Christmas with the Joneses

Dear Family & Friends Too Numerous to Name(!),

Here we are again with our long-awaited family holiday newsletter! I know it's hard to believe it's been a year already since you've heard from us- you must be dying to know what's going on! Luckily, computers and holiday-edged paper have made communicating with many people at once SO easy! Without further ado, I present... The Past Year in the Life Of Our Family!

JANUARY

When the first snowfall finally came, we dressed up in our new matching family snowsuits for a photo with our view of the snow-covered pine trees on the mountain. Little Tyler looked so cute- we can't believe he's 4 already! It's hard to get him away from the Hooked on Phonics books he got for Christmas from Aunt Peggy!

FEBRUARY

For Valentines Day, Chloe was in charge of the family's homemade Valentine making factory- again! She's so clever- at age 9 her teacher said she's the best artist she's ever seen! Needless to say we're signing her up with a professional artist for an apprenticeship! It's so hard to find good gifted programs these days.

MARCH

Whew! It had been a tough year already so we took a family trip to Hawaii. It's hard to travel with 3 kids and our Snoopy- thank goodness the au pairs were there to haul all that luggage!! This month was soooo busy: the spring concert for Chloe (she played first chair flute- again!), Tyler's indoor soccer championships and running the St. Patrick's Day festival at church too! Busy, busy.

APRIL

Chad got a promotion at work! Who knew the world of software engineering could be so exciting and rewarding! Of course, we had the annual family Easter portrait taken - which the Easter Bunny already brought you! (If you missed it, you can check out the DVD compilation, enclosed, of our family pictures from throughout the year!)

MAY

In May I was in charge of the preschool fundraiser again! This year we sold pizza dough (time for something new!) and our school raised more than any other preschool in the tri-state area. Not to brag, of course! I'm just so happy we'll be able to purchase that new arsenic and lead-free playground equipment for the kids. I was tired from all that paperwork- so for my birthday Chad gave me a trip to the spa!

JUNE

For Father's Day we surprised Chad with handmade pottery with Chloe and Tyler's handprints on it! He was sooo excited!! The lady at the pottery shop said Chloe's artistic talent was amazing- which of course we already know! We were busy with all the neighborhood barbeques too.

JULY

Avery turned 14 in July. He's... doing much better.

AUGUST

Martha's Vineyard was awesome as always! We couldn't believe our cottage was so close to a certain Presidential family! We lucked out- thank goodness the Lieberman's canceled at the last minute because of Grayson's little unexpected summer schooling- and we got their rental. Snoopy ended up having some issues with tinkling on the Oriental rugs- but we know some other dog must have started it- so it wasn't his fault! (I swear, they should have taken the security deposit away from the other dog's owners!)

SEPTEMBER

Summer flew by- art lessons, soccer camp, and sleep-over nature camp made it a blur! Back to school crept up on us and we were buying backpacks before we knew it. SOMEBODY got themselves elected PTA Vice President too! I knew it would make for a busy time- but I'm so happy to be there for the children- if I'm going to be dropping them off and picking them up there every single day I might as well stay there! Besides, Mindy Harrington did a horrible job last year with the book fair.

OCTOBER

It's getting harder to think of matching family Halloween costumes for our subdivision's annual parade. Avery was... busy, so Chad, Chloe, Tyler and I dressed as the kids from High School Musical! It was soooo funny! We won 2nd prize for most original. (I don't see how the Dead Pavarotti costume was more original- plus it was totally inappropriate for children.)

NOVEMBER

Thanksgiving was wonderful as always. We had a tiny fire from the turkey deep fryer, but most of the damage was to the trampoline- I told Chad those deep fryers weren't safe! I mean, what do we have a double oven for if we are cooking a turkey outside? I think we'll ROAST it again next year, right Chad??

DECEMBER

I can't believe I can announce this in time for the family newsletter- hooray!-but we WON 2nd PLACE in the neighborhood holiday decorating contest!!! After last year's disappointing honorable mention, it was a relief to finally be (almost) the best! Of course the Andersons' last-minute life-size Santa and Reindeer on the rooftop caught us by surprise- but we'll be ready next year! (Sssh- we're already planning!)

Whew! I'm tired just remembering all of our activities, accomplishments and achievements! I have been thinking about getting one of those great online blogs- so I can keep you all up to date on how we're doing! They never give you enough room to write on those online photo collection things I send out every month.

By the way- hope you and your family are doing just great!

Merry Christmas everyone- oops, or Happy Holidays for our non-Christmas celebrating friends and/or family!!

Love,

The Joneses