I always post our Christmas letter on the blog to archive it. So here it is:
Like many of you, we enjoyed watching the summer Olympics as
a family earlier this year. We cheered
for our favorite athletes, felt pride in the American medal count, watched the
drama unfold in the gymnastics arena, and determined that all the dives look
exactly the same, regardless of what the judges and commentators say. In keeping with the Olympic spirit, here are
the Olympic sports our family would have competed in throughout this past year…if
things like laundry and reading were, in fact, Olympic sports.
Zach: Zach
participated for the second year in a row in
working-from-home-without-going-crazy.
Still working for State Farm, Zach had to find alternate training
strategies for things like maintaining social skills when your days are spent
alone in the basement and accomplishing company goals when your on-site
co-workers are cats. He also would have
medaled in coordinating the St. Jude Run in the midst of a pandemic, running
lots of miles at insanely early hours, catching and “relocating” neighborhood
raccoons, and maintaining eternal optimism during yet another disappointing
Bear’s season.
Ellen: My year was
spent primarily focusing on the never-ending endurance event of keeping track
of everyone’s schedules and activities while making sure the house is
clean-(ish), ensuring there is (mostly adequate) food to eat, and seeing that
the (endless mountain of) laundry is at least washed. (Folded and put away is an entirely different
category of competition that my rigorous training schedule just doesn’t always have
time for.) Working my 2 days a week at
the Children’s Hospital, volunteering at the kids’ schools, running, refereeing
sibling arguments, and planning vacations were also events I dabbled in.
Staley: As an almost
11 year old, Staley ventured into a novel sport of middle-school-student this
year. Her eye rolling skills are
on-point, but she also was introduced to events like not forgetting your flute
at home, catching the bus, and remembering your locker combination. Staley continues to pour most of her free
time and effort into singing, dancing, and acting…with a few scattered sports
seasons, piano lessons, and library volunteering hours in the mix. Her gold medal effort is definitely reading
as many books as humanly possible.
Adelie: At 8, Adelie
continues to compete hard at keeping up with Staley. Although Adelie also enjoys singing, dancing,
acting, piano playing, and reading, she ventures into her own territory when it
comes to tumbling and flexibility. Her
ability to spend inordinate amounts of time hanging upside down and touching
her feet to her head is unparalleled.
Adelie is also a gold medal creativity winner when it comes to making
just about anything out of paper and tape.
Briggs: Six year old
Briggs likes to keep his options open when it comes to his pseudo-Olympic endeavors. Throughout this year, he has tried out soccer
and basketball and running and acting.
He likes bike riding and reading and drawing and building and
dinosaurs. His most consistent interest
remains a love of trains and vehicles and anything that goes. A decathlete, perhaps?
As a family this year we participated together in road
tripping (to Tennessee, South Dakota, and Michigan with a number of
day/week-end trips to Chicago and St. Louis), hiking in National Parks, playing
family games, eating lots of ice cream, running (including a first 5K for both
girls), and complaining about household chores.
We did have to say a sad good-bye to our beloved almost 20 year old cat,
Jake. He was the all-time record holder
in napping, snuggling, and sitting in boxes.
Elwood continues to carry the torch for his brother and geriatric cats
worldwide.
Wishing you and yours a gold medal Christmas and a record-breaking 2022!
