Merry November!
That’s right, I said November. How exactly am I so impressively on-the-ball with writing a Christmas letter this year? I’m sorry to say it’s not due to my own self-discipline. Left to my own devices, I’d be more likely to write a Christmas letter in the middle of December rather than November. I may be a generally organized person, but I’m an organized procrastinator.
No, the reason this letter is being composed so early this year is because I am a member of a little writing group, and our little writing group does little weekly writing challenges, and on this fine week in mid-November, the little weekly writing challenge was to write our family Christmas letter, for which I say “thank you!” to my sister Emily, who assigns us our challenge each week.
Being part of a writing group has been one of the great joys of this past year for me. The advice every writer hears is to “write, write, write!” and this has been a tremendously fun way to follow that advice. I’ve had a number of conversations with other writers who crave something similar, and it’s my hope that our little writing group may begin to expand to be a not-so-little writing group eventually.
It’s also my hope that I’ll begin to write more, period, in the not-too-distant future, but with a two year old still at home, that may not be the too-near future either. (Said two year old is currently jabbering at me about a “picture” he just drew. It seems very important. This is how writing usually happens in my house — with a child a couple feet away from me, demanding my attention.)
Will (the two year old) is as cute as a button and as mischievous as can be. He’s the kid who quietly gets into the markers and draws all over himself and sometimes the walls. He breaks things, he throws things, he gets into the puzzle drawer and dumps out every single puzzle piece, he has sudden tantrums for no apparent reason. He also isn’t speaking clearly yet so it’s impossible to have anything resembling a conversation with him about all of these misdemeanors. He’d run the risk of making me crazy, but I’ve always said that God made toddlers naughty enough to keep us from worshipping them and cute enough to keep us from wanting to throttle them. Will is every bit as cute as he is naughty, and I’m thankful for him every day.
Foss is five, and he frequently gives Will astonished looks as though he himself was never an irrational two year old. They are still working out the kinks of their friendship, but it’s growing. Foss goes to preschool three days a week, he is a serious people-person (he strikes up conversations with strangers at stores and restaurants), and he can sing nearly every word to Smashmouth’s All-Star and Walk the Moon’s Shut Up and Dance.
Cooper is ten, and would probably rather not be the subject of a full paragraph in a Christmas letter that hundreds of eyes will read. (Sorry, Coop.) He is one of the most driven kids in the world, committed to figuring something out once he sets out to try it. He has a love of magic (especially card tricks and sleight of hand) and drawing, and he watches YouTube tutorials daily to perfect both those crafts. He still loves flag football and is currently on a team with his cousin and his older brother Kiefer.
Kiefer! He’s thirteen, which is impossible. He’s taller than many of the adults we know and smarter than most anyone I know. His brain is like an encyclopedia, but his grades are all over the map. He’s very much in his head but also has a huge heart, he’s quiet but social, respectful but a total slob, seemingly awkward but actually incredibly self-assured. He’s my favorite kind of enigma. ###
Elisa
2017 has been quite a mile marker year for the Johnson’s. The biggest one being that I am actually writing a Christmas letter, finally! I have to give the credit to my friend Emily for assigning it, and 32 other great writing assignments, this year to us Letter Belles. She had the awesome idea to start Ready Set Prose (http://readysetprose.com) and it has been awesome to have an assignment to get me writing creatively every week, no matter what else is going on!
There’s been plenty going on, but we’re definitely easing into a new season in life this year. It occurred to me this fall that we’ve never been here before. We’ve never had a 2 year old without a younger brother in arms or belly! I have heard myself coining many things we got to do this year as “The Dawn of a New Era.” For instance:
This summer I got to join Chris in Italy after a couple conferences he attended. My parents graciously watched all four boys and we got to enjoy a second honeymoon! I felt instantly 15 years younger.
Family Camp! We got to return to Riverside Lutheran Bible Camp in Story City, Iowa, where I was a counselor in 2000-2001 and Chris and I worked together in 2005. It was incredible to get to share it with our kids! And we camped at Ledges State Park for a couple nights before hand!
We went camping at Copper Falls, up near Ashland, WI for Lewis’ 9th birthday at the end of September! To understand the magnitude of this you’d have to have some window into just how sick we have all been each September the past few years. I have been dreaming of being a camping family for years and we are finally there!
Wesley has some favorite things that he wants me to include: Slip-n-slide, picking strawberries, biking the driveway, playing in the sand box and on the bouncy tree, hiking in the woods, Children’s museum, marble mazes, working in the garden, going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house!
~time is up, but I’m thinking I’ll give each of the kids a chance to add their highlights. They are:
Lewis, 9 years old, 3rd grade
Stewart, 7 years old, 2nd grade
Wesley, 4 years old, preschool
Twill, 2 years old, wants to be in preschool
And I’m sure that the biggest highlight for the older boys is that our cat had kittens this summer!
Cedar
Andersson Kiefer. Age: four on Dec 28. Andersson loves jigsaw puzzles. I know this, because he’s in a wonderful preschool at a Lutheran church where they play and paint and sing two mornings a week, and his teacher told me after the second day that Andersson sits on the floor and does puzzle after puzzle. So I went to the dollar store and bought a bunch of superhero puzzles (we’re talking 50-100 pieces), and then after watching Andersson do them, I went back to the dollar store, and bought a whole bunch more. Our nighttime routine now almost always includes puzzles. I read, and the kids sit at the newly designated puzzle table.
Added after timer: [Andersson’s true love, however, is legos. He’s got tons of lego people and spends tons of time rearranging their heads and shirts and pants. Okay also, he truly loves superheroes. When we go to the library he somehow immediately hones in on all the superhero books, like he has spidey senses or something. And he’ll stand outside his big sister’s school drop-off and announce all of the superheroes he sees on kids’ shirts and backpacks (which is a lot). He also loves to laugh … he laughs so hard at all the right places during movies, that when he’s not around, movies aren’t as fun.]
Ginny Charlotte. Age: six on Nov 17. This summer Ginny got baptized in a lake at the camp where Anders went to family camp every year as a kid. In fact, Anders’ parents and his sister’s family still go to that camp every year, and our tradition is to spend a day at camp with them. This year, my parents were visiting us the week of family camp, so we realized that everything had aligned perfectly for my dad to baptize Ginny at camp, with all of Anders’ family celebrating with us. It was poetic. And sweet, and wonderful. Dad stood on the beach with Ginny and asked her why she wanted to be baptized, and she replied: “Because I’m a Christian and believe in Jesus!”
The other major event in Ginny’s life is kindergarten. Ginny keeps accidentally calling me by her kindergarten teacher’s name, and the other day she told me this was because she spends SO MUCH TIME with her kindergarten teacher, and I was like, “I KNOW!” It’s full-day kindergarten and in my strong opinion school is way too many hours … but Ginny is happy there, she made friends quickly, and I’ve had all good vibes from the teachers the staff. The walk from our house is about four minutes, and there’s a group of other moms and kids walking each day, so we form a boisterous little parade to and fro, and that’s fun.
Added after timer: [Ginny likes to draw. And draw, and draw, and draw. We leave out markers and stacks of paper on the dining room table all the time, and Ginny fills up all the extra minutes of the day with drawing. She makes deft, decisive strokes with the markers, telling stories with her pictures.]
Anders. Anders completed a coffee table and side table for our living room this year. He fell in love with this giant slab of wood he saw at a lumber store, which was just a cross section of a tree, wider at one end than the other, and a solid four inches thick. He bought it and worked on it in his free time, which he doesn’t have much of. He’s a partner at his law firm and staying busy, mostly with environmental law. He also comes home from work and cooks gourmet meals. He researches recipes and then alters them how he wants. His food is amazing. A friend of mine told me she thought Anders was a professional chef, because his facebook feed is mostly pictures of beautiful food that he has made. He even carefully garnishes the plates.
Emily. (Me!) It occurred to me recently that being a stay-at-home mom is beginning to teach me things like how much daily house cleaning I really must do, instead of saving up all the mess for one big cleaning day like I used to. This is an important lesson for me and one that I’m glad is happening gradually,
timer
without me really paying attention, because I would have resisted learning such a thing intentionally. Besides getting my kids fed and dressed every day, my favorite hobby is amigurumi, which is a Japanese word for stuffed animals made out of yarn (in my case, crochet). One of the highlights of my week is completing weekly writing challenges with my awesome writing group. I also watched the Great British Baking Show on Netflix, and loved it so much that I started a baking club, where we pick a theme each month and then bring what we’ve baked to our meetings and taste everything.
Emily H
Dear friends and family,
This year has been full to say the least. We are grateful for God’s abundant grace that continues to prove faithful year after year, month after month, moment by moment.
I finished homeschooling with Clara at the end of May. It was a trying year for both of us, but I’m SO GRATEFUL for the time that we got together. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we weren’t given the curriculum until October, which meant that Clara wasn’t projected to finish until August. It certainly wouldn’t be any fun to be doing school work all summer while her friends were out romping through the forest and swimming in the lake. While Clara is a bright girl, putting pencil to paper is a daunting task. So we bribed – er, uh, “encouraged” her with the incentive of a guinea pig (she’s an animal LOVER) if she could finish her work by June 1. She worked through the evenings, weekends, even some holidays and finished two days before her goal date. She not only received her prize guinea pig, Oreo, but was also awarded with a “Diligence Award” from the principal of the charter school (where she was enrolled, but did the work at home). We were (are) so proud of how hard she worked. She’s now back in the classroom, and while she still struggles academically, she has an AMAZING teacher that loves her and is for her.
Everett loved kindergarten, and is now thriving in first grade. He loves school (especially math). He is the extravert of the family, always wanting to be with people; if he’s not talking, he’s singing, or making exploding (weaponry, and/or bodily) noises. This summer, he was able to be a part of the Meadow Ranch (junior high) camp skits. He really loves being on stage, so it was quite a treat for him to perform in that way. He also enjoyed being a part of the community soccer league, and will be in a Christmas musical this December. Everett loves to write songs and seems to have a deep desire to know the Lord Jesus more.
Our nephew Luke moved in with us last year to attend Hume Lake Charter School. While it was only intended to be a year-long adventure, he enjoyed it so much that he stayed through the summer, working for the camp as a sound tech, and is now finishing his senior year at HLCC. Luke enjoys playing and making music. He helps lead worship for the high school youth group. It is still delightfully surreal for me to have “Lukey” in our home on a daily basis. I love the moments that we have just sitting and chatting about life. Every once and a while he’ll make an expression that reminds me of him as a little boy – it’s all very dreamy. We love the light that Luke brings with him, and the ways that he encourages his friends around him. It’s also fun to have teenagers in our house at any given moment. While Luke doesn’t have any set plans for the future, he is considering attending Boise College next fall, back in Kentucky where he’ll be closer to his immediate family.
Lucas and I continue to enjoy life at Hume. Small town living has become a part of who we are. Lucas still enjoys his job in the IT world, and I’m enjoying moming, and a couple other odd jobs on the side.
God’s grace overflows in our life, and we pray spills out on to all we meet.
May grace and peace be yours in Christ Jesus!
Emily M.
The challenge: Write…your family Christmas letter!
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