The year without a Christmas letter

Cleaning up the files on my computer I came across my CHRISTMAS LETTER!!!!
I never mailed it. This seems to be something I (used to) do sometimes...Start things and don't complete them before it's too late...I was fully planning on sending it out at the first of the year but Jay, Danielle and Faith stayed later and I got sidetracked. Then it was already Kai's birthday and I was thinking about Disneyland. I feel like I blinked once and its mid MAY! Well, thanks to blogging, here it is.

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2006

I read a wonderful story at the beginning of this Christmas season…the author spoke of how Christmas comes at different times every year, as we ‘hustle and bustle’ our ways around December…sometimes the true spirit of Christmas never actual ‘comes’. Later that week as I was putting the final decorations on our Christmas tree, Christmas ‘came’ for me.

For those of you who know me really well, you know that I love Christmas ornaments. They are like a journal to me, marking every year and every stage of my life during Christmastime. I have my favorites (1990 sled made of Popsicle sticks that my little brother Kevin made for me, silver bells that I received from my Great Grandmother from 1972 until a few years before she died and then the ones I bought for myself, as a remembrance of her…the blue plastic nativity scene ornament from my mom’s tree, she gave it to me when I left home. I used to lie under the tree as a child and spend hours looking at the blue plastic Holy Family and make sure there was a blue “star” (blue Christmas tree light) hanging over the top of this 25 cent ornament. It is one of my favorites – and holds a place of honor along side ornaments collected from all of the years of my life. Unpacking these ornaments is a journey I take every Christmas, remembering as I go... this year Christmas came as I was unpacking these ornaments. I came across my ceramic Bible with the Lord’s Prayer written on it. It was the one possession of my Grandmas that I wanted after she died. As I carefully unwrapped it I remembered so many of the special things that I loved about her and how every time I visited her I was drawn to her dresser and this ivory ceramic Bible. It was the beginning of a wonderful Christmas season, filled with family, fun, wind storms (?!?), memories, traditions – new and old…a fitting end to a year that was one of our families’ hardest but one that we are most thankful for!

We have loved reading all of the family letters that we have received so much that we were inspired to write one ourselves…

January we went on our annual trip to Disneyland. Instead of exchanging gifts with my parents, each year all of us travel to Disneyland. This year my Grandpa and his wife “Grandma Barb” came with us. Despite the threat of Kai’s seizures, we had the best time ever! It is good to live life as normal as possible, even in the midst of scary circumstances, we are thankful we did because Kai did not have any seizures while we were there.

Kai is doing amazingly well. We were able to take him off of the ‘big scary red pills’ that made him fell ‘crummy’ after two trips to a seizure specialist in Idaho (Naturopath).
He loves 2nd grade and is playing Basketball this year. (Last year it was Hockey). His favorite sport is Baseball (signups are tomorrow). He loves science, math, reading and recess. His favorite ride is California Screamin’. The scary times we had last year did nothing to damage him academically or emotionally. We are thankful.

Maya is 4 ½ and loving every minute of preschool. She is learning to be a good team mate and how to feel good about herself. She is the ultimate princess, loving all things Princess, at the same time, the one thing she asked Santa for was a skateboard and she brought dirt for sharing because they were studying the letter “D” and dirt begins with “D”. (?!?) She is all about her Daddy and her big brother…actually, she is all about everything fun (really!) I wish I could be as fun as she is!

Alex and I are moving into our tenth year of marriage (I REMEMBERED!) And Alex will be 4-0 this year in April! I am going to keep it brief here so as not to gag you with over the top praises for him…as you know, I am the President of his fan club. He puts up with me so you can only imagine how much of a saint he is! He is (still) leading a Financial Bible Study at our church

Bobodzhanov, Inc. turned ten this year. We have a wonderful group of employees. Alex and I are still having fun working together and I am officially on the payroll this year…
(I could go on forever about this!)

In June we had our niece Sarah stay with us for three weeks…In July we went to Idaho for the Perry Family Reunion…August, we visited my brother Jay in Maui for a couple weeks…and then this Christmas we celebrated at my mom’s with all of my family, our family of 4, my mom and dad, my brother Brian with his wife and baby on the way, my brother Jay and his girlfriend, my brother Kevin and his wife Sherry.

Looking back on 2006, it has been all about family...a family that began this year together and ended this year together…old traditions that began long before a little girl who was 6 years old was reading the Lord’s Prayer on her Grandma's dresser and new traditions, built together with her own family.