Merry Christmas 2010

December 2010

Dear Family, Friends, Neighbors, Acquaintances, Colleagues, and Casual Observers who picked up this letter—

We are always grateful for the spirit of this season when people tend to turn their attention to the things that matter most—family, faith and friends. Since you are now officially on our holiday mailing list and there doesn’t appear to be any way to opt out or remove yourself from this list, you now have the (mis)fortune of receiving one of these letters each year for approximately the next 67 years. (I’m planning on writing until I’m 100, but then reserve the right to take a year or two off). In an effort to streamline this process and make it easier for all involved, next year I’m just going to create the perfect fill-in-the-blank letter and then each year a simple “find and replace” in Microsoft Word will solve all of my problems. 

After several years as a road warrior with the management consulting firm, Accenture, working on growth strategy and innovation projects, this year I accepted a new position in Market and Competitive Intelligence in Charlotte with Bank of America. We’re excited about the new opportunity even though it entails a move from Indiana to North Carolina. I think the kids are most excited though about the fact that I’ll now be home for bedtime and ball games (instead of just dialing in or trying to connect via webcam). Megan also noted the lifestyle change when she remarked, “We have to increase our food budget since now you actually eat here.”

Speaking of Megan, she spent nine months of the year with a ‘serious’ medical condition called being-pregnant-with-the-fourth-while-still-trying-to-raise-the-other-three. While this condition was happily resolved when we welcomed our beautiful Avery into the family, doctors observed that it has spawned a new condition: lack-of-time-to-spend-papercrafting-with-Stampin’ Up-itis. Fortunately, she’s doing all she can with card parties and crafting get-togethers to address this second issue.

Alison has evolved into a full-blown basketball aficionado. She cleverly repurposed book fair money we sent with her to school to acquire Kobe Bryant and LeBron James posters “so that my room explains me.” She has already attended a couple of Pacers games this year and is playing in the 3rd/4th grade girls basketball league. She has also acquired close to 1,000 basketball cards and is now familiar with basketball legends dating back to Wilt Chamberlain and has become quite proficient at trading them. She also enjoys taking on the third grade boys in her class at basketball during recess.

Kaitlyn, our self-described “fashionista,” is loving kindergarten and riding the bus to school with her older sister. Almost daily she informs me that, “I’m a great person and I have a great personality” or that she’s wearing a certain outfit so that she can be a “diva.” My iPhone is now bogged down with half a dozen Barbie dress-up apps which she tries to play daily. When she’s exhausted her phone time for the day, she loves dancing around the house performing Taylor Swift songs for an imaginary audience of thousands. Not only does Kaitlyn have a “great personality”, but she is also an outstanding reader. All she wants for Christmas is for Taylor Swift to come visit her personally. (Anyone have any connections?)

Max has taught us how boys are innately different than girls—he cries much less and punches, tackles, and wrestles significantly more. One of his new favorite pastimes is studying different types of trucks. He is able to successfully identify excavators, backhoes, cranes, mixers, loaders, and tractors. Additionally, he is developing quite an extensive Matchbox car collection thanks to his older sisters’ lack of knowledge on what else boys like. He is a great big brother to his new little sister and tries to “save” her all the time (even though we’re still not quite sure what that exactly means).

As mentioned above, Avery (but we call her Ava for short), was born and is doing wonderfully. She’s been a joy for all of us and has an infectious and enthusiastic smile which she is just starting to show off. We feel privileged and blessed to have such wonderful friends and family as you. We wish you a very Happy Holidays and a wonderful 2011.