Christmas Letter 2008

Well this Christmas letter is a bit difficult to write, I wasn't sure I was going to write one this year but decided to give it a shot (we do enjoy reading those that we get from friends and family...)

Sadly this will be our first Christmas without Michelle's mom. As most of you who may be reading this probably know, she lost her fight with what was originally colon cancer and passed away in July. She had done chemo from last September (2007) until February and her doctor was very pleased with her results, and she handled it all with such strength. We did know however that the cancer remained on her liver, but in the spring she was feeling quite well. She took lots of time this spring spending time with all the people she loved, and doing things she loved such as traveling. Unfortunately she began to feel ill during their trip to Europe and they returned home early. She went into the hospital on July 1 and learned that tumors had grown in her abdomen, and she was quite uncomfortable as they were quite large and obstructing her intestines. This made her very sick quite quickly and she passed away July 11. We were all there with her throughout this time. It was shocking to see her become so ill so quickly, but we take comfort knowing she did not suffer for a long period of time and this was the way she would have wanted it. We are thankful that she felt so well in the months following her treatment and had a chance to do what she wanted. We all miss her very much and this will be a difficult Christmas for us all, as it was her favourite holiday and she always made it very special for everyone. So, we try to carry on and make it special the way she did.

In May Michelle, Veronica and some friends and family participated as a team in the Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life, to raise funds for the Cancer Society's research and programs. We had very generous support from friends and family and spent a cold rainy night doing the relay. We plan to form a team again this year and make it really special in honour of my mom, and hope to even do the relay down in Taber.

This year our family also moved to a new house(unfortunately the timing of it was quite bad - after putting an offer in and being accepted in late April, we spent the spring trying to sell our house. It sold at the end of June, and the possession date for our new house fell on the same day as my mom's funeral. Fortunately we had a great realtor who did a lot for us during this time). We had been deciding back and forth on this for a long time, as we were not designated to attend the school in our neighbourhood, as it was too full and we were outside the walk limit. Knowing that Jaina would have to take the bus anyway, we began to look into the French Immersion program. After researching it we decided we would like to try it out. We then found out from a friend that the neighbourhood school in her community (which she loves) offered French Immersion. We began looking at houses off and on. We finally found one that we absolutely love, a block from school (and, as a bonus, around the corner from good friends of ours). The neighbourhood is wonderful so far, with friendly people, and it's really nice that Jaina's classmates all are within the community. Two of her friends from her class live right down the street, which has been nice for all of us. They can play together and we can help each other out when we have sick toddlers or appointments, etc. It's so nice (most days, except this cold spell!) to be able to walk to school. She is loving kindergarten so far and picking up quite a bit of French already. I have been taking a "French for parents" class in order to refresh my basic knowledge and be able to help Jaina out a little bit! And I've had a few opportunities to volunteer in her classroom which is fun from both a parent and former teacher perspective. As for my work, I decided to resign from the school board and stay home at least this year, possibly a few more, with the kids. I felt that they were only young once and since we are fortunate enough to be able to work it out financially, it was the best option for us (and besides that, we worked out that working part time and paying childcare for 2 kids wouldn't make us enough extra to be worth all the stress and scheduling hassles...) Having been through some tough times this year as well has maybe helped us to see the importance of this time when the kids are young, that we'll never get back. So now I am debating about going back to university to take courses towards my masters, one course at a time. We will see if that falls into the plans for next year or not. Matt is still working as a network specialist in broadband technologies at Shaw, and working quite a bit of extra on-call time, which has also helped us work things out on one income. He is loving our new location as he can now carpool with 3 other guys from his team, and is the last one picked up and the first one dropped off. It has worked out to be much faster than taking the bus and train! He has also been working hard in our new house, in the summer when we got possession he painted 8 rooms before we moved in! And we still plan to repaint the hallways, entrance, and possibly basement. He is just finishing drywalling the ceiling in our storage/workout room, which was a big job. And of course, he's still a hockey fanatic, going to Flames games with Chris as often as he can! Lewis turned 2 at the end of August and keeps us on our toes! He finally began walking in March but you'd never know now he was such a late bloomer, as we chase him all over the place. He still has his cheerful, easygoing personality which is a joy to be around. He is talking quite a bit so we get a bit of an insight into his mind. He loves playing cars, playing at the park, making messes around the house, doing anything that his big sister does, and napping. He tried out gymnastics this fall with me, and enjoyed it but did show us his stubborn side, he was very set in what he would and would not do or try. Besides school Jaina has also kept busy with activities. She did some more swimming lessons which she loves, and is now in singing and Sparks. I am also involved in Sparks as a leader (her Spark unit needed another leader for the amount of girls they have), and am glad to be back involved with the girls in Guiding. It also is nice because since I'm not teaching, I am enjoying doing things with this group of girls.

This summer we also got the exciting news that Michelle's sister Veronica and her husband Chris are expecting their first baby. We are all so excited about this, and await baby's arrival in early March. Jaina and Lewis are excited about having another cousin. We hope to babysit a lot (and I'm sure they will let us!)

In November we took a family trip to Mexico with Michelle's stepdad, his kids and some of his grandkids. It was bittersweet because it was a trip that we had planned to take with my mom, but it was a nice family time and a chance to bond with one another more. We all had some much needed relaxation and fun in the sun.

Christmas this year will be spent with my stepdad in Taber and then with Matt's family in Lethbridge for a few days. We are looking forward to some relaxing family time and fun with grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins.

We are thankful for all the friends and family that we have and we love you all! (And the door to our new home is open to any of you, at any time...)
We wish all of you a Merry Christmas, hoping you have time to create some special memories with those you love this holiday season.

Love,
Michelle
and with love from Matt, Jaina and Lewis