Christmas Letter 2011

And coming in just under the wire,

My 2011 Christmas Letter!

Never too old for Santa! Kyle 17, Alek 14, Maddy 10

Jeffrey the Hamster--may he rest in peace and not be dug up by the dogs!

My first paycheck! Yes! I am PUBLISHED. A little

Here’s a summary of what didn’t happen this year

Pat:

*Didn’t get hit by a car all those days

 he rode his bike in the morning with his IPod blaring and no helmet.

I’m chalking that up to Constant, Relentless Prayer on my part

*Didn’t get a new job.

On the flip side, this means he wasn’t laid off or fired either!

Again, refer to that Relentless begging not to become a single parent

of two teenagers and a pre-hormonal girl child.

*Didn’t get to spend a lot of evening time with his wife

Because she stays up til three and he conks out at ten.

Lori:

*Didn’t get her book finished

but set up a new website (http://www.lafreeland.com/)

where you can read the first chapters of both of the books she’s working on.

*Didn’t stay unpublished

because she sold her first real devotional (for actual money) this year!

*Didn’t watch a lot of TV because

she’s editing for Christian Pulse and blogging for Crosswalk.

Kyle:

*Didn’t stay short.

He’s grown to six feet tall!

*Didn’t get a ticket as a teenage driver. Yet.

Although he did get pulled over after some nice lady

called OnStar and reported him “texting while driving.”

His “phone” was actually an IPod.

And the “texting” was him changing songs at a red light.

*Didn’t get to keep his job playing with rambunctious small people at Pump it Up Junior.

They closed their doors and gave away the key.

Luckily, Kyle had two jobs!

He still teaches swimming lessons to boisterous little kids!

Alek:

*Didn’t get a pet chinchilla or a mini-fridge for his room.

He did bury Chad the guinea pig in the pet cemetery that has become our backyard.

*Didn’t stay in Texas

We went to Wisconsin twice and Florida once.

*Didn’t keep playing tennis.

He’s taken up rock climbing instead.

Maddy:

*Didn’t get to do Girl Scouts this year because

she was too busy practicing piano, playing basketball,

rock climbing at the rec center,

taking swimming lessons, and singing in the church choir.

*Also didn’t get a pet chinchilla

but did bury Jeffrey the hamster in earlier mentioned pet cemetery.

*Didn’t get to have enough sleepovers this year

Because her mother is mean!

In Madison on State Street this October

Chloe the Pom that pees!

Emma the lab. Isn't she a lady with her legs crossed so nice?