Merry Christmas!This year we decided to simplify our lives a little bit and one way we decided to do that is to not send out Christmas cards, but we still wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and tell you a little about our year so here is our Christmas letter. Every year is busy but it seems that this year was busy and full of life changes.
We started our year living in Houston, Texas. Peter had taken a job there a few months before and we were just settling in. We really enjoyed our time in Texas, it was a little shorter than we had planned but we are so glad for the time we were able to spend there. Peter's sister Emily lives in Houston also and we loved living so close to Violet's only cousins Wesley and Sam. We miss them very much. We also really enjoyed sitting out on our deck in the sun in the middle of February (We were particularly missing this last week when it was zero degrees here).
While we lived in Texas we found out that our family would be getting a little bigger! We were very excited to be having another little girl join our family. Claire was born in August and she is just a wonderful little girl, she is close to being able to sit up and she loves to smile and laugh. We have been blessed with really sweet children. Violet is 2 this year and she excels at throwing tantrums but even at her worse she's not such a terrible two. She loves nursery, candy canes and watching cartoons. We are planning to start a little preschool play group at the beginning of the year with a few kids in the area and Violet is very excited about spending more time with some friends her age.
Peter has had an opportunity to look for a different job this year ( I was trying to think of the best way to put that :)) It has been difficult but a blessing at the same time. We were able to move back up to Washington and live with our family while we transition to the next step. We really have enjoyed being so near both our families (My side of the family lives in town also) and all the grandparents have really been excited to spend time with the grandkids. The girls are the only grandkids on my side and the only ones in town for Peter's side so they are very lucky to have the undivided attention of four grandparents and 5 great grandparents! One great thing about starting at square one on the job front is that we have so many options in front of us, true there aren't many available jobs at this time but we the opportunity to head in any direction we choose and for that I think we are truly blessed. We have a wonderful family who has supported us in all of our decisions and has made it very easy for us as we lay out our plan for the future.
Peter has decided to go back to school and get his Master's degree. If all goes according to plan (knock on wood) he should be able to start this coming fall at The Evergreen State College.
Ellen is currently a stay at home Mom and loves spending time with her girls. She really cherishes the times when they both take a nap at the same time! It has been really fun to stay home with the children, they amaze me everyday. Ellen really enjoys cooking, especially experimenting with new recipes ( luckily her Mother in Law is good hearted about a giant mess in the kitchen, and the rest of the family willingly tries her creations). Ellen is currently accumulating ideas for her own small business, that she hopes to begin as the girls get a little older ( More on this in another letter)
Well it has been a great year and we are looking forward to whatever lays ahead of us this year! Merry Christmas and we hope you will be blessed with joy in the year to come!
Love,
Peter, Ellen, Violet and Claire
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