Merry Christmas! (annual letter at bottom of post)

This is our first Christmas in our home in Nashville with Maggie, and we send lots of love and hugs to all our family and friends spread abroad. We miss you all, and hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

Tyler and I had to sit down last week to hammer out how our Holiday would play out since we both have strong preferences about how Christmas "should be done" and our families do things much differently. So today, Christmas Eve, we are going to our church's Christmas Eve worship service and are having Christmas like it is at my Mom's, an appetizer buffet for dinner. We'll be joined by Jamin & Christie Dunn and their girls, Aubrey, Nyah and in-utero Piper (girl #3!!!). It is going to be a great time. I got some awesome cheeses and salami at Trader Joe's, and Tyler picked up a great bottle of Prosecco wine that our friends Jason & Kelly turned us on to. We are also going to have a ton of shrimp cocktail, asparagus roll-ups, veggies and dip, mini pigs in a blanket and Christmas cookies. Pictures of our fun tonight and tomorrow will be up in the next few days.

Here is our Christmas letter for anyone I may have missed with a Christmas card. I apologize if I missed you; just shoot me an email with your address, and I'll add you to my list for next year.

Merry Christmas!

Well, hello! Have you lost weight? Changed your hair color? No?! But something’s different. Oh – I see – another year has passed and we’re all a little older. Ha! I almost didn’t want to write another annual letter, but then how would you get caught up with us? Oh, wait, the blog. That’s right. So maybe this letter will tell you stuff you already know from lurking on our blog, but there might be something in all these teeny little words here that you don’t know, so read on.

Maggie turned two in January, and is quickly approaching three. We are going right from the Terrible Twos (which really weren’t so bad) into the Talking-back Threes! Despite that, we could not be more blessed with this little girl, even if she does have a sassy little mouth (“No, Mommy, I don’t have to!”). She looks so much like a little girl now, not like a baby or toddler even. And she talks so much and about so many things. Her favorite things right now are her Disney movies (all of them), lots of books: Busy Bible, Big Picture Story Bible, Green Eggs and Ham, Where the Wild Things Are, Raindrop Plop, There’s a Monster at the End of this Book, Ten Bears in the Bed, and her Cabbage Patch Doll, Baby Jaycee. She loves to sing about anything, and narrates her day as she goes (I used to narrate everything we did so she would learn to talk). She has a favorite sandwich: sliced cheese with Miracle Whip, just like her Mommy. Favorite breakfast: eggs and toast. Favorite fruits: bananas, cantaloupe and watermelon. Favorite vegetables: peas and broccoli (not sure how we managed that, but I am glad). Her lamb is still her very bestest friend and constant companion.

Tyler was promoted at CTS Audio from Controller to Director of Finance this year. He still loves his job despite the long hours, so that is really awesome. He is working on implementing a new financial and inventory software system for the entire company, so while that sounds crazy-boring to me, he is having a blast. This year was also the year of fun travel with his company. In May we went to Phoenix for a company-wide weekend retreat. Maggie stayed with our friends, Seth & Dixie and their daughter, Zayli, Maggie’s very best friend in the whole world. It was a short trip, but lots of fun. Then, in October, we got to go to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with two other couples from his work. I love sales goals, especially when the sales guy sells enough stuff to let 3 couples go on the trip! It was a really wonderful trip for the two of us to have time to ourselves, our first real vacation since 2004. Tyler’s parents came out to Nashville to stay with Maggie for the week, so Maggie had a great time, too.

I turned the big three-oh March 1. My mom came out to celebrate and we tiled the kitchen backsplash, pictures are on the blog for proof. I renewed my license at the DMV, too, and have the most smokin’ picture ever. I LOVE my license picture!!! On the first of February, my flower business became official. I’m now the proud small-business owner of Melissa Marie Floral Design. And, somehow, being official means being busy! I did over 20 weddings this year. It meant a lot of tired Friday and Saturday nights, but I am so thankful for the experience and exposure. I have already started booking weddings for 2009. It has been a blessing despite some challenges balancing Maggie and home. I stopped working at Mother’s Day Out at our church this spring as my weddings picked up, but I kept Maggie in the program on Wednesdays. It gives me a day during weeks that I have weddings to get some things done around the house, run errands, prep flowers and meet with brides. Maggie loves her teacher, Miss Karen, and talks about her all the time. She comes home each week with cute crafts – Mommy’s favorite! And, on December 18, Maggie will be in her first Christmas program, put on by Mother’s Day Out. I will video it, and put some of it on the blog, of course.

We are both still volunteering with the high school group at our church. Our dearly loved youth pastor moved on to an assistant pastor position in February, in Phoenix, so Tyler took on some of the teaching responsibilities to help out while we are looking for a new youth pastor. The time commitment of studying and preparing can be tough when he is already working long hours at work, but he has really enjoyed the extra studying and teaching of God’s Word this year.

This Christmas, we will be staying here in Nashville. It’s our first Christmas staying home with Maggie. We are sad that we won’t be seeing our family and Seattle friends, but are looking forward to making our own traditions with our own little family. Speaking of family, we ask for your prayers regarding the expansion of ours. We have been trying to get pregnant since last summer (2007), and this fall we decided to go to the doctor to see what the deal is. There are some problems which we may not be able to resolve despite our best efforts. We won’t go into all the details, but please pray. It is sometimes painful, but in all this we see God’s hand at work our lives. We are so much more thankful for the daughter that we do have, that we have some answers to our concerns, and I just praise the Lord for the amazing peace that I have about the whole situation. I have taken much comfort these past weeks in the following verses: Psalm 139:16 “in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Romans 8:28 always works on my heart “and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God.” And finally, Psalm 16:6 “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” I thank my late Grandpa DeWaard for that verse! It has come to have a deeper meaning for me through this trial. More children or not, I am confident that I have a beautiful inheritance because of Christ. This Christmas, may you and your family discover the beautiful inheritance that the Lord God has in store for you through Jesus Christ.

Love- Melissa, Tyler and Maggie