Christmas Letter

Happy Holidays my dear friends and family. I hope this finds you doing well, feeling well, and looking forward to the holidays ahead. Thank you for your Christmas card. I especially love the ones with letters from your family and photos of your children. My local friends know that I will proudly display those Christmas photos all year long on my fridge. I'll take them down when the next one arrives in 2009. I love looking at your children's faces all year long. It's awesome to see how the children change, especially the little ones.

You made it to my blog! If this is your first time here, good for you! Thanks for taking the time to come check it out. Over the years, many of you have commented that you look forward to my Christmas Letter every year, and you know, I look forward to yours too. (If you DO a Christmas Letter that is. If not, you should!) I decided this year, that I would do things a little differently when it came to my Christmas 'card' and letter. I wanted to be able to share photos of my family, and well, this blog is the easiest way to do just that. And, I hope you'll save this as a favorite place and check back again and again. I update weekly and love hearing that you have been here. Feel free to leave comments too.

This year we have seen some big changes, again. It's been what you'd call an UN-believable year. "Cha, cha, cha, changes..." the ole' David Bowie song, would be a fitting anthem for the year we are about to wrap up. We're optimistic that 2009 will bring some positive changes for us too.

Mark closed the doors to Quniznos on the last day of September. Call it 'the economy', a not so great business model, or whatever. Many of them have closed and I'm sorry for those who have decided to do the franchise (money pit) thing with Quiznos. Currently Mark is a 'net-working junkie' attending every event he can squeeze into his calendar. He's meeting great people and sooner or later something has to give. I know we've been singing this tune for a few years, but Mark wasn't ever able to attend these events because of Quinzos. Now with his day free, he can really focus all of his energies on the job search. He is deligent in his search for the perfect career that will allow him to use his skills in a 'director of international sales' type role.

Prior to Mark closing the doors on his business, I made a career change of sorts too. I decided to step down from my position of Director, back to the Consultant that I once was in Mary Kay. Quite simply put, I opted for greater balance in my life. This search for balance (Eat, Pray, Love) seems to be something so many women are searching for. Stepping back never seems popular in the business world and I am so very glad I did it anyway. Stepping back, or demoting myself, also seems to require a "why" so here it is. As it turns out, leadership, through I liked it very much, and was told I was very good at, was a little more demanding than this girl wanted for the rest of my life. With anything, there comes a compromise. The busier I got, the less true to myself I became. I was beginning to feel like I wasn't living in the moment, because I was thinking about the next thing that I wanted or needed to do. My family time was less, my friendships were less, and I was finding myself not as content as I once had been. It was time to fix it. Thankfully, my leadership experiences in Mary Kay were great and I have fond memories of my time in my that role. The women I was aquainted with are no doubt some of the most phenomenal women I have ever met. Now that I am not their leader, I can really embrace them as friends, and really be me. I love my customers and the relationship that I have established with them over the last 4+ years, and it is with much joy that I continue to service them while being true to myself. Less is more.

Not having taught school for over 5 years, I opted to apply for my substitute teaching license and plan to sub locally a couple of days a week around Mark's schedule so Evan can remain with Mom or Dad. It will be interesting to be back in the classroom again after all of this time home.

Saving the best for last.. Evan,...he just continues to be his our greatest joy. If you take the time later to read through this entire blog or even just scroll through to see pieces of it, you'll find that Evan is a very happy, social, and well adjusted little guy. He is fun loving and almost always has a smile on his face. He strikes up conversation with people anywhere we go and has even introduced me to other women at the grocery store! He is tall, lean, and all legs like his Daddy. He loves all things that are 'arts and crafts,' enjoys camping trips, and still loves his trains, trucks, and things with wheels. He recently shared an early Christmas with my parents from Michigan and announced that this had been the best Christmas ever. That's pretty terrific considering that the big day hasn't even arrived yet. I think he gets that Christmas really is all about family.

Evan attends an afternoon Pre-K program and loves it. This extra year of preschool will allow him the social maturity that those summer babies don't usually have going into Kindergarten at 5. I'm already glad that we made this decision. I can see such a difference in "with-it-ness" with the older compared too the younger. Evan turns 6 in July and will start Kindergarten fully prepared. Like me, he will be one of the oldest kids in his class all through the years. He is very excited about riding the bus next year and I am excited for him too.

My greatest accomplishment this year, aside from finding balance in my life (and that is huge) is getting more up to speed with technology. Each year my New Year's Resolution has been to learn to download my camera. (I had mastered taking pictures!) My dear friend Heather grabbed me by the hand, walked me through that and helped me start my blog! Her idea. Basically I was force-fed technology! I ran with it. I am amazed at what a little confidence can do when it comes to technology! Wow! If only I had known how very simple it all is, I wouldn't have been so intimidated. So..with that said, if you don't have blog, but can see that it would be a great way to share your life with friends and family, click on CREATE BLOG in the upper right hand corner my my blog and get started. Seriously, if I can do it, so can you. Thank you Heather for empowering me with this year!

We hope you and your family are healthy and are enjoying this holiday season. I am thankful that you are in my life in whatever role you play big or small. The older I get the more I appreciate the very simplest of things.

Merry Christmas to you and yours. Safe travels wherever you may roam this holiday.

With much love,

Rhonda, Mark and Evan too