Advent has arrived in a swirl of snow for California’s mountains. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of the drought for us. So Advent… I savor this time of year by avoiding the news, easing up on social media, and taking a break from blogging for the month of December. Thanks for reading my ramblings this year. I know how busy you are. Life can be a whirlwind of ups and downs, pain and pleasure, and pure craziness sometimes. I so appreciate you blowing in on the whirlwind to spend a little time here each week if you follow this blog. Or maybe just once a year you stop by to catch up with our family. Either way, thank you!

So… do you ever sit down to write your Christmas letter wondering what to say? Because… well… it’s been a tough year and you don’t know how to tell it. I usually don’t worry how to tell it because words tend to come easy, but this year has been… hard. Just hard… Completely, unexpectedly hard for our family.

Over New Years we all came down with walking pneumonia, only we didn’t know it was walking pneumonia, and it took four months and a lot of money dished out to doctors for our entire family to get healthy. Then Scott had to have knee surgery in the spring, which cost a small fortune. And I thought we might lose Oma because she got so sick with the pneumonia she caught from us that it scared me.

I know Oma doesn’t get much of the spotlight, but let me tell you, I don’t know how we’d do life without Oma and Opa. And Oma is cut from a special cloth. Perhaps an apron. She knows how to sacrifice and spends most of her time helping others. We are so grateful Oma recovered and is still here taking care of us along with Opa.

Never do you expect to lose a young person in your family. Sometimes I close my eyes and still think I dreamed we lost our fourteen-year-old cousin Anna this year. I try to keep my Christmas letters light and funny, but it just feels impossible this year. Hug your people, people. And love them. Really love them. Love them long and hard. Because people don’t last forever. Forever young will always be our precious Anna.

It’s been quite awhile since I felt young, but that nervous, youthful swirl was in my stomach at Luke’s first football game at Sutter High School in August. How Luke ended up at Sutter is a bit of a story, a little rebellion goes a long way, let’s just say, but I have to tell you how good it’s been for Luke to commit these past five months of his senior year to a game he’s never played before.

Oh football, how sweet it is to sit in the stands watching your 18 year old son intercept a pass and run it back for a touchdown. Scott and I both screamed like little girls. And hugged each other. And screamed some more like girls in the bleachers. This too is a bit of a tale because many games Luke has sat the bench, but at homecoming he played most of the game. And intercepted a second pass and nearly a third after that touchdown.

Sometimes the stars align just right for boys who long to play football their whole lives, and don’t get to play football their whole lives, and find themselves on that big, green field for one stunning season, and the stars align on homecoming night. Okay, it wasn’t aligning stars, I know this. I believe God smiled and said, “Tonight’s your night, Lukee, play your heart out.” And Luke played his heart out.

Isn’t God good this way? Giving us way more than our hearts deserve. Way more than we could ever earn. Ever ask for from God. Luke’s underdog football team made it all the way, winning the championship game this year. What a ride. Now Luke is putting together his packet for University Nevada-Reno, hoping to follow in Opa and Scott’s footsteps by attending UNR in the fall.

Life is such a gift. It really is. And boys make it so fun. Raising boys is a lot of work, but gosh, they make life fun when they’re not getting into trouble or tearing stuff up or letting lizards loose in the house.

John, Joey, G2, and Cruz really do entertain us. They pee on everything. And break a lot of stuff. And they keep me cooking, cleaning, and washing clothes 24/7, but I can’t imagine life without these delightful, little men. Scott calls them our fire team. “John, where is your fire team?” Scott’s always saying. Fire teams do ambushes and raids and pretty much just bust things up in the military, and this is a good description of our four youngest boys.

Luke was too busy with football to shoot us a deer for our freezer this year, but 12 year old John stepped up and fed the family by bagging his first buck. Opa and Uncle Patrick decided to teach John how to skin his deer in the front yard, which was a bit appalling for me and my maple tree. My lovely maple shades our front walkway. Why on earth would you hang a deer there for skinning? It’s days like this that make me miss raising our sweet daughters.

Lacy is still doggedly pursuing her nursing degree. She was too homesick up at Simpson University so moved back here, settled in with Oma and Opa, got herself a crazy cat, and went to Yuba College for a semester. She liked Yuba so much, she’s hoping to get into their nursing program. I think Oma and Opa are now more attached to the cat than Lacy is. Lacy rescued this half-grown kitten from under a car in the church parking lot this past summer.

Abu, as Lacy named the cat, rode twenty miles in the wheelwell of a Ford Expedition getting to church. He now lives like a king at the ranch. I told Oma and Opa the other day, “That cat is not yours. You are his humans. He rules you.” When Abu gets mad, and this cat gets mad on a regular basis, Oma and Opa actually hide from him in their own house. I think maybe Abu gets bent out of shape because he misses Lacy who has begun training for a management position at Yuba City’s Racquet and Health Club when she’s not studying for school.

Cami and Drew bought their first home a month ago. We love having them nearby in Sutter. Drew is busy farming for Opa and Uncle Patrick. Cami was granted an emergency speech credential at her school district. She now has to apply for grad school, which means a commute to Sacramento State if she gets accepted, but she really enjoys helping young students develop their speech skills.

Drew had to work on the Saturday I scheduled our Christmas pictures so he didn’t make the photo shoot this year. I might have to talk to his boss about this next year. Can you imagine what Opa would say if I told him Drew needed time off to take Christmas pictures? For those of you who don’t know my dad, a lot of cussing would ensue. Christmas pictures make me crazy so I might sass back. Though I’m praying to be healed from this Christmas crazy that comes over me each year as I try to get our large family all pretty and smiling for the camera. Sad to say, my smile is often fake in the Christmas pictures, but I do my best to write a genuine letter, sharing what’s really going on in our lives.

Last night, I handed Scott the children’s Tylenol bottle and asked him to read the dosage for Cruz who was running a fever. “Where are my glasses? I can’t find my reading glasses,” Scott said like an old man.

I handed him my reading glasses. We were like two elderly people in the kitchen trying to take care of a preschooler, which is a little scary. But we’re doing fine. Farming all summer long, running way too fast to keep up with our rambunctious boys, but doing just fine.

So that’s 2015 in a nutshell. I have to say, amid great sorrow there can be joy. Startling joy. Joy unspeakable. This has surprised me. To be grieving and just suddenly experience joy from above. To feel God’s tender love and to know– with all your heart know– heaven is for real. And because God’s Son was born to die for us we can go to heaven at the end of our lives if we accept Jesus as our Savior.

May the Savior’s love surround you this Advent season. May you feel his peace, and savor his Presence, and know with all your heart He’s there beside you. Life can be hard, but God is always and forever good and faithful and true.

Merry Christmas dear friends. We love you! See you back here in 2016.