Merry Christmas from the Harrises!

Since starting our family I have wanted to send out Christmas cards, and finally in 2013 I did.  I didn’t scan our Christmas card because I wasn’t a huge fan of how it turned out (a little dark).  Next year I will try a different company I think.  Here is our letter for 2013:

Despite living in the hippie capital of the world, we somehow failed to participate in this year’s naked bike ride through downtown Portland, we only went on one Columbia Gorge hike (a very rainy adventure, it’s primary purpose to jump start labor), have not yet gone camping as a family, only went to the Oregon coast once, and we failed to grow a significant garden for the second year in a row.

But, we did start managing $4 billion dollars (of other people’s money), commuted 23,000 miles, drank 35,040 ounces of water (Lucy!), hammered in 2,324 nails, nursed 1,500 times, changed 1,319 diapers, made 1,144 strawberry-chocolate chip pancakes, tolerated 365 trips to the park, swam 312 miles, baked 240 loaves of bread, tossed 104 pizzas, celebrated with 83 spontaneous dance parties, purchased 12 pairs of panties for Elna, spent 7 wonderful days at Wawona in Yosemite and another 7 days on the sandy beaches of the Sea of Cortez, birthed one ADORABLE baby (and thus endured 79 sleepless nights), and became the proud owners of a minivan!  

Brian — accepted new employment 47 miles from home in Hood River, built a new shed/home office, started running at 5 am to prepare for next year’s races, swam every day during lunch, patched many more sections of the roof, and continues to dream of what his next job, car, and house will be!

Lucy — kept at least one of her New Year’s resolutions this year, took a million pictures of the girls,   naturally birthed our sweet little Harriet (in a bathtub!), ran (without training weeks after giving birth) 3.1 miles to lead her triathlon team to a 2nd place finish, tried many new vegan recipes, and dreams of a time when she can fit yoga into her schedule every day and she can start and finish more than two novels a year.

Elna (very two) enjoys playing with her dolls, loves making Hattie laugh, is a comedian and a character, is compassionate yet has the verve of Nicki Minaj, is fearless, especially with water and heights, loves being read to, can do summersaults and the splits, and says the sweetest little prayers all by herself.

Harriet (8 months) is a delightful little girl who quickly learned how to sleep through the night, sit up, crawl, laugh, love, and steal hearts.  She has successfully gotten out of Elna's sleeper holds and is learning how to hold her own with her big sister.

We didn’t read nearly as much as we have in years past, but we are caught up on all of our favorite T.V. shows.  We didn’t have any trips to the ER, but it wasn’t for Elna’s lack of trying.  We didn’t get pregnant this year and we’d like to keep it that way, we didn’t kill or eat any animals much to Brian’s chagrin, and though we may not have accomplished all of our goals, we wouldn’t have traded this year for anything.  We are so blessed!

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Look for pictures of next years naked ride through Portland on our family blog:

brianandlucy.blogspot.com