Our Christmas Letter

Dear Santa The Claus,

Hello Santa, it’s MoMo. Mommy and Daddy have asked me to write the Christmas letter, again, this year. Daddy said that I either write the Christmas letter or I could go to timeout for 3 minutes, since I was hitting Tuffy. Santa, do you know how long 3 minutes is? Forever, believe me.

In February, we celebrated Tanner’s 1 year happy liver operation anniversary. We had a big party and everyone dressed up with these big beads ‘round their necks and wore funny looking hats. Daddy explained to T and I that the beads came from Louisiana. Daddy started to explain how one gets the beads in Louisiana, but Mommy yelled at him to not say anything else and sent Daddy to timeout. Now, Santa, 30 minutes is a LOOONG time out.

This summer, we started attending “school". Poor Mommy and Daddy. Tanner and I had never been out of the home environment before. We were in daycare 3 days the first 2 weeks of daycare. One day Daddy had to pick T and me up at daycare ‘cause I had vomited. As Daddy was putting me into the car, I not only vomited on him again, but I produced this nasty smelling stuff out of my other end. Later that night when Daddy was preparing to bath T and me, T decided to warm up Daddy’s side by peeing on him. Now, Santa, you know that Daddy has a bad temper, but that day, Daddy never lost his cool. I think that Daddy felt sorry for us.

School is very good for us. There are kids in our classroom from our age all the way through five years old. Man, those kids are ANCIENT. We learn our ABCs and get to color and paint. We get to have recess outside, and we have lots of friends there. Tanner is in a different classroom than I am. Mommy says that Tanner is more vocal & independent now – I think he’s gotten a little sassy being in that other room.

Mommy & Daddy take us to school everyday so that they can go to work. Daddy is still working as a Design Engineer at GB. Mommy is still at Q, although her job has shifted some. She travels occasionally, but that’s ok. When she travels, Grandpa Three Hairs or Grandma Red come down to help Daddy out. And then, we get spoiled ferociously.

On Father’s Day, Daddy took me out to the mailbox. Daddy looked at all of the letters, but he kept saying bad words at one, thin envelope. After looking at Daddy’s face, I’m not about to repeat them. When we got back into the house, Daddy started yelling as loud as I have ever heard him before. I thought that I was heading to timeout, again. Daddy than ran down the stairs with me in toe to tell Mommy that he “passed”, he “passed.” Daddy had finally passed his professional engineers exam after trying 4 times.

In September, we went on our first family vacation to St. Louis. We made six trips to parks, two trips to the zoo to see the tigers, elephants, rhinos, monkeys, and penguins, and one trip to the doctor. We also went to Grant’s Farm where we fed camels, watched another elephant, saw these big ponies that Daddy told us pull the beer carts, and spotted some buffaloes. Are there any buffaloes at the North Pole, Santa? The last day, we went back to the Build-a-Bear at the zoo. We got to make our very own stuffed aminal. T made an elephant named “Ross” in honor of his liver doctor, and I named my tiger “Tigger.” They are our best friends now.

This fall we also joined a local health club. Mommy and Daddy say it’s fancy. All I know is that they have a great play area with slides, half a gymnasium and they will let me color whenever I want – and no parents are allowed. We kick Mommy & Daddy out for two full hours. It’s good for Tanner & I to have some time without Mommy & Daddy.

In November, I got really sick and had to go see the doctor. I had pneumonia in my left lung. I was also told that I might be asthmatic, but we won’t know until I’m about 5, when I can blow into a big tube. For now, I take some medicines that help me breathe better. Mommy and Daddy are sad about this, but I gave them a kissy. It’s amazing Santa what a kissy and a tight squeeze will do for Mommy and Daddy when they are sad.

Daddy and Mommy are also saying how fast T and I are growing. When Daddy asks me if I am “his baby,” I keep reminding him I’m a big girl - I’m 2½ now and I even potty-trained myself. Tanner’s big, too – he actually has packed on a lot of weight lately and actually weighs more than me now.

Hmmm…I guess you could say that we’ve had a really big year. Thankfully, it is mostly good news and neither Tanner nor I have spent any nights away from Mommy or Daddy (although Daddy keeps mumbling something about he doesn’t think that is such good news).

Give Mrs. Santa Clause & Rudolph a big kissy and tight squeeze from us. And to everyone else that reads my letter to Santa Clause, remember to keep the Christmas spirit and have a safe, healthy, & happy holiday season.

Morgan & Tanner
(Randy & Stacy)