Christmas Letter, 2008

(picture taken November 19th on Drew's 3rd birthday. Only recent picture I had with all the kids in it. Myself and Jeff just an added bonus. LOL!)

Dear family and friends,

Merry Christmas, 2008!! Y’all might have thought we dropped off the face of the earth, or that we didn’t like you anymore since you haven’t gotten a card from us is a few years. But to tell the truth, things have just been so CRAZY around here, I haven’t had time to DO Christmas cards! Who knew!? And like other years, you again won’t be getting a card from us this year. I’m convinced that someone has took a few hours out of the day and we no longer have 24 hours. Or the calendar is obviously lying to everyone. So, HERE is your Christmas letter.

First off, the kids are all GREAT! Shelby is 11 and in the 6th grade. She is a cheerleader on the Junior High and Elementary squads and plans on playing basketball for our school’s Little Dribbler team. She has hit the 5 foot mark and her foot is nearly as big as mine; she is always in my closet stealing my shoes and boots! She still loves to read, has learned a few chords on her guitar, and her brother Chance is her biggest worry in her life (he annoys the crap out of her!). Next year she will be able to play volleyball and basketball on the Junior High squad; I can’t believe my little baby is growing up on me.

Ch’ree is 9 and in the 4th grade. She was the only kid in her class to be on A honor roll the first nine weeks, but had a B in Science the second nine weeks. Which is ok, she still had the highest grades in her class. She is still cheering on the elementary squad and will also play Little Dribbler basketball. She is a pretty good kid and seldom have to get onto her. Though she does seem to be in her own little world sometimes. That’s ok, they know her there.

Chance, on the other hand… LOL! No, he’s really a good kid, too. He just LIVES to annoy Shelby, but I think even she will admit that he has his good moments. He is 6 years old and in Kindergarten. He’s nearly a head taller than a few of the kids in his class, so I guess we can say that he IS an Essary!! In fact, he is nearly as tall as Ch’ree! He loves to play Playstation, especially Star Wars games. He is really starting to read a lot and likes math. And you should see the kid dance! He sure can get down and boogie, as he showed everyone at a wedding a couple of months ago.

Drew just turned 3 in November. He is working on getting potty trained, and is such a little snuggle-bug. He loves all of his siblings, and likes to act like a puppy or a kitty, or lately just act like a baby and demand to be held and his sippy cup fed to him. Good thing the other kids don’t mind catering to him. We don’t understand much of what he is saying, but is getting good at playing charades with us.

Jeff has been very active in the community lately. After the big fire 3 years ago he joined our village’s volunteer fire department. Soon he decided that he would be a better asset if he got his EMT-Basic license. Then decided he would be an even BETTER asset if he got his EMT-Intermediate license. Before long, he decided that doing all this as a volunteer was great, but would be even better to be paid for it! So, he applied and was selected to be on the city of Clovis Fire Department. So far he loves it. It took them three weeks to find out his nickname, Jelly. We will see if they stick to using it, since it didn’t seem to upset him that they knew about it. He works 24 hours on, then 48 off. In his off time he still plans on farming and doing custom swathing and baling.

As for me, I just lay around at home. LOL! I’ve been taking 9 hours of online classes from ENMU this semester and made As in all of my classes (History of Western Civilization, Anthropology, and English-short stories). I am still coaching the elementary cheerleaders, as well as taking some of the duties of the Junior High squad. I took them to a 3 day cheer camp this summer and we had a blast! I still run errands for Jeff, help out with the kids classes at school by doing some of the parties and bake sales, driving them around to various activities like games and 4-H. I haven’t had much time for many hobbies, but they will all still be sitting there for when I do have time.

The farm front was a bit dreary this year. Not enough rain and when it did rain it wasn’t at the right time to help out the crop. Add to that the fuel prices and seems everything else shot up. But we are still hanging on. The custom work is still going strong. We lost our beloved German Shephard Tex this past summer, as well as Jeff’s horse Blue in the spring. But we did add to our fold a beautiful Golden Retriever puppy named Scarlet. Drew was attacked by a dog over the summer and was afraid of any dog for a while. But he does love Scarlet.

We only got to go one trip this year, our annual reunion in Mora. It rained most of the time, but we all still managed to have fun, and I managed to keep most of the mud out of the camper. My mother and stepfather and grandmother visited in the Spring to come see the annual Floyd Lion’s Club Country Jamboree. Jeff’s parents were named Floyd Citizens of the Year, which was a big surprise to them. It was difficult keeping it from them, especially since Jeff’s father is on the Lion’s club. Mom and Gram got to come back out this fall and my aunt joined them this time. They got to see Shelby cheer her first Junior High football game.

Jeff and I decided to try out hand at remodeling some of the house earlier this year. I’m happy to report the marriage survived it. Haha! We enclosed the garage, since it was too small to park a pickup in, and turned it into an office. It also houses 4 guitars, 2 amps, the stereo, loveseat, and a treadmill. Hours after we completed that project, Jeff got out the crowbar and started literally attacking the kitchen! Initially we thought we could just reface some things, but soon became evident that it needed to be gutted. We discovered some of the cabinets and sub floor were rotted from a long ago water leak. We really enjoy that space now.

All is well around here. We hope for a bunch of snow to help the ground this winter. We also hope all is well with your lives and families, and hope to see some of you soon!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
With Love,
Jeff and Jenny Essary and family