Family Christmas Letter Part I

I wrote the family Christmas letter again this year. It's a tad long (as is most of my writing), so I'm going to post it in parts.

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Merry Christmas from the Nichols and Anderson’s. I don’t know about you, but in order just to survive this past year, I’ve had to adopt the motto, “one day at a time.” I think my entire family can apply that motto to their lives, as well. Here’s a glimpse into our lives, one family member at a time.

Shannon and Jeff have learned to take it “one day at a time” while raising an energetic toddler. Case turned one in June, and he’s well on his way to being a very grown up little boy. They have found a wonderful Christian daycare for Case to attend, and his teachers, along with the help of Shan and Jeff, teach him sign language. He can say, “Please, thank you, ball, down, apple, help, airplane, more, food, drink, and dog,” all with sign language. He can also speak, “No, mine, up, uh-oh, oh-no, Dido, mommy, daddy, and help.” His favorites are NO and MINE, much to his parents’ dismay, and he’s adopted a very stubborn attitude. Wonder who he got that from?

Sometimes I don’t think Case likes me very much. If I touch him, he’ll shout out, “NO, NO, NO,” and he’ll start hitting himself where I touched him as if wiping off Aunt Dido’s germs. Sometimes he runs away screaming if I look at him, and I’ve figured out if you’re not mommy then he wants nothing to do with you. Occasionally he’ll go to Grandpa Doug and Uncle Collin, and he LOVES his cousins. Well, I guess I should make that singular and say Case LOVES his cousin. His cousin being Carson. Case could probably do without Kyler in the picture, but I think the same can be said for Kye. Those two younger boys haven’t quite figured out how to share with each other, but Carson loves to play with Case and those two get along very well.

Shannon and Jeff went on an Alaskan cruise in July, so Collin and Katie watched Case for the week. Mom called Collin one afternoon to find out how things were going with three little boys in the house. Mom could hear Case crying in the background. She asked what was going on, and Collin said Kye had locked Case in the bedroom and was pounding on the door with a plastic hammer. All three boys survived the week together. Rather, I should say, Collin and Katie survived the week with three little monsters. Shan and Jeff had not a concern in the world while they sailed across the ocean blue. Actually, they were on a ship going from Seattle to Alaska with two very dear friends. They saw a whale, a few bears, wild salmon and some bald eagles. They had a wonderful trip.

As if that wasn’t enough for one year, Shan surprised Jeff with a trip to Vegas in October. They took a helicopter ride over the city, which was the highlight of their trip, and Jeff even won some money playing poker (he wants to go pro now). They celebrated their three year anniversary in August, and I haven’t heard them have an argument yet. Shan is in her third year of teaching at Goddard Middle School (her 10th year teaching overall), and she’s looking into getting her Master’s degree during this upcoming year. Jeff is still at Digitech Systems. He’s been promoted a time or two, so he must be pretty good at his job. All I know is his phone buzzes a lot, and sometimes he’s very serious while working on his laptop.

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Watch for more to come tomorrow...