Christmas Letters....It's Like We've Just Caught Up

I love getting Christmas letters with my Christmas cards. My favorite one is usually from my friend Nicola who lives in Kuala Lumpar. I can actually hear her voice, Scotish accent and all, while I read it. Even if it's someone I talk to regularly, I love to hear what they deemed worthy of noting from the year. But mostly I love them because I feel like I just had a conversation with the person.

However, this year, I didn't follow my heart. After trying to write a pretty boring letter and staring at it for almost a week I went to print and had no decent paper. After making a stop for the paper, I came home to print 20 of them when my printer cartridge ran out. Super fun. So in an effort to be green about this, I sent the letters to people I know don't read this blog very often or who I don't talk to regularly (mom, that's why you didn't get one).

But after the cards went out, I felt bad that I didn't include the letter because I love reading other people's. So here it is in case you missed it this year:

Even though we’ve been home for two years already, in Linda’s mind “we’ve just returned from overseas.” Seems strange to us to be in one place with no signs of moving.

This year passed generally uneventfully for us, which was a pleasant change. We stayed in the same house, the children stayed in the same school, we stayed in the same jobs, our cars didn’t change, no new additions to the family—man or beast. And the year flew by quicker than we’d like to admit.

Alex will be five in March and it hardly seems possible that he’ll be in kindergarten next year. He’s is working on basic addition and subtraction, can count upwards to 100 and backwards from 20, and knows his letters cold. If you want him to sing ABCs backwards or skipping letters, he can do it. He’s starting to read a bit and usually spends his days playing with his sister. He has started a soccer/basketball class this winter, and it’s hysterical to watch preschoolers pass and dribble, not to mention do jumping jacks.

Anna is learning to write and loves it. She will start ballet next year—at her request. Everything is princess with her all the time, and she’s very much into twirling and prancing about when she’s not taking on her brother. She is quite a force to be reckoned with—as in force of nature—and we’re really glad she’s so cute. She and Alex are really best buddies. Both are about the strongest kids you’ve ever seen and totally live for the monkey bars.

Andrew has been on the road this year. Hard to believe in 12 months he’s been to: China, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Canada, Greece, Italy, Austria, Belgium, India, Afghanistan, Honduras and El Salvador. He’s hoping his job doesn’t change too much with the new political map of the Senate.

Linda is still “at home” with the kids but working on many projects on the side. Her book Baby Bunching went to 20 publishing houses in the beginning of the year. And while the response from the editors was positive, there was no sale. She and her coauthor launched a website to help sell the idea: www.babybunching.com. The traffic for this site has been amazing. She sold her first two articles to Washington Parent Magazine and is writing for three blogs to keep up her writing.

All in all it was a peaceful year. We’re so thankful for the blessing we’ve been given. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.

Linda, Andrew, Alex and Anna