Christmas Letter 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2009!!!!

Home for the Holidays…. and this time it’s for good! This year has been such a busy year for us with many changes and also lots of fun and great memories. We have gotten used to warmer and mostly foggy Christmases by Baker beach and the Golden Gate Bridge. We really did leave our hearts in San Francisco and we miss it a lot. Now we have SNOW and bitter cold and beautiful REAL Christmas trees that smell so good, and best of all…FAMILY!! It’s great to be back in Canada this Christmas.

NATE – This has been his break out year as he went from knowing only a few words and short phrases in the spring to copying Ki’s every word and singing the words to Your Love by The Outfield and Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi. Nate has loved being so close to his grandparents and loves to go visit them every chance he can get. Nate has come up with some pretty cute expressions this year. The most memorable one being when he would growl at you and then say ‘Be Happy’ in his cute little voice. He is getting so big and is still so squeezable. He loves his brother and they are the best of friends.

KI – When we started dental school Ki was one and we used to think what it would be like when Ki was four. Now he’s half way to five and is so proud of how big he is getting. Ki is the helper around the house (for the most part) and he loves to make his brother happy (also for the most part). Ki has become such a bright and creative boy. He loves to build new and creative things out of Lego and has been such a great example for Nate to follow. Ki has become a little computer whiz and loves to play interactive games with letters and numbers. Lately he has gotten pretty good at spelling small words and is proud that he can count to 20. Ki is looking forward to doing some gymnastics starting in the New Year.

NADINE - This year has been a bittersweet one. Bitter because she had to leave an amazing city and amazing friends behind and move to Canada, and sweet because she is so close to family. The move was hard but she is enjoying living in Okotoks and loves living in a bigger house. Nadine is still very busy with the boys but is finding more time now to do some of the things she loves. The summer was awesome with the Woolf family reunion, Echo lake, and getting to go back to Brett’s mission in Peru for 2 weeks. She is all ready for Christmas and loves the REAL tree and the many traditions that create so many awesome memories.

BRETT – This year was a huge one for him having finally achieved the end result of so many years of studying by graduating from Dental School and moving home to Canada to start practicing with his Dad. What made 2009 an even better year for him was taking his wife to Peru for 2 weeks to tour his mission and see all the things that made it such a great experience. It has been hard not being so close to his brother but it’s been great to have some family nearby to share great experiences with. He misses San Francisco with all its sights, tastes and sounds and hopes to go back soon.

We are looking forward to a great (and hopefully WHITE) Christmas with family and friends. We wish everyone the best Christmas ever as we remember the real meaning of the holiday season. Love,

Brett, Nadine, Ki and Nate Williams

The Nativity and P.J Elf

Christmas Eve

We had a little Christmas get together at Boehme's. Emily made homemade soup that was so yummy especially with most of us coming in from playing in the snow and on the snowmobile. We also had Costco appetizers and some of Emily's Christmas baking.

We ended the evening with the kids and Grandpa Dave acting out the Saviors birth in the Bible. The kids did so good!!

I can't stop laughing at Nate's smile and his ears. He's so funny!!

The Shepard's/Wise Men doing double duty. They did great carrying their gifts to Jesus.

See I told you he really likes his elbow. He has to pose like this in almost every picture. I think Emma taught him that pose.

All the kids heard P.J. Elf on the roof this year.

Christmas was so fun this year and was especially great to finally be living in Canada. Santa was so good to us this year too. The boys got some playdough and crayola wonder coloring pages for quite time, and the Geo Trax Train set with the Airport/Heliport addition. That was the only thing that they asked Santa for this year. They both were so excited to get it and they both play with it so much. I got ALL winter gear for the cold Canadian winters. It's so nice to have warm winter boots and my own snow pants for whenever I want to play in the snow with the kids. "Thank you Santa, where ever you are". I love Christmas time. I love spending time with family.

Christmas Day activities

I again took on the task to get the turkey and stuffing all ready. I actually enjoy cooking turkeys now. Practice makes perfect, right!!

All the women in the kitchen preparing the BIG Christmas meal

Look at that beautiful Christmas Day sunset in the back ground

Mia pretending to read a book to Ava, Nate and Ki. I love listening to Mia read a story to the kids. She's actually really good at making the story up.

Nate is in love with his elbow

Went to watch Mik, Miken and Elaine play basketball

I made the boys Christmas ties!! I couldn't find any that I loved so I went and found my own material. I thought they turned out great.

We took this picture at the church before everyone went there separate ways. I'm so glad we got all of my mom and dad's grandchildren together again for an updated picture. I think they all look so cute in there Christmas outfits.
Sledding in my parents fields with the quad. Brett even tried snowboarding behind the quad and it actually works good. I'm so glad we had a white Christmas this year. Playing in the snow is so so fun!!

Ki's first primary talk

The topic that he spoke on was SERVICE. The scripture of the month in primary was Mosiah 2:17 "...when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God." So me and Ki both decided that we would think of things to show how to serve others and then take pictures of those actions.

So after quoting the scripture Ki held up these pictures and then told his primary This is how I serve others by;

Opening the door for someone.

Waving and saying hello to people.

Shoveling snow for our neighbors.

Taking out the garbage.

Taking a meal over to someone who is sick.

Smiling

Sharing my toys with my brother and with my friends.

Making cookies and taking them to our neighbors.

When I serve others it makes me happy, and when I am happy my family is happy.

We practiced and practiced at home but Ki was really scared to stand up in front of all the primary kids. So I had to say the talk while he held up his pictures. I guess the more you do talks in primary the less scared you get. I still am proud of Ki helping me with his talk and saying it all by his self at home in front of his family. I hope he now knows how to serve others.

Happy Birthday to ME!!

My birthday was a quiet but nice day. I hung out with the boys and Elaine all day doing nothing but relaxing. The was my wish. Elaine and I did go and get a frosty from Dairy Queen and then we headed back to my house to watch Brothers and Sisters that was recorded from the previous night. For supper, Brett, the kids and I went for dinner to moxie's and then later went to pick out a birthday cake at Safeway. We went to Sharon and Dave's to blow the candles out and cut the cake. My favorite part of the day was getting phone calls and emails all day long from friends and family wishing me a happy birthday. My special day was perfect!!

The next day Brett had the day off so we went to town and I got to pick out my birthday present. I got my very own bike. I never have had my very own before so I was really excited (that's what happens when you grow up with a lot of siblings... I'm not complaining though. I loved growing up in a big family). Now I can't wait to buy a bike trailer to pull the kids in for the spring and summer months. Thank you to everyone for making my day perfect.


Happy Birthday to my Mom. We are November twins and I love having a birthday close to hers.

Halloween...

Stirring and Stirring and Stirring our Brew.... Ooo, Ooo
Stirring and Stirring and Stirring our Brew.... Ooo, Ooo
Tip toe, Tip toe BOO!!!

The boys love sing this song for Halloween and trying to scare us with their "BOO's". We love Halloween!!

We went to a Halloween party at Elaine's house. It was really entertaining and Spooky...

I made these mini wiener mummies for the party. I thought they turned out so cute.

Ki was spider-man, Nate was super-man, and I was suppose to be cat-women.

Nate didn't want anything to do with the pumpkins guts

We thought that our pumpkins turned out pretty good this year.

The boys were so cute in their costumes. Nate would fly around the house making airplane noises

Our traditional stew in a pumpkin.