Friday, January 3, 2014

Christmas Card 2013

Happy 2014!  
For the first time ever I sent out a Christmas card this year.  It was fun and satisfying.  And a lot of work!  I learned some good lessons.  Hopefully, I'll be a little more efficient next year.  Inasmuch as it was my first year, I made a few mistakes.  One of them was that I did not order enough cards (I thought 100 would be plenty, but when Nate revealed his desire to send cards to several of his clients, I knew we'd be short.  Plus, cousins!  We have a lot of them.)  Anyway, I wanted to post our letter here because there are some very dear ones who we were not able to send cards to for the simple fact that we ran out.  

Here it is:

Nate
Loves: our new fireplace – Lily recently asked, “Dad, who do you love more, me or the fireplace?”  He had to think about it for a minute. 
Fears: that the lawn will be overtaken by gophers
Wishes: he could catch one
Would rather not: spend every evening catching up on work e.mail
Is the luckiest because: “my whole life exists in a quaint 5 mile radius”

Emily
Loves: the peach trees in the backyard, rocking Caroline to sleep, hearing Lily sing, mowing the lawn with Henry, eating Thai food with Nate
Fears: the rapidity with which life is passing by
Wishes: for 100 summer evenings in the backyard with Nate and the kids
Would rather not: have achy knees and bags under my eyes   
Is the luckiest because: “my heart feels so at home in this season of my life”

Henry (8, Third Grade)
Loves: pizza, reading, school, football, basketball, rootbeer and Caroline
Fears: spiders
Wishes: for a Playmobil Western Fort for Christmas
Would rather not: have homework
Is the luckiest because: “we have a big backyard and a fun trampoline”

Lily (5, Kindergarten)
Loves: baking, playing princesses, coloring, playing Temple Run II on whosever cell phone she can sneak off with
Fears: the dark, monsters, dragons, that her mom might make her take a nap
Wishes: for an American Girl Doll, high heels, her mom were more sparkly and fancy
Would rather not: clean up
Is the luckiest because: “Sometimes I get to be the special helper at school.”

Caroline (6 months)
Loves: crawling, eating, smiling, and splashing in the tub
Fears: that someone might actually take a bite out of her irresistible cheeks
Wishes: she could eat bananas for every meal
Would rather not: sleep through the night
Is the luckiest because: we all adore her so mightily

Happy 2014, dear ones!

Nate, Em, Henry, Lily & Caroline

And here's an obnoxious amount of family photos.  Halley was so kind to come over and take pictures for us.  We thought it would be fun to take them after it snowed - kids were out of school, yard looked magical :) Fun.  Freezing.  Halley did a great job!  Here are some favorites...



 was so bummed that these pics in front of the barn turned out blurry...I love them. 













 poor Caroline, she was practically frost-bitten at this point.  Brrrrrrr!






6 comments:

  1. Your contentment is evident, it makes me so happy. I also fear the speed with which things are zooming by. Maybe it's these caboose babies that make us feel so. Happy New Year, friend!

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  2. You have an adorable family, captured so well in these pictures. Love them!

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  3. It's official! You are the most darling family in the world. Seriously, I can't get over how adorable all 5 of you are! You all look so happy to be together.

    Please tell me how you get Henry's hair to stay like that--do you have some magical product or styling tip? I've been experimenting with all kinds of things for my boys' hair lately and nothing seems to be quite right, and Henry's looks fabulous!

    On another note, I resonated so much with what you said about the perfection of this stage in life. I've spent far too much time lately cuddling my kiddos and then feeling my heart speed up with anxiety as I realize that they are all getting older and these kinds of days are numbered. How do we do this?!

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  4. Your christmas card was proudly displayed and so colorful! Thank you! Such a beautiful, good looking group of people!! Happy New Year!

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  5. Emily, I haven't commented on here for ages, but I have to say that your family is absolutely gorgeous, I love the cute stories you tell about each member of the family, and it's great that you are a thinker.

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