Dear family and friends,
Breaking from the ageless Christmas tradition called "sending-a-family-letter-telling-everyone-how-wonderful-your-kids-are", this year I thought I'd ask my children a number of questions and thus let them write the family Christmas letter.
Emmeline Joel
How old are you now? six and a half
What is your favorite food? um, grapefruit
Favorite song? I am a Child of God
Favorite thing to do? art
What is one thing you learned in Primary this year? I can't think of something. I love singing time and we learned the sign language of I am a Child of God.
What is one thing you learned in school this year? I'm learning how to read and write pretty and count.
Goal for 2009: Learn how to spell things without asking anybody.
Dime Joshua
How old are you? four and a half
What is your favorite food? chocolate and pizza
Favorite song? When Jesus Christ was Baptized
Favorite thing to do? ride my bike and play on the swingset and ride my bike
What is one thing you learned in Primary this year? When Jesus Christ was Baptized
What is one thing you learned at school this year? learning how to make turkeys and playing with Avery
Goal for 2009: learn how to write big A's
Benjamin Vosco
How old are you? four (He is actually 2 1/2.)
What is your favorite food? pizza, doughnuts, uh, I like Sammy's toys!
Favorite song? my wonderful year song (It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year), Spongebob
Favorite thing to do? playing cars, music, and playing in dad's car
What is one thing you learned in Primary this year? water and crackers, and I play with cars, and I play with Clark
Are you excited to go to school? yeah...I want to go to Emmeline's school and Joshua's school
Benjamin is looking forward to becoming acquainted with the potty in 2009!
Samantha Raye
Sam is nine months old, and I can't believe it. Her favorite food is anything that she can pick up and eat by herself--including paper, fuzz, bits of play-doh, and table scraps. I'm pretty sure she doesn't yet have a favorite song, though she loves to dance and jump and clap. She goes along pretty willingly with whatever the other kids want to do...or do to her. She has now entered the performance phase of babyhood, and we are constantly asking her show off her skills and tricks--waving, pointing, saying no, crawling like a monkey, and babbling in a conspiratorial whisper. If I were to ask her the questions that I just asked the others, she would simply look at me and smile. She is always, always smiling.
Luke
Although I'm pretty sure I married a Peter Pan (sans tights), Luke grudgingly acknowledged his 32nd birthday this year. Luke is Luke, and you all know what that means--he wants to know everything about you, but won't share anything about himself. I'm not sure what he does with his days, I'm not sure if he even knows what he does, and I've learned not to ask questions. I do know that he enjoys teaching seminary, going to Tae Kwon Do, engaging in political debates with the neighbors, taking swing dance lessons with me, aimlessly texting his brothers, and riding the metro bus to...wherever it is that he goes every day. His goals for 2009 include finally deciding what he wants to be when he grows up.
Kirstin
Finally me--my life in two words, evidenced by cold dinners, breakfasts in the car, baseball caps to hide my unwashed hair, longing gazes at my scrapbooking supplies, a perfected potty-dance, and the exactly three paragraphs I get to read each night before exhaustion wins. As much as I complain, I really wouldn't trade this time in my life for anything (except maybe a Caribbean Cruise...). I am never lacking for entertainment, giggles, and thrills, and I haven't had a minute of boredom in at least five years! Aside from being a wife and mother, I am enjoying teaching the music in Primary, and, like Luke, have loved taking dancing lessons. I have lots of goals for 2009, including eliminating the phrase "I'm so tired!" from my vocabulary. But what I look forward to most next year is Samantha becoming a toddler, Benjamin being Benjamin, Joshua's entrance into the world of Little League, Emmeline continuing to have her eyes opened to the world of books, and Luke getting a real job.
And that's us! We are happy, healthy, and loving life. To all our friends and family, we love you so much and appreciate the dimension that you each bring to our lives. We also express our love and gratitude to our Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birth and life we celebrate not only during this Christmas season, but always. May you all have a very, merry Christmas!
