Family Christmas Letter 2025

Merry (6th Day! of) Christmas Friends and Family!

We are thawing out after an unusually cold and snowy December! For my birthday last weekend, we hiked around Lake Geneva–it was a cool and foggy day–very British! After a nearly month of only walking on my walking pad, it was quite the birthday present to walk on clear paths.

Fortunately, we took many wonderful sunny walks this year in Arizona for my 40th birthday up a mountain (pictured above), in warm Tennessee and North Carolina on Spring Break, muggy Annapolis and DC at the beginning of the summer, and throughout Wisconsin through the high summer and early Fall. (Pictured Below: Balanced Rock at Devil’s Lake State Park)

2025 has been very full. Full of some big and small goodbyes.

The biggest was my Grandma Katie’s death this summer at age 89. The kids recorded singing and playing hymns for her to listen to the day before she passed into glory.

And we are so glad that we got to see her last summer. Small goodbyes included both my parents’ yellow labs (ages 13 and 15), our air conditioner, and our faithful 2003 Yukon truck.

We treasured all the more our trip to Maryland this summer, and staying with Evan’s 92-year-old Grandma Anne in her Annapolis home.

The kids love their special sleeping arrangements: airbeds under Great-Grandpa Jim’s homemade ping pong table.

Grandma Anne liked to join us on our early morning Annapolis walks.

We often were home for dinner and stories from Grandma Anne’s sailing adventures and memories of moving around the world as a young girl with an Army General father.

We also celebrated Evan’s Dad’s 70th birthday in person.

We also got a visit from Grandpa Doug in September, and he watched a lot of Jackson and Lily’s soccer.

This Fall, Grandpa Doug also started treatment for multiple myeloma — a form of cancer in his blood and specifically in his arm bone. We are praying for his endurance as he walks this road of treatment (which is hopeful!), and we’re so grateful for the encouraging updates he sends, Grandma Lulu’s good care of him, and the time we got to spend together this summer.

Our trip to Annapolis and DC also included getting to see our godson, Corin, play baseball.

Swimming with Lily’s godsister Lily. (Jackson and Calvin were there as well.)

And meeting the new sweet baby of our dear friend Diana.

We also got to spend a lot of precious time with Evan’s mom and sister–Grandma Ttea and Auntie Colleen.

With them, we visited the Naval Academy, played intense games of spoons, sipped fizzy water from crazy straws, and answered excellent Grandma Ttea “Would You Rather” questions. (Would you rather have an umbrella that changes colors with every rain drop or rain boots that play a new song with every puddle you step in?) Below we are out for lunch with Evan’s Aunt Karen, Grandpa Ttea, and Auntie Colleen. Chivalrous Uncle Kevin was pulling up the car.

When we returned from our two weeks in Maryland, we still had a long stretch of glorious Wisconsin summer left.

Including 4th of July with the cousins.

Seeing our teenage (!) goddaughter Teresa and her five siblings.

Then we went up to Door County, one of our favorite places in Wisconsin!

Our favorite beach there is Whitefish Bay Dunes park, I think we went there three times.

We also went cherry picking for the first time.

The kids loved it!

At the end of summer we got to spend a week in the Dells.

I got to meet up with my best friend from high school, Kelli, to celebrate our 40th birthdays this year.

We took a lot of great hikes around the dells: Mirror Lake,

Chapel Gorge Trail,

Pewit’s Nest State Natural Area,

Parfrey’s Glen State Natural Area,

Devil’s Lake State Park – East Bluff Trail Loop,

and Gibraltar Rock!

Other highlights of the Fall included a visit from my mom–Grandma Debbie–in September.

And both my parents for an early Thanksgiving trip, during which they brought us our new-to-us 2009 Blue Toyota Matrix that comes from the rust-free land of sunny Arizona. We ate turkey and listened to George Winston’s December up in Slinger with brother’s family.

Jackson (Age 10)

Jackson continues to be our smart, cheerful kids who is always up for playing a game–either a board game or soccer, but nearly any game will do.

He and his friend Harrison were delighted with the addition of four new boys to his class at school.

Harrison also played a great role in Jackson’s first cross country meet in which he lost a shoe fifty feet into the 1/2 mile race and then proceeded to run the race in one sock. One-Shoe-Jackson finished 5th. Harrison saw the lost shoe, and mid-race retrieved it, running the race with three shoes.

Jackson would like to report that his favorite books SERIES (that boy loves a long series) were the Funjungle Books by Stuart Gibbs (also that authors’ Spy School Series), The Green Ember books by SD Smith, The Wilderking Trilogy by Jonathan Rogers (not his uncle Jon, although they share the same name), The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, and The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien.

Jackson also had a great soccer season. It was his second season on a “select” (ie try-out) team, and after last year’s season in which very few games were won, this season had many victories. Evan continues to be the coach, and reports it was a great fall of soccer as well.

Jackson also played “Lead Shepherd #1” again for the church Christmas pageant. (Not quite Door Holder #3, but a pretty good part.)

And did a great job playing piano for the prelude for both the church and the school Christmas concert.

Lily (Age 7 1/2)

Lily is a delight in 2nd grade with her front teeth half in, always ready to laugh, tell a story with great details and drama, and her (still uncut!) long brown hair.

She was delighted to be our Santa Lucia this year. She loves to help me bake, especially Christmas treats.

She enjoyed her summer ballet class with school friends, and was lovely in her Swan Lake recital piece.

Lily also had a great soccer season. We had her play up a year with girls who were a little closer to her height. (She’s inherited Evan and Granda Ttea’s tall genes). She loves her new teammates.

Lily became a big reader this year. (For a list of 100 of her learning to read books, check out this post.) She and Jackson continue to love seeing friends and family, and number one on the list is their cousins in Slinger. Below is a photo from our annual apple-picking trip.

This spring, she was delighted to finish the Kirsten Books and inherit my American Girl Doll Kirsten. She would like to report that her favorite books (also all books in a series) were The Princess in Black books by Shannon and Deal Hale and illustrated by LeUyen Pham, Ivy and Bean series by Annie Barrows and illustrated by Sophie Blackall, Zoey and Sassafras by by Asia Citro and illustrated by Marion Lindsay), Heidi Heckelbeck series by Wanda Coven and illustrated by Priscilla Burris and The Humphrey books by Betty G. Birney.

Lily was one of the three wise women in our Christmas pageant this year, along with two Sunday school friends. She carried myrrh and the star and did a lovely job reading. She also did a great job playing piano in front of the whole school at Christmas.

Evan

All spring, Evan taught science in addition to his usual social studies, and could be seen working extra hours on the weekends and explaining weather patterns with an unusual level of detail about air current patterns. This fall, he’s enjoyed being back to just social studies, although last month, he got recruited to teach Spanish I. Good thing he and the kids have long Spanish Duolingo streaks going!

Evan continues to enjoy his monthly board game group, listening to board game podcasts, playing board games with the kids and trying to get me (Amy) to learn a new game once in a while. He still supports Liverpool Football Club (as much as he can with his schedule) and did get to see them win the league in May. His book club continues to meet every other month or so, and they had lots of great discussions this year as usual. He also continues to spend much of his outside-of-school time coaching Jackson’s soccer team, which he says is very gratifying because of how much the boys are improving. He also started teaching Sunday school at church this fall.

Highlights of the year include getting to see his high school best friend Jake over spring break in Durham North Carolina, as well as Jake’s parents.

Evan here! I’m chiming in to write about some favorites of the year, first books, and then board games.

First up, is Amy’s book (which I have helped tentatively title Ivywood: Behind the Watefall). There is no link for this one yet because it is yet to be fully out there, but it is really getting closer! I read and edited through it twice this year, so when you eventually get it, read it, love it, and find a typo or two, you can thank Amy for the good parts and blame me for the typos! I don’t want to say much about it right now because it would spoil it, but you are going to love it too! (I don’t use a lot of exclamation points normally, so you can see how I feel.)

I will keep my discussion of the other 4 best books of the year much briefer. They are Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution by Mike Duncan (a meaty yet accessible history of Lafayette that ends up being a history of two continents over about 75 years), Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane (another amazing installment of nature writing by probably my favorite living author), That Distant Land: The Collected Stories by Wendell Berry (any excuse is a good one to re-visit Port William), and The Overstory: A Novel by Richard Powers (a sprawling Pulitzer Prize winner, in my opinion deserving of the honor).

As for board games, I have picked 5 that hit the table a lot this past year, whether with my family or with my board game group. I picked mostly newer games to be more current with this list.

First up is a quick engine-building game with awesome art work called Knarr. It was good enough that I taught it to my brother in law and he bought it, even though we usually just share games since we live close by.

Second, is LOTR The Fellowship of the Ring the Trick Taking Game. If you have ever played a trick taking game like Bridge, Spades, or Hearts, you will pick this one up very quickly, but what makes this one different and very much worth a purchase is first that it is cooperative, so there is none of that partner pressure that some dislike, and second that it walks you through the story of the Fellowship of the Ring, so you feel like you are doing more than just playing cards.

Third is Rajas of the Ganges. This one is a little older, so your best bet is to get it used somewhere, but this game is super fun because the random rolls of dice force you to be very creative in accomplishing your goals compared to a lot of other Euro-style games.

Fourth, is Come Sail Away! This is a game our family has been absolutely loving, and it uses a mancala-style mechanic of picking up pieces and dropping them off one at a time in different locations to create a super-fun and colorful puzzle.

Lastly, is ito, a small-box party game that you definitely will not regret adding to your collection. I have taught it to lots of different groups with people of all ages, and every single one has loved it. You are working together to rank numbered cards based on your answers to questions in a category, so it works really well as a way to get to know new people or a fun way to see what you really do know about people you think you know very well.

(Picture: Evan and Lily at the Daddy-Daughter Dance)

Amy

My year has been similar to last year: lots of reading and writing, walking, weight lifting, PT exercises, cooking, laundry, packing and unpacking from trips, and forever needing to pack school lunches.

And I’m helping out my dad behind the scenes as he’s opened a gallery space in Tubac, AZ and develops his website. I’m subbing a bit at the kids’ and Evan’s school. (Maybe twice a month.) I help out with the school library on Wednesday afternoons, reading books to four classes, and co-leading a small group for women’s Bible study. I also started doing a few of the large group teaching sessions for Women’s Bible Study. (Here’s a link to one I did earlier this month on Exodus in the Gospels.) I also co-directed our Christmas Pageant again, which I originally wrote the script for our family.) Below is a picture my friend Linda took of me watching Jackson read the very last line of the play: “his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” I was so proud of him and all the kids in their bathrobes and tinsel halos!

As Evan mentioned, I am slowly but surely making progress on my novel’s manuscript, and I’m hoping to send it to a few beta readers in the beginning of the new year! This feels very exciting to start to share my story outside of our family.

My favorite five books I read this year were Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell, Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson, Theo of Golden by Allen Levi, The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien (A Graphic Novel) by John Hendrix, and You’re Wearing That?: Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation by Deborah Tannen.

Here were my 2025 Blog Posts

• 45 of our Favorite Christmas Books List
• 75 of My Tried and True Favorite Library Read Alouds
• Resources For Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic Ages 2-6
• Kids’ Capsule Wardrobe Ideas
• Favorite Fairytale Collections
• Learning-to-Read Books
• Maundy Thursday: A Liturgy for Children and Families
• Family Easter Basket Ideas: Books, Games, and Really Good Chocolate
• Newbery Review #104 (The First State of Being, Kelly, 2025)
• 40 Books for My 40th Birthday: A 2024 Reading List

I hope that 2026 is a year full of love and connection. We hope most of all that it involves getting to see you in person. We treasure our extended family, long-time friends, and our sweet local church and school community so much. May this year hold going on a walk with me, learning a new board game from Evan, and listening to Jackson and Lily play a piano piece for you! We love you all so much!

Merry Christmas!