Christmas Letter 2010

The lights have been hung, the tree has been trimmed and the gifts have been wrapped waiting for Christmas morning. Now we want to draw closer to friends and family by sharing some happenings from this year 2010.

Karen started 1^st grade this year and just loves it. She has made lots of new friends, which she comes home each day asking if she can go play with them. The most exciting thing that happened to her this year is that she lost her first tooth! With another one loose, she is excited to sing “All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth”.

Michael started pre-school and loves learning his letters and numbers etc. He tries to read like his big sister and actually knows a few words now. He has also become quite the ladies man with the pretty girls in his class, which makes dad proud and nervous at the same time. When Michael is not at school, he is playing on the Wii, kicking a soccer ball, running around the house or playing with his sister.

Neils: I continue to work for Winder Farms and I am increasing my knowledge and experience in the information technology field. When not working, you can find me watching my Utah Utes play football, reading history books or serving my community as a community emergency response team leader (CERT). I was able to serve in this capacity when a fire started on the other side of the mountain we live on and raced up and over towards our town. Thankfully the fire was stopped before the evacuation reached our neighborhood, but we still remember the blackened sky filled with smoke and ash, and hope to never experience anything like that again.

Jen: I can describe my year in a single word, busy. It’s crazy to keep up with my kids as they grow! However, with Karen in school and Michael in preschool I find that I have a little time to do things that I want to do. When not running to pick up the kids, playing with them or helping with homework, you can find me shopping, cleaning, reading, doing projects, blogging or playing on facebook. I recently discovered digital scrapbooking and I love it.

Neils watched the Ken Burn’s PBS special on national parks and announced that we must go see America’s first national park, Yellowstone! It was our first family trip and we all loved it. We were fascinated and excited by all the animals and beautiful sights. We could have never done it without our portable DVD player! Thanks Mom & Dad Stark.

Thank you all for your friendship and love. We feel blessed for having you in our lives. We pray that each of you is safe and happy and wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas.

With love, Neils, Jen, Karen & Michael Stark

Christmas Elf

Last year Karen & Michael had some friends that had special Christmas elf visitors and they wanted so much to have one too. So this year we asked Santa if he could send one to us. The day after Thanksgiving we were excited to see that our own elf had come to our home! The kids were just as excited as could be. We had a letter from Santa telling us about our magic elf. When we name the elf he would receive his magic. He watches the kids and each evening returns to Santa to let him know how good the kids were. The elf cannot talk to the kids and we were told that if they touched him he would lose his magic. When Michael heard that he immediately wanted to touch the elf. We were very surprised by this and on asking why, we found out that Michael was very scared of the elf now because he was magic. He wanted to send the elf back to Santa and not have him here at all. We spent a lot of time talking to him and trying to figure out how to handle this. Meanwhile Karen was getting very upset and nearing tears because Michael was going to touch the elf and he would lose his magic. So Mommy and Daddy had to get online and talk with Santa to work out something so Michael wouldn't be scared anymore and Karen wouldn't worry about the elf losing his magic. Santa was very helpful and said that in this special circumstance, Jingle Jangle (the name the kids chose) could keep his magic even if he was touched. This satisfied Karen and after a day with Jingle Jangle (or Elfy for short) Michael was soon excited to have him here too.

Since then our elf has shown up each morning somewhere different. Here are some pictures of our elf's antics.
It's been a lot of fun and the kids are so excited each morning to find out where Elfy is now. On Christmas Eve he will return to Santa until next year. Karen is very sad about this, but I'm sure she will get over it especially after getting presents on Christmas morning. If you haven't heard about Christmas elves you can "google" Elf on the Shelf and you can find out all about how to get one of your own.