2009 Holiday Card!

Welcome to our 2009 holiday card! We experimented with a blog version of our Christmas card last year, and the green-loving, miserly, dissertating/teaching grad student in me loved the idea of doing that again. Moreover, I don't really have the talent for writing year-end Christmas letters (and Ben is opposed to them), but I figured if you followed our blog you pretty much know what we've been up to. If you don't follow us, here is the digest version of what we've been up to this year:


*After ringing in the New Year in London, we came back to some of the coldest weather I can remember.
*February: My parents celebrate their 45th anniversary, and Ben and I attended our first show choir competition.
*March: Someone turned thirty, and I became ABD.
*April: I gushed about some of my Iowa friends.
*May: I went on a crazy dissertation road trip.
*June: We celebrate our fourth anniversary.
*July: I write about our anniversary trip to Milwaukee.
*August: August is just a blur of canning.
*September: I take some time off from the blog to work on another little writing project.
*October: I go to two conferences, so I continue to not say much on the blog.
*November: I attempt to wax poetic about kindergarten art.


As for our Christmas card, someone threw a fit about having his picture taken, similar to the fit that he had last year (which is documented in the comments on last year's card). So we compromised and let a fitting signifier (why yes, I did take literary theory!) stand in his place:

As you can see, Sully had a few things to say about grinches. You might call it Max's revenge.

It really has been a lovely year full of new adventures, growth, and laughter. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives to care for us, challenge us, and create wonderful memories with us. We will close with a slide show that features some of our favorite moments and people of 2009. Of course, not everyone we love is featured, but that is only because of the limits of time, space, and absent-minded photographers. The song is Sara Groves's "Twice as Good," which truly captures how we feel about you all.

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