This Year's Christmas Letter-- on December 30th!

Dear Family and Friends,
The fact that I am writing a Christmas letter on December 30 might give you an idea of what kind of year we’ve had. I should be taking down the tree and getting the grading done for report cards, but I would rather take this time to send a holiday greeting and touch base with you all.
The May flood didn’t wash us away, but it did a tremendous amount of damage to our part of town. We are still seeing the vestiges of the high water. We walked along one of our greenway trails this week and saw a truck tailgate way up in a tree next to the Harpeth River! We had quite a bit of damage at the golf course, and it took a lot of hard work to bring it back. The creek deposited about 5 feet of sand on one fairway and green, plus lots of debris everywhere. We thought we had lost the whole clubhouse, but were very thankful that only the basement garage flooded and the driving range structure washed away. We went to the Opryland Hotel in early December and it seems just like it used to be—but we could see the water line in the trees outside our window!
Without dwelling too much on the bad stuff, I can say that we are looking forward to a better 2011. David’s mother passed away the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and his father has been in declining health throughout the whole year. He is now in assisted living, which is a great relief to us.
Now for the more positive stuff—David is still traveling a lot and enjoying success with Vernier. We took advantage of some of his more interesting trips this year and accompanied him to Idaho and Utah. We also went to the consultant’s meeting in Portland, Oregon this summer. It looks like we’ll have the opportunity to go to Hawaii again as well!
Ben is a sophomore at Hume Fogg High School. He is doing well, although I will say this year has presented more of a challenge than previous years. He is having to work much harder, and staying organized is even more of a challenge than before. (Isn’t that true for all of us?)He still plays the violin, and was a part of the orchestra for the school production of Les Miserables. I have to admit some skepticism about a high school putting on a play like Les Mis, but they were terrific. All of the parents and teachers were very proud!
Olivia started kindergarten this year! It’s hard to believe our baby is ready for school, but off she goes with her stuffed animal every day! She spends a lot of time with Mimmie, my mom, who lives in the basement mother-in-law apartment. Olivia is our artist. She amazes us with her drawings and 3D constructions.
I started at a new school AGAIN this year. Other than the distance, it is an ideal place for me, working with a principal I worked with before. I am serving the inner city kids, which is definitely my passion. I am a Model Classroom teacher, which means that I share a classroom with another veteran teacher and we coach other teachers as part of our day. It’s been a treat to have another person to plan with for these children, and we have had what feels like significant success.
We hope this letter finds you well, happy, and looking forward to the new year. Please look us up and pay us a visit if you're ever this way!