A 2011 recap

It's Christmastime. It's Jackson's birthday. We're all sick. NRF just upgraded its holiday forecast. The Senate just went down to the wire on some, well...important thing that Chad was working on. We still haven't unpacked our artwork. We leave for Illinois in four days.

The last thing I have time to do is print and cut and stuff a bunch of little pieces of paper into our Christmas cards. At a certain point, in the interest of actually mailing your Christmas cards before December 25, you say forget about it.

But since the letter was already written, and since I did put our blog address on the back of the Christmas card, I figured I'd paste it here in case anyone in this entire world cares what it said. 

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Hi to our family and friends:                                           December 2011

Happy holidays and Merry Christmas! After taking a hiatus on our annual letter last year (did you really need an update, other than the fact that we had a baby?), we’re happy to share the contents of this year – what we remember of it, anyway:

Ellen returned to work at the beginning of April after a long maternity leave (note: long, not relaxing) and shifted her hours so she can leave the office at 3:00 to spend some time every day with Jackson before he goes to bed. She’s still at the National Retail Federation in public relations, analyzing consumer trends, talking about the importance of retail to the economy, and encouraging people to shop.

In the event that you’ve heard of a little thing called the “housing crisis,” Chad is right in the middle of it. Several years ago, when he moved to the Senate Banking Committee to take over housing issues, no one imagined his position would become as crucial as it is today. He’s had an incredible year steering public policy and really loves going to work every day. A good thing, because he’s rarely home before 8 p.m.

We’re still in denial that Jackson turned one on December 9. For better or worse, he seems to have the personality – and energy – of triplets. Jackson’s grandparents consider this appropriate payback for the rambunctiousness of both his parents when they were little. He loves the dog, crawling up stairs, and absolutely anything that makes noise. It’s been such a joy to watch him learn new things every day.

We were fortunate enough to make several trips back home this year so that Jackson could see his grandparents (and meet seven great-grandparents!). After a few earlier trips to the farm, we all headed home in August for Ellen’s brother’s wedding. It’s bittersweet that the final Tolley wedding is a thing of the past, but we were so thrilled that Daniel’s amazing wife said yes we were all able to look beyond that. And Chad’s parents were kind enough to watch Jackson for a few days while the two of us took off to Lake Tahoe for a long weekend (Ellen went for work, Chad called it vacation).

Our biggest news of the year came in the fall, when we moved into a new house. Chad, who has been looking at houses every day for the last several years, finally convinced Ellen that it was time to say goodbye to our perfect little townhouse for a single-family home – and Ellen relented when he found a house that met all of her “there’s-just-no-way-he-can-find-a-place-like-this” requirements. We love the neighborhood, our big backyard, and the number of children on our street (14 houses, 30 kids!). As we sit here writing the Christmas letter by a crackling fire – one of Ellen’s necessities – purchasing our old brick colonial seems like a great idea. Never mind that we still have nothing on our walls and a porch full of boxes.

In the midst of the move – and the holiday season… and a big hearing at work for Chad – Jackson decided he had moved too far off our radar and brought the attention back with a bout of pneumonia. Kids apparently have a way of reminding you why you exist in the first place. After a couple weeks of R&R, he was back to his normal self – and we started getting sleep again.

Lucy continues to keep us on our toes. Our daily walks have turned into weekly outings, but she’s so excited over the backyard she has almost forgiven us. (Please don’t ask why she didn’t make the Christmas card this year. Chad still isn’t over it.)

If you want to keep up with the general chaos that has become our lives, feel free to visit our blog at thedavisden.blogspot.com. Don’t get too excited because it isn’t updated as often as it used to be, though we do get the big stuff up – even if it’s late.

We wish you a very happy holiday season—and a wonderful New Year!