The Dreaded Christmas Letter

OK...so I will admit it. I am one of those people who do a Christmas newsletter every year and send it out with Christmas Cards. It is a sickness, I know. :-) Every year, I say that I am not going to do cards or letters anymore since my life is increasingly online...but every year I still feel this compulsion to do so. So anyway, 2011 was no different and I sent one out. If you were lucky enough to make the cut of the people on my list, then you received it. If you didn't receive it, here are some reasons why you might not have received it:

1. My address book is outdated and I have an address for you that is where you lived 10 years ago and I know you have moved 4 times but failed to update your address since I see you on Facebook all the time.
2. I was a dork and forgot to put a stamp on your card. There are a couple of these sitting on my kitchen counter that say "Returned for Postage". Hopefully, I can get myself to the post office before Christmas and get some more stamps to send those out.
3. You are receiving a big package of gifts from me and I placed the card in the package (this really is only one person, but you can have hope that it is you.) :-)
4. You live locally and I see you all the time. It seemed kind of silly to send a letter highlighting all we did for the year when you saw us on a regular basis as we were doing those things.
5. I really don't like you. Just kidding...I like everybody (sort of.)

So if you didn't receive one, here is the letter we sent out. Enjoy!

Holiday Greetings from the Osterhout Family!

We cannot believe that it is the holiday season again already. It feels like we just put the tree away last week and it is already time to pull it out again Maybe we should just leave it up year round...that would definitely save time and be more efficient.

We hope that 2011 has been a great year for you. After several years of writing about how many changes we have experienced, we actually have had a pretty boring year. In fact, you may choose to stop reading right now since our year was so boring. However, if you stick with the letter, I promise not to write anything about hemorrhoids or a nasty infection.

So...if you are still with us. Here we go:

I am entering my second year of working in ministry full-time as the Children’s Minister at Living Stones Church. I really enjoy this and the challenges it provides. I occasionally miss teaching, but more for things like school potlucks, field trips and summer vacations than the actual teaching part...so changing careers was probably a good move on my part.

Mark is in his 5th year of teaching music at Eastwood Elementary School. He loves his job and works very hard at it. He is busy this time of year preparing for his Winter Concert which means that we have had Christmas Music playing in our house since September...definitely gets you in the holiday mood. He also continues to serve on the worship team at our church and lead worship for our kids area.

Anna will be 3 in February. She is a blessing and the light of our lives. It is hard to believe that she growing up so quickly. She is a busy 2 year old who loves coloring, balls and saying NO. She started preschool this fall. She attends 3 days a week while I work at the church. She loves school and we like the environment it provides. Thanks to Dora the Explorer, she is also bi-lingual. Just ask her to count for you...it goes something like this “one, two, three, four, five, six, cinco, ses, ocho, eight, etc.” We are pretty sure she will be ready for early admission to Harvard by next fall.

We had the opportunity to take some fun adventures this year. In April, we went to West Virginia (enter banjo sound effects here) to visit Mark’s dad and his wife, Jeanne, in their new home. It was a nice visit. In June, we accompanied some kids from our high school youth group to a church camp in Michigan. It was held on a college campus and we ate the best food I have ever experienced at camp. Anna did great as a tag-a-long. This was Anna’s 2nd year at church camp and so by the time she is old enough to go as an actual camper she will be an old pro.

This summer, my mom joined us on a family vacation with the final destination of Mitchell, South Dakota for a wedding. It seems a lot of our travels have been for weddings lately. I hope the next wedding we are invited to is held at Disney World. Anyway, on the way to the wedding, we stopped at the Wisconsin Dells for a few days. We were also able to go the Ingalls Homestead in DeSmet, SD which was one of the highlights of the trip! It was a great time!

In October, Mark and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It was celebrated by a weekend get-away to Chicago at a luxury hotel, eating amazing food and enjoying quality entertainment...by me. Mark stayed home with Anna while I attended a Children’s Ministry Conference. How romantic, right? We were able to celebrate on a different weekend and we are very thankful that God has given us 5 wonderful years together.

We also became very un-hip this year. In June we bought a swagger wagon...AKA a minivan. I LOVE IT!!!! I never in a million years thought I would say that I LOVE a minivan...what has happened to me. I am definitely losing it!

Well...that is about it for our boring year. We hope that 2011 has been an amazing year for you and that 2012 is even better. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!