Thursday, December 24, 2015

12. 24, 2015 Merry Christmas!


December 23, 2015


Dear everyone I know,


Right now I’m in Coeur d’Alene Idaho, sitting at Josh and Megan’s kitchen table, looking out the window at 15 inches of snow!  I’m here to celebrate my newest Grand Baby Elizabeth’s first Christmas with her and her parents.  J  It’s warm in the kitchen, Megan is making spritz cookies, baby is sleeping, and Josh is working…so I thought to use this time to get this letter written.


We not only have a new Grand Girl but also a new Grand Boy!   Scott’s son Brad and wife Megan had their son Elliott Scott on February 10 and 12 days later on February 22, Elizabeth LaRue was born. Both are thriving cutie pies with big smiles; I have to admit that Elliott has a lot more hair than Elizabeth.  In fact, my sister has called him Prince Luscious Locks.  


Scott and I had a good 2015; not as much travel this year as last year… if you read my letter last year, you know we traveled the country for six months. As wonderful as all that was, I needed to find a job and in January I started work at Greenwood Middle School as a 6th grade instructional aide.  This past September I switched over to the Central 9 Career Academy, a vocational school for 9 school systems.  I’m doing basically the same thing at C9 as I did at GMS…friendly nagging and crowd control.


Travel.  Last Easter I came to Idaho to meet Elizabeth and contrived to hold her for the whole week.  Once school was out in May, we headed west again in our RV with Sam and Jenna as co-pilots.  Stops included the Corn Palace in Mitchell SD, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Devil’s Tower, Wall Drugs, and Little Big Horn, ending up here in Coeur d’Alene for some family time.  Leaving Sam and Jenna here to tickle Elizabeth, Scott and I continued to Oregon, meeting up with Cousins Sue and Bob Wilkins, and then driving and camping up the coast, ending up in Seattle.   Back home by mid-July, we had the house re-sided and the roof replaced, and then I was back to work.  Work really puts a damper on things, doesn’t it?  Scott is still enjoying his retirement – he makes noises about finding a part time job but he’s not looking really hard. 


My son Josh and wife Megan are having fun with Elizabeth, watching her grow.  Josh programs from home for HP and Megan is an elementary school counselor.  Idaho is way too far away from Indiana for my liking but we skype often and they’re good about sending me pictures of Elizabeth’s smiley little face.  I crocheted her a blanket before she was born, the colors of the rainbow.  It makes me happy to see that it is her favorite blanket, the one she sleeps with it every night!  


My son Tim and Mary are both teachers in the Lafayette Indiana school system.  Mary is an English teacher at the high school and Tim is teaching 8th grade algebra.   They’re doing so well with raising their boy Clark – he’s a fun little guy and I love it when I get to hang out with him.


My son Sam and Jenna are living in Bloomington Indiana.  He’s working as a Tech Writer, hoping to get a novel or two published, and Jenna is working as a Costume Technician for the Jacobs School of Music, at Indiana University.  


Scott’s a lucky guy – both of his children and their families are mere minutes down the street.  His daughter Jessica and her husband Shawn have two girls.  Kaylinn is a high school freshman and Kamryn is in 5th grade.  Brad and his wife Megan are handling two babies…their daughter Gretchen is 19 months and Elliott (aka Prince Luscious Locks) is 10 months.  


My boys and their girls, Scott’s kids, and all the Grands make us very happy.  Grands are the best, aren’t they?


PS

It’s now Christmas Eve morning and I’m back at the table, sitting next to Elizabeth as we both eat our oatmeal.  It’s still snowing! There has to be almost 20 inches out there on the porch.  Yet when I talked to Scott this morning, he informed me that yesterday in Greenwood it was 60 or so degrees and a tornado hit the area.  Weird Weird!  


As I was making my oatmeal, I heard Megan tell Elizabeth that it was her very first Christmas Eve!  And I had to laugh because it’s my 58th Christmas Eve.  And wow, how the cast of characters in my life has changed!  Life is as weird as that tornado but as long as I’ve got Scott and my boys and girls and all those grands to hug and roll around on the floor with…Life Is Good! 

HO HO HO and Merry Christmas!