Christensen Christmas Letter 2020

December 2020

Dear Friends and Family,

What a year! So many things have changed, and yet I find that I still have a lot to be grateful for, and I hope that you do too. My goal word of the year was “JOY” and I find joy best when I focus on what is good, and on the wonderful people I know! There’s a lot to cover--our last letter was 2 years ago!

Trisa is back to the last name of Christensen, and as always, is someone we all love to talk to and hang out with-- with her dog Chewy of course. She has awesome friends in Cedar City who have given her safe places to stay, babies to hold, children to play with, and adults to talk to. She is a good friend in return. Trisa is still teaching Kindergarten. She taught online at the end of the last school year. This year she is back in the classroom teaching kids who wear masks, argue over funny things, and have Trisa’s heart even when they’re naughty.

Tia and Mike live in Provo. Tia keeps lots of people looking beautiful while Mike keeps Provo safe from the “bad guys”. Mike graduated from BYU last December and then promptly went off to be trained as a policeman. He works for the Provo police department and doesn’t always appreciate our prayers that his work will be safely boring :-). Mike and Tia travel as often as they can. This year they did a quick one to South Dakota when Tia was going stir crazy and saw Mount Rushmore. They went to Michigan twice (where Mike’s parents are). The second trip to Michigan was after going to Chicago to attend his brother Nick’s wedding to Lindsay. YAY! We love it when Tia and Mike come over. They make me smile. Teddy can’t decide whether to love Mike or bark at him. Mike said, “Teddy and I have a complicated relationship.”

Kayli is super awesome and I am really glad that she hangs out here with us when she isn’t working or hanging out with cousin Avery or other friends. She still works for Nutra Connection, and she is going to school on the computer via the Pathways program. She is Teddy’s dog momma and takes really good care of her cute doggie. She also became an honorary aunt this year when her friends Brittany and Kota had their much anticipated little girl. They gave their baby two middle names -- one of which is Marie after our Kayli Marie. Kayli loves that baby and her parents! So do we. We were blessed to be able to attend the Payson temple with Kayli in October.

Connor got home from his mission to Japan! Okay. So that was April of 2019. Eventually his fondest dreams came true and he was able to date Amanda Wilcox, get engaged, and then married! As of August 28, 2020 she is now Amanda Christensen! They were married in the Payson temple and they live in Cedar City. They helpfully visit Chewy sometimes when Trisa is teaching school. Connor works at Walmart and Amanda is a teacher’s aide. They both “attend” SUU (online). Due to their busy schedules we don’t see them as much as we’d like, but we love them!

Jake graduated from high school in 2020 and was pleased as punch not to have to attend graduation. He did miss going to school though. He had good friends there and misses seeing them still. This summer he went to volunteer at Agape, a food pantry / thrift store up the street from us and was given a job. It’s not a lot of hours, but they are thankful for him and can never say enough good things about him. Jake is great. He uses his muscles and good skills to help out, at AGAPE and at home, a LOT. One of his favorite things in the world is having his siblings home.

Dan has had a stressful year, but I’ve gotten to spend more time with him while trying to give him breaks from doing school by himself, and he’s gotten to spend a lot of time with his “twin” cousin Caleb who is doing online school in Idaho. I can hear them in the other room chatting away while playing some online game together. The bonus of him not really going anywhere is that he has had a healthier year than any I can remember.

Derek and I decided that the middle of a pandemic was a good time to sell the house we’d lived in for over 21 years and build a home on the land we’ve owned up in Elk Ridge for almost 16 years. Naturally, nothing went quite as planned. The house sold in 6 hours and we didn’t even have house plans yet! Thankfully our next door neighbor had a “spare” house he rented to us that is only about 3 blocks from our old house and in the same ward (church) boundaries. Our house is designed, water shares we didn’t know we needed are bought, and our builder (Zions Builders, owned by my friend Shannon’s husband Dave) has got the footings in and the foundation is coming soon!

The country shut down while Derek was in Orlando on a work trip. He came home and has worked from home ever since. In our old house there was an office. Here there is an unfinished basement (brrrr). I like having him home. His commute was kind of long and here he can occasionally go for a walk with us, or come up for lunch. He probably makes dinner more often than I do, and it’s kind of fun that he gives the kids and Teddy “the rock” and me a hug and a kiss (ewww says Dan) before heading to work.

I belatedly discovered Pinterest last year and have really enjoyed doing projects that I found on there. I love finding ways to make things better and organizing things in better ways! I have discovered a love for thrift shopping and I even bought a table at D.I. and turned it into a game table with a checker board on it! Fun! I am still over the children in our church congregation even though we are not meeting together as a group. I haven’t done a lot in this capacity, but I have done a puppet show or two and I miss seeing the kids! My health is mostly good. The pile of meds I take in the morning and evening fix the arrhythmia, make it less likely cancer will return, and keep me from spending lots of time crying in my room with depression. Yay for that!

This is last December (thus no Amanda) and also the reason we weren't wearing masks!

 

This is cute Amanda!

We love our good family, friends, and neighbors and do our best to love everyone we come across in our day to day existence. We love Christmas and the chance to focus on Christ and all that we have because of Him! May He bless us all as we move into a new year to be able to focus on the good, and find lots of joy in doing so.

Love from,
Sherie and Derek Christensen (and family)