Merry Christmas letter from the Pagets as told by the MATRIARCH

My parents put out a notoriously epic Christmas card every year.  I've never felt the need because 1) I'm in my parent's card anyway and they send it EVERYWHERE, I mean every single continent.  Probably.  Also, 2) sending Christmas cards would involve my nemesis, the US postal service, 3) I already make an anniversary video, so the nostalgia is taken care of, and 4) ugh.

But now that I'm a grown-up technically, and my parents are busy slaving away in China hence no card this year, I figure I'll take up a teeny part of the slack and write something.  Except I really hate those Christmas letters, so I challenged Jared to a card-off in the hopes that we'll end up with something representative of our family.  And since I'm using the computer with access to our photos, mine will be shinier.  So I'm already ahead!

Life in the Paget family has been super awesome this year.  There has been a minimal amount of vomit, almost all the family members now regularly eliminate in the toilet, and the kids are still willing to eat the same breakfast every.single.day.  

Reason 1 the year was awesome:  There was like, no winter.  It was FABULOUS.  This was taken in March, but it could have been January.  

 Do you notice the absence of snow pants?  I DO.

  Reason 2:  You see all these people?  All these people are awesome, and more importantly - fit into our house at the same time.  I've only been married 7 years (8 next month!) but to me it is astounding I had enough towels to accommodate this many guests.  And this many people spent the majority of time in our house because it was a kajillion degrees all summer long and being outside was a terrible idea. 

 And then when we did venture outside, this face happened.  So that was awesome.

 Reason 3: We got a slip n' slide.

 Reason 4: Solei got to go to kindergarten FINALLY.

 Reason 5: I got Forster to sit still long enough to get a picture of him next to a sign that said Knuckle Head.

 Reason 6: We survived yet another birthday party for Solei where I lost my head and invited every female in town.  The screaming.  OH THE SCREAMING.

Reason 7: I have a decent reason for getting to eat an entire meal of condiments and call it a "craving."

 Reason 8: Jared got me a remote for the camera so this picture could happen:

 And these kids continue to astound us with their massive brains and ability to embarrass us in public.

Just you wait until you are teenagers.  JUST YOU WAIT.

And the final reason is that we got to survive this crazy year together.  Jared changed jobs, sold his motorcycle and jeep and then bought another jeep and ensured the Paget name will live on in at least two male heirs.  I recorded and produced an entire album with my band in 24 hours and I now own enough yoga pants to not have to wear any jeans at all.  But the yoga pants are all the same brand so it looks like I'm wearing the same pants every day and this does not bother me in the slightest.  I am now of the age where this matters little.  In fact, some mornings I drop Solei off at school and have to check to make sure I'm wearing a shirt.  So far so good!

All in all, we feel very blessed, tired, and sometimes gassy.  We hope you have a marvelous Christmas!!

Okay Jared, whatCHUgot???

added: Okay, he officially wins.

Merry Christmas from the Pagets

(The ones that are in rural Wisconsin, remember us?)

As the year comes to a close and letters and cards come from all over the world in various shades of Christmas red and green, our thoughts have turned to how we also have done things that we feel are marginally better than everyone else.  Therefore I have chosen to conquer the annual Christmas letter (adding this conquest to homemade bread, homemade pizza, large messes, spreadsheets, snarky facebooks comments, and drinking milk.)  Strap on your “I care” cape and hold on for the ride:

When Reva and I were married, we both wanted to have four kids.  After our first was born, we both thought that maybe that was a little aggressive and we should maybe only have 3.  After our second was born, that number dropped to two.  We were happy and loved our kids (for the record both children are still loved.)  After some powerful amnesia and celestial prodding we made the decision to try for a third.  We were wildly successful and are expecting numero 3 sometime in late February.  It’s a BOY!!!  I’d love to name him Guy Incognito Paget - but Reva’s not on board... yet.  I’m pretty sure that all the internal kidney kicking he’s doing is a result of her refusal to accept the name.

Now for the post-utero offspring: Child #1 - aka Solei - had a spectacular year.  After some small effort, Solei finished 4-K with a bang!  For a girl who learned her alphabet and numbers at 16 months, 4-K was not so challenging.  She has a great love of science and reading.  Kindergarten has been a lot of fun for Solei, who loves nothing more than to go to school.  Solei loves to fight with the neighbors bears and even beat a pack of wolves with her bare hands.  She’s a beautiful little girl who is a great joy to our family.

Child #2 - aka  Forster - has made leaps and bounds this year.  He went from being a loud, energetic toddler to being a loud, energetic little boy.  He is all boy - he loves trucks, tractors, and trying to seriously injure his father.  His favorite greeting is ramming his whole body, full force, into the crotch of the person he is greeting.  Not so bad for the lady folk, but for us guys he needs an education - “That’s My Purse!”  Forster is nearly potty trained.  He loves wearing underpants, but not actually going potty in the potty.  Those are mutually exclusive in our home.  Reva’s been working on using the hours upon hours she has him sitting on the potty to teach him to read.  He’s getting pretty good with sight words, but phonetic pronunciation is as awkward and infrequent as emotion coming from Kristen Stewart.  Forster is not the bear wrestler his sister is, they are too easy an opponent for him.  He’s enjoyed wrestling dump trucks.

Reva’s had a great year.  She spent the majority of the year as a Pinterest missionary.  Her conversions have been many.  She’s also taken on a challenge in which she takes a photo every day for a year - the only trick is that she has to be in said picture.  It’s been an interesting challenge for her - that has produced literally thousands of photos of her appendages.  She spent the year as the President of the Young Womens organization in our congregation.  Reva and her trio, The Blarney Girls, played the N. GA Scottish Games in June.  They, of course, were awesome and were invited back for an unprecedented 7th year next year.  Reva was also impregnated by an attractive gentleman with whom she shares a marriage.  

Jared’s year has been spectacular and disappointing at the same time.  Our hearts were broken on election night when Jared only garnered 6 votes for president.  In other news, Jared received 6 votes for president of the USA!  How impressive is that?  We have 4 years to perfect the message before the next election.  While waiting to move into the oval office, Jared took a new position with a Dairy Equipment Company in Madison - not stereotypical at all, is it?  We lost two members of our family this year when Jared had to sell is CJ7 and Motorcycle.  It was a sad parting on both parts.  They’ve been replaced (just yesterday) with a Jeep Grand Cherokee.  You can’t ever really replace a family member, but it’s nice to not have something with 4x4 to drive in the winter.  

Our pet monkey still has not arrived, so we can imagine what he did this year:  Furious George was quite the handful this year.  His penchant for excrement diffusion would be useful on a farm, but not in a home.  The carpets are not enjoying our friendly little pet either.  When he got loose this summer he bit the mailman, so our mail is not delivered to our home anymore.  This winter he got out and stole Reva’s brown jacket before a trip which apparently ended at an Ikea in Toronto.  Maybe it’s not so bad that our pet monkey hasn’t shown up yet.

We hope that all your lives are wonderful and you have a wonderful 2013.

Love,

The Pagets:

Jared, Reva, Solei, Forster, Guy, and Spaghetti Cat.