Merry Christmas to you...

Here is our Christmas letter we sent to our friends and family...PLEASE know even if you didn't get a copy in the mail you still are our friends and family :) If you feel that heart broken that we missed you please let me know so I can attempt to do better next Christmas!

Dear Friends and Family, Christmas 2008

I am amazed it is cold and frosty again outside, but I have to admit 2008 was a pretty rough year. It started just fine, but it seemed like overnight I was nearly homeless! I am not sure if I can blame the tough economic times or if it was because of some poor choices on my part, but even the basic necessities seemed out of reach. Luckily, I was able to get by with the generous donations of some absolutely wonderful neighbors. Still, day to day life was very difficult…that is until God placed me in the path of a sweet little girl with long brown hair and a smile that lit up my world. She literally swept me off of my feet and loved me like I have never felt love before. Wow, GOD IS AWESOME!
At first, Kimberlyn (that’s what they call the little girl) kept telling me that I might not get to live with her forever, but after a few weeks, she told me that I was all hers. She even gave me my very own name, Rascal! I have to admit that my new house is kind of crazy. They have TWO dogs, another cat, fish, a bunny and the biggest bird I have ever seen! At first, the dogs scared me, but now, I chase the smaller one around! How cool is that? The other cat is older than me and always gets mad when I try to play. Hopefully, he’ll decide to play some day. The best part is that they have this little black bunny they call Prince. He looks delicious, and the first night I stayed at Kimberlyn’s house, I was so hungry that I did my best to snag him in his cage, but the big guy (they call him Larry) kept getting really mad at me when I tried. I finally decided that it is just better to leave Prince alone!
The big guy must be going to school because he is always writing papers on his laptop and doing homework. He seems like he is pretty stressed out especially when I sit on the keyboard when he is working. Last time, he told me that he’ll be graduating in March and that we all will be moving to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. He says they are buying a nice house with enough bedrooms for everyone! They also keep talking about buying a horse when we get there (remember I said they are crazy?). I’ve never seen a horse, but it must be pretty big because Larry has been learning how to build a whole house just for the horse!
The lady called Tricia is one of my favorites, but it seems like she never has time to pet me. She is always going somewhere with the kids in the big red box with wheels. When she gets back, she is picks up toys, cleans, organizes and works on the computer. When she is on the computer, she works a lot on something called her family blog, but I just like hiding under the desk and scaring her. I really don’t mean to scare her, but I can’t help myself. That computer has a mouse! The real reason she is my favorite is that she cooks some great food. But she is crazy just like the rest of them because when I get on the counter to eat WHATEVER she is cooking, she yells “You are not a dog, you shouldn’t like that!” Of course I’m not a dog! See what I mean? Crazy! Recently, she left for a whole weekend, and when she came back, she had a bunch of books with pictures in them. The whole family was excited and spent a long time looking at them.
The oldest boy they call Robby is getting pretty big. He is in the 5th grade now and really likes to play soccer. He seems really happy when gets to be the goalie. He says the 5th grade is hard, but he likes to do math the most. One day, all the family including a visiting older lady they called “Grandma Andersen” were very sad because Robby’s pet hamster died. All the kids went outside while the big guy dug a hole and buried the poor thing. I promised Robby I had nothing to do with its death! Hamsters taste terrible! Robby told me that he and the big guy are going to make me and the mean cat something we can climb and play on, but we’ll probably have to wait until we move. Robby and I get along really well. He really likes animals and even has learned how to ride a horse! My favorite game to play with Robby is to sneak up on him when he is sleeping. When he moves his feet under the covers I attack them! That is a really fun game, but I don’t think he likes it much because he always calls the big guy to take me out of his bed when I play. Robby also likes to roll these little balls called Bakugan. They seem to be a very popular game for boys as most of his friends have them too. I like to bat at them when he plays, but he doesn’t like when I do that either!
Kaitlyn is the oldest girl and is in the 3rd grade. She says she really likes school and the lady is always excited when she brings home her report cards. Kaitlyn really likes to play with me too, but I’m not allowed to visit when she has her bunny. Kaitlyn is always helping the lady take care of the little guy called Tommy. She also might be a teacher because she often plays school with my special Kimberlyn.
While Robby seems to like horses, I’d have to say Kaitlyn loves them! She has clothes that have horses on them and even has her own special seat that she uses to ride them! They call it an English saddle, but I have not heard it speak even once. She has been in two horse shows where she gets all dressed up in fancy clothes and rides the horse in front of judges. Everyone says she is a “natural." Also, the lady recently took her to learn how to sew. I don’t know what that means, but when she came home, she brought the most comfortable pillow case I have ever slept on! She even made pajama pants with (of course) horses on them. I also like Kaitlyn because she plays music on the piano. She has been taking lessons since April.
Kimberlyn is in kindergarten and her teacher told the lady that Kimberlyn was the best behaved kid in the whole class! I miss her when she is gone, but when she gets home, she carries me around everywhere. I have to admit that I scratch her sometimes when I want down, but I still love her. I even snuggled with her the first night I spent at her house. Kimberlyn has tons of stuffed animals and loves to play with them. She is also learning how to read and spell and is always spelling things to the big guy. Kaitlyn the teacher is even showing her how to add and subtract! Kimberlyn also says she likes to ride ponies, but I hope she keeps on liking me the best! Besides, she already plays way too much with those stuffed animals called Webkins, and would you believe some of those things even live in the computer! Kimberlyn also asked Jesus to live in her heart this year, but she wants to wait to get baptized because she is a little nervous about it.
The little guy called Tommy thinks I am his leader. He always follows me around and tries to talk like me by saying “EeeeOwww.” Sometimes, he can be a little rough especially when he points at my face and says “Nose” and “Ear”, and he even grabs my head and gives me kisses right on my mouth! But, I’m not the only animal he loves. Really, every animal he sees gets him all excited—especially birds (can you blame him?). Tommy seems like he is doing very well and is talking more and more, but he sure does get angry when the big guy or the lady take things away from him! They are always chasing him around and taking things away like the lady’s glasses, scissors, bottles of soap (he calls them “bubbles”) and the big guy’s keys. Sometimes, he even tries to throw them in the trash! I also think he is excited about his second birthday (Christmas day) because he keeps trying to open his presents! Just like his Great Grandpa Dougherty, Tommy really likes trains. Kaitlyn the seamstress even made him a train pillow case!
I better quit typing. The big guy will get mad at me if he finds me on his laptop, and I think he is getting up to go to school. I hope God places you on a life changing path like he did for me. It has been pretty scary at times, but I learned that as long as I listened to Him, things would be okay.

God bless,
Rascal and family.