This is our 14th annual Christmas letter. A lot happens in fourteen years, and even though I often have projected myself into the future and imagined what my children and my life might be like in five or ten or twenty years...I am surprised and delighted by how The Future is unfolding. Here are a few snippets from Christmas letters past:
"It's like watching two bear cubs or puppies tumbling, cuffing, rolling, pummelling and snarling...Isaac does love his kindergarten year, especially the number 5...our next vehicle will have to be an airporter...Mary has begun the harp...hate to sound like a broken record, but we had a baby this year...Breann has her learner's license...Noah learned to lie...Albert kissed his 30's goodbye...machine gun, battle, spy and attack are now regular household words... Isaac made his First Holy Communion...nights at Shawnigan Lake...this year, our eldest daughter graduated...actually, they're pretty fascinated by dead creatures, too...he gets to be a big brother this summer...My prenatal chart refers to me as an "elderly multigravida"...our great joy was the arrival of our beautiful little daughter...Mary also has a personality...Isaac thinks he's cool, therefore he is...did I mention the laundry?...Saturday mornings are committed to doing nothing...if you have a protruding eyeball, Lucy's the gal to see in our family...Albert continues to be the cornerstone of the family...he is missing several teeth...Breann took to New York...babies and ball gowns...Lucy sings. A lot...he and Abel have an unhealthy competition vying for their baby sister's attention...the rest of the children aren't mendicants yet...her plans for the future include marrying Abel...whacking one another...please stop by...she lives in her apron and pours over cookbooks...
road trips...baby years behind us..."
And, so. Lydia (8) is becoming every inch the lady. She is quiet (except when she's not), pensive, studious and artistic. A silly streak has surfaced this year that we had no idea was part of her natural inclinations. Under the mentorship of Abel, she's discovered a latent sanguinity that revealed in unexpected running, shrieking and joy.
Abesy Babes (11) has a new hobby. Besides goofing off and quoting movies in accents, he works with leather. He makes things, clothing and book covers and Items of Beauty and Useful Things, too. He sews, rivets, laces, tools and pounds. With more focus than I ever imagined for an eleven year old boy he is developing quite an artistic talent and artisan skill. He sometimes disappears for hours at a time, bangs on things in the workshop and comes upstairs with a newly manufactured leather product. His affection is contagious.
Noah Joe (14) will be fifteen in just a few weeks. Imagine. He will always be a little boy in my heart. The teen years have not altered the way Noah relates to the world by very many degrees. He's good and kind. He is quickly catching up to me in height, and has long since surpassed me in charity and humility.
Everyone should have a Noah.
Isaac (17) has gone off to college at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom. His first semester away from home has, by all accounts, been successful on every front, academically, socially and most importantly growing into an adult faith life. I miss him more than words can say. Every phone call home from Ontario ends with me wiping tears from the corners of my eyes. Every household conversation seems to be missing something. Someone. Some opinion. We don't know yet what his plans for next year may be.
Mary (20). Well she has some pretty big news. Her and her Francis, are engaged to be married this coming year on May 2nd. They are knee deep in wedding plans, and well, now that she is about to share her life with Another, she will also share a paragraph with him. Mary and Francis are blooming in their exceptional complementarity. He draws her out. She's his filter. He reaches for the stars, she keeps his feet on ground. It is beautiful to see them grow together and as individuals as they move towards married life. Mary is working locally for a family doing child care and Francis is hard at work with computers, schooling and adoring Mary. Everyone should love their future in-laws as much as we do. We're blessed.
Lucy (23) is home this year, after four years away. It's good to have her back, and filling the halls with song. She has just completed a Doula program and is hanging out waiting for babies to be born. While she's waiting she cooks, cleans and looks after children, primarily for other fellows. And in all the spare moments between responsibilities, she hangs out with her Ian, who has won the hearts of more than one Landry let me tell you. Ian doesn't get to share a paragraph yet.
Breann (27) is living in her cute apartment in Duncan. She's been tutoring homeschooled kids in a The Lord of the Rings course...um, ideal? And now she's been offered additional courses to teach in January. Teaching is natural for her, she loves the kids, the dynamics and the challenge. As she has since she was very small, she spends much time writing and creating. The highlight of Breann's year was playing Juliet (of the Romeo and...fame) with a local theatre company, and playing a lead in a modern play by another local theatre company. She was brilliant. It was one of our highlights to see her talent and to wonder at how far she's come in the last year.
Albert and I have had an eventful year. In addition to the usual family life activities that we participate in, we took the four youngest on an extended road trip down the coast of Washington, Oregon and California...spent a few days in Southern California and headed home on the I-5. Just about the time Isaac decided to head off to Ontario for school, and Albert and I were adjusting to "only three" children at home...Lucy moved home. And then Mary moved home. I think I read something about this phenomenon...The Future that we're presently living, is, as always brimming with life and love. Albert and I have time for different things now. It's cool. It feels weird.
We like it.
"Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home rejoicing brought me."
The King of Love My Shepherd Is
(23rd Psalm, hymn by Henry Baker)
Merry Christmas, from the Landrys