when I have felt closest to heaven while on earth.
I think taking the time to remember the year and all that happened in just 12 months, can be enlightening. Even those simple things we do that fill up so much of our time have worth. Those things that never make their mark on the calendar make some of the greatest marks on our lives. The chats with our children, the long talks on the phone, the hugs and kisses, the laughter and tears, the prayers, the learning. Oh, and all of the new words a pair of 1½ year-olds are learning, like “shoe” and “go.” Soon, hopefully, “snow” will be in the mix.
We love you all and thank you for the love and kindness you’ve given us! Merry Christmas!
Love, The Williams Family
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