Merry Christmas

Traditionally, I write a blog post that includes an edited version of our family Christmas letter each year.  Here is this year's. (For privacy sake, I only shared the first letter of my kids' names.) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our friends and family!

The picture above is from our visit to see my parents in Virginia. My dad has had trouble with dementia for the past couple years. 2014 has been an especially confusing year for him. One benefit, though, was that during our visit he couldn’t remember any trouble the kids had gotten into in the past. We had a fun time with him.

Our kids are blessed to have dedicated grandparents. Eric’s mom lives near us in Utah and also stays involved with the kids.

Eric still works as full-time editor for a group of private schools. He has now been the bishop of our little congregation for five years. This is a crazy time of year for him as he tries to help those in need. The kids enjoy helping him make visits.

Becky had another book come out in August, but an even greater triumph is that she got Eric to take ballroom dance lessons with her.

E, our oldest, graduated as the valedictorian from her high school. She is currently studying math and health education at Utah State University.

L is a senior this year, so he’ll be flying the coop next. He got his first job this year working at a nearby Boy Scout camp. He still enjoys Tae Kwon Do.

B1 is in 9^th grade and has learned to play saxophone as well as piano. This summer, he finished his Eagle project, which involved cleaning up gang graffiti.

B2 is in 7th grade. He and his younger brother had fun being on the same water polo team this year. He enjoyed playing goalie and blocking lots of goals.

N started playing the piano last Spring. He also started cub scouts this year, which has been fun because I'm the wolf den leader.

Our youngest is in his final year of preschool. He is learning his ABCs. He also learned to swim this summer.

We love the words of the Christmas carol: “God rest ye merry, gentlemen,
let nothing you dismay.  Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day . . . ”