Belated Christmas Post

We belatedly wish everyone (i.e. the two of you that may still read this blog) the very best of the Holidays and the new year to come. I think everyone we know got a copy of the holiday letter we sent out, but we did it in quite a disjointed fashion this year, so in case we missed someone, here it is in full.

Christmas 2008

Well, with presents now piled under the tree, a Winter snowstorm barreling in on us, and the kids near waking from their “long” (yeah right) winter’s (Christmas Eve) nap, it’s about time to send out Christmas Cards, wouldn’t you say? OK, OK, but it isn’t dawn yet, and if you are on Moon time (my wife’s family’s own special clock, which governs our lives a little more each year) there is still plenty of time left for the annual Christmas Report, brief though it will have to be.

We are just wrapping up (pun intended) perhaps the best year of our married-with-children lives. We have all been healthy, with almost all of our extended family very near. We live in a great, freshly redecorated house, with a great yard, good neighbors, and many long-time friends close by that we wish we could see more often than we do. A wet spring led to a pleasant summer filled with wildflowers, followed by a long, beautiful, Indian Summer of a fall. Snow dumped deeply just in time for Christmas. All in all, it would be pretty hard to complain.

Keegan, now 2, 5th percentile weight (little belly notwithstanding) and 15th percentile height, is a nascent Napoleon Complex barely contained. He will poke, prod, pull, grab and do anything else necessary to get attention, particularly if his brother is involved. To him, the word “no” simply means, “let’s see how far I can push this,” and being chased, as in running away from anyone who doesn’t want him to run, is his very favorite sport. He is the type of kid who will, without any warning, jump down from the dinner table, block of parmesan cheese in hand, and in a blinding flash of speed, run to the toilet, throwing it in and flushing repeatedly, all before his mother can stop him. We are hoping that the Christmas Eve, Parmesan-to-Potty race does not become an annual event. His full grin, enthusiastic hugs, constant, infectious laugh, and of course those big eyes, regularly save him from a fate worse than death.

Alden, 4 years old, is all boyish innocence. Unless you are trying to get him to eat something not containing major sugar, or asking him to stop watching movies, he is the most pleasant, sweet, patient child anyone could want. Give him an Obi-Wan Kenobi Force Action light-saber, any Star Wars movie, and a chocolate donut, and he is in heaven. Simple needs for a simple guy, who seems to wonder why anyone in the world would want more than that. When he says “I love you,” which is almost every night, you know he means it, and is one of the great joys in his dad’s life.

Kate, 8 going on 16, had a big year. She had speaking/singing parts in two plays, “Taming of the Shrew” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat,” started playing soccer with her team, and tested into a new Spectrum School where she is a little more challenged and loves it. She was also baptized into our church this year. She has told us in no uncertain terms that she “is basically a teenager” already, and can be found on most nights awake far past any reasonable bed-time, reading voraciously. Her Dad tried to tell her that you only grow when you sleep, and that if she didn’t get to bed earlier, particularly on school nights, she would be short for the rest of her life. (And believe me, this is something he knows first hand.) Her response: “Dad, I can sleep when I’m 17.” That “I-can-sleep-later” attitude is just part of what makes her one of the greatest girls on the planet.

Kathleen works part time from home for Hoover Investment Management, her old San Francisco employer, and continues to love it, trillion-dollars-gone-in-a-poof market notwithstanding. She started running this year, and did a 5k race on Thanksgiving Day, just before hosting 33 members of her family (four and a half short of the whole darn thing) for Thanksgiving. She continues to pack everything possible into every minute, and stands firm in her belief that 5 minutes is plenty of transition time no matter how far away the next event is.

Brett has found the love of his professional life at Flying J. Recent events (Flying J Bankruptcy) have sobered with uncertainty what otherwise would be complete giddiness at having found work he likes so much. But optimism prevails, and he looks forward to a long career there once the reorganization is complete.

We hope your Christmas was memorable and filled with happiness, and wish each of you the very best in the New Year.

Love


The Baileys