Happy Holidays from The Graysons

2004 was another great year for our family, healthy and happy and full of fun. No big changes, though - we're still in the same house, the same jobs and the same school - and that's fine by us!

Jonathan turned nine in September and is in the 3rd grade this year. He played soccer in the spring, but took a break this fall. In addition to Cub Scouts, he finally gave in to Mom's urging and joined the church children's choir this fall - and he really likes it. In fact, he played the role of Joseph in this year's Advent musical, which included singing a short duet with the girl who played "Mary"! Jonathan loves computer games, and plays every day as much as he's allowed. He's also big into the "Yu-Gi-Oh!" trading card game; the way he can recite the details of his hundreds of cards is stunning. He really is turning out to be quite a logical and analytical guy - sometimes he's too smart for our own good. And his sense of humor is getting pretty sharp, too.

Mary turned six in the spring and is now in 1st grade, where she loves to read, write and draw, and does very well at all of those. She played soccer last spring, but switched to dance lessons in the fall. Tap is her favorite; we look forward to her first recital next year. She is in the children's choir at church again this year. At home she likes to play with her Polly Pocket dolls or draw and color. She often writes letters or makes cards for her friends, or her stuffed animals, or us. She also loves to play with Jonathan: computer games, Yu-Gi-Oh cards (she has her own deck), or just running around, inside and out. She's really developing her own unique senses of humor and fashion, both a little offbeat, but fun and cute! She likes any color as long as it's purple, or is fuzzy, or sparkles.

We were lucky to be able to travel a few times this year. In the spring we took a short but exciting trip to Fort Worth, by Amtrak rather than by car. The train was fun, and much more spacious than airplanes are, but not having a car when we got there was tricky. In the summer, we had another awesome week in the Outer Banks of NC with Chris' family. All 14 of us made it again; the kids played hard for the entire week, at the beach house, in the pool or at the beach. Later in the summer, we spent a hot but fun day at Six Flags in San Antonio. We spent about half the time keeping cool in the water park, and Jonathan rode his first "big" coaster, which he loved.

Laurie babysat full-time for our new niece, Noelle (Sarah's baby), from mid-February until school let out last May. She holds a new position on Children's Council at church this year, as acolyte coordinator (which makes Jonathan the #1 acolyte substitute). This school year, she volunteers in both classrooms, as well as the library. Chris is still programming for BMC. He's enjoying some time off now, after a year of many weekends and evenings at the office. Yet even with all that, he still spends plenty of time in front of our Mac at home. He and Laurie are co-chairs of the School Supplies Sales for our PTA.

We adopted two four-month-old kitties from the animal shelter at the end of last year. One's white, and one's black - we named them Misty & Moria (names that Lord of the Rings fans will recognize). They've grown into good big cats, and have become full members of our family - the kids really love playing with them. This is their first real Christmas, so they are busy attacking the tree, and we're busy chasing them.

We hosted Thanksgiving and an early Christmas party with Laurie's family, so our Christmas day will be spent quietly here at home. The kids will both sing at our candlelight Christmas Eve service. We hope that your year has been great and we wish you a happy holiday season and a bright new year.

Love,

The Graysons
Chris, Laurie, Jonathan & Mary
cgrayson@storycards.net
http://storycards.net/family