2010: the year it's been

i'm seriously struggling with my final post on this blog for 2010.  i feel compelled to somehow recap the year, to tie up the loose ends as if our family narrative were a literary work with a conclusion.  of course, that's not the case at all; tomorrow we will wake up and the kids won't even know that the calendar has turned over a new page unless we remind them.  (shoot, in our old age, chris and i will need reminding ourselves.  we're spending our new year's eve at the beach -- i'm on the computer and he's playing the wii -- does it get any more exciting than that?!)

so i'm really running dangerously low on creative juices at the moment, but there's only one december 31 and the hours are waning.  here goes.

MOST EXCITING EVENT
susanna:  she attended her first wedding (my brother's) and even had her own tiara to wear, and she met real-live ballerinas at the nutcracker.  but her dance recital wins the prize.  we were concerned that our shy, often-withdrawn daughter might shrink on the stage, or perhaps refuse to even perform at all.  not so!  she knew every step, every cue, and especially every curtsy.  with a dab of blush on her cheeks and a dollop of lip gloss on her mouth, this will definitely be a hard one to top.
sara: choosing a builder and collaborating on a plan for a major kitchen/powder room/mud room renovation and expansion. getting to make all those fun selections -- layout, cabinets, flooring, appliances, backsplash, counters, etc. was easily the most exciting thing for me in 2010. and we're not even starting the project until summer! can you imagine the level of my excitement when it's actually complete?
chris:  he won the two top prizes in his fantasy football league, which is a Very. Huge. Deal.  i hereby relinquish all rights to complain about the time he invests in this pastime, as it has turned into quite the lucrative hobby.
liam:  liam had more exciting events in 2010 than the rest of us combined.  he rode in his first airplane.  he jumped off the diving board for the first time.  he pulled out his own tooth while we drove down the interstate to the beach.  he started kindergarten.  he played joseph in our church's christmas pageant.  but the #1 event?  his first ride on the school bus.

SADDEST EVENT
for all of us, it was definitely losing my sweet, dear, beloved grampa, one week shy of his 88th birthday.  he was an absolutely amazing man and we miss him terribly.  but every so often, totally out of the blue, one of the kids will stop, look up at the sky, and wave.  "just wanted to say hi to pop-pops!" they'll smile, before returning to whatever they were doing.  it was their first lesson in loss, but it turned out to be a very meaningful way to show them how vitally important our faith is.  there's a silver lining in everything if you look hard enough.

BIGGEST CHANGE

sara:  my work hours almost doubled and switched from afternoon to morning.  while it works out quite well in the sense that now liam and susanna are in school while i teach, i have to admit that it's cramped my style somewhat.  i've had to rearrange things like bible study, tennis matches, and volunteer commitments, and most stores don't open early enough for me to do any serious shopping.  life is rough.  J

liam: whew -- the whole kindergarten thing can turn someone's life upside down!  (it can turn an entire family's life upside down, come to think of it.)  instead of being gone for just three hours in the morning, liam's now gone for almost eight.  he's got homework, responsibilities, and less time for playdates.  and don't even get me started on bagged lunches.

susanna: she's really starting to come out of her shell socially.  she's constantly talking about all of her new friends at school or church or on the playground, and was actually invited to 14 parties in a five-week span this fall.  (i guess she just saves that surly attitude that i've recently mentioned just for us at home -- aren't we lucky?)

chris:  okay.  i have to admit that i've written this entire post and come back to this one piece, stumped.  i couldn't think of any big way that chris's life has changed ... his job is the same, his volunteer positions are the same, his interests are the same, and he's even driving the same car (incidentally, my college graduation gift that currently has like 160,000 miles on it).  so i just interrupted his wii game to ask him.  he thought about it for a minute or two, before coming up with one.  "i now have to check the box for ages 35 to 44 on surveys," he said. 

COMING ATTRACTIONS
susanna: six weeks until our family trip to disneyworld, and she's already discussing the pros and cons to which princess dress she'll wear to our dinner at cinderella's castle.
liam: he starts attending a higher-grade math class as soon as we return from christmas break. i am crossing my fingers he doesn't dissolve into a fit of hysterics the first time something doesn't come easily for him. our first child is a total perfectionist and i daresay an academic challenge might be just what he needs, if for no other reason than to show him that it is healthy to sometimes not get things right away and watch your peers solve problems more quickly than you. (i'm packing some tissues just in case this lesson is lost on him the first few days.  breathe in, dear child, breathe out.)
sara: my new kitchen!
chris: paying for the new kitchen.  and disneyworld.  let the fun begin!

sparklers on the beach deck to ring in the new year -- at 8 p.m.