The Christmas Letter

I put these cute bells on the card I made.

Seems like I’m posting a little later every day…sorry, the holidays are such a busy time. Yesterday I finally got my Christmas cards finished and ready to mail. I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas card letters, you know the ones, where they just brag about how great their kids are and all the amazing things they have done. It just always makes me feel so inadequate.

When I was little, I remember my mom getting letters from one of her cousins. This cousin had a daughter the same age as me and a daughter the same age as my oldest sister. My mom would read the letter and comment that NOBODY could have kids that perfect! I still sometimes get letters from this great-aunt and they still include her girls and their activities. I try to be more patient than my mom was…

So that said, I want to share my Christmas letter with you (since you know all about my life anyway). I have changed all the names to blog names just to keep it easy for you. Let me know what you think! Do you send out Christmas letters? Here’s mine…

December 2011

I’m having a hard time getting my brain around the idea of condensing my entire life into one page. We have had an exciting, eventful year here our house! And before I get any further, you can read over 300 posts on our blog that will fill you in on pretty much every detail. www.twelvemakesadozen.blogspot.com
I told my sweetie I was just going to send you the link and nothing else, but he sweetly reminded me that NOT everyone likes to blog…really?! You would never be able to convince the Dog Walker of that!

I thought it would be fun to tell you JUST one thing for each of our kids that seemed amazing to me this year. Remember, this is the world according to Sandy, and not necessarily the thing they might choose if I bothered to ask them.

Bossy: Got her first REAL job working for DCFS. (Gamer got a good job working for a paint store. The boys are all growing and doing well.)

Gym Rat: Got a great job working in a bank, switched schools again and will be attending Western Governors’ University to complete his finance degree starting in February.

Drama Queen: Finished her student teaching at a local jr. high with classes in both English and Theater…will graduate with her BS the end of December.

Teach: Finished her student teaching at a local elementary school but decided to attend Spring semester since she had a scholarship…will graduate with her BS in April.

Dog Walker: Finished all the Merit Badges, had a huge amazing Court of Honor and several interviews for TV and news…featured in the Mormon Times (Deseret News), FOX news and KSL, but the story was picked up nationally and he showed up on CNN and other major networks all over the country, some even internationally like the Autism Speaks website. (Just Google “132 merit badges” and see what you get!) ***I’m having a really hard time keeping some of these to one sentence.***

Princess: After an amazing solo in Swan Lake, she was chosen to play the part of Carabosse (Maleficent) in the production of Sleeping Beauty, can’t wait to see her perform in March.

Prima Donna: Finally earned her pointe shoes and became a SoJo Star as a state finalist for her Reflections theme!

Crafty: Top in Girl Scout cookie sales in our troop with over 1000 boxes sold (with a little help from her sisters), and she also earned her Girl Scout Bronze Award.

Sport: After turning 8 and getting baptized, played his first year of Little League football and he and his team won the State Championship. (The trophy is about 2 feet tall!)

Scout: Won five of the eight Reflections categories at her school even though she is only in kindergarten.

Curly: Made a pinewood derby car that took 3rd place in the Open Class Division…so excited to wear his customized 3rd place denim hat!

Baby Doll: So many things in one year…sit up, eat from a spoon, grew eight teeth, roll over, crawl, talk, and walk…she can also sing and dance…yeah, we think she is amazing too.

Sweetie: Hung his 8th patent plaque on the wall, has become incredibly popular as the new Cubmaster, and works all the time. 

Sandy: Created a moderately successful blog that averages about 400 readers/day, started selling Tupperware again, and tried to tame the chaos we call home.

Merry Christmas everyone!