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Monday, December 21, 2009

Christmas Card Letter

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays and Here's to a wonderful 2010!!

If I (we) had done a Christmas letter is what I may have included...
I always like to share the behind the scenes info about what goes into getting the Christmas card produced.
Of course this was the year I had multiple pictures I could of used for our Christmas card but the decision for our card was made at the end of the school year.   I was looking through Clare's artwork that came home on the last day of school- and there it was!  My parents used artwork to produce the Stoner family cards so I'm proving history does repeat itself!  Clare's image of three sleeping kids dreaming of baseball does a great job of depicting life on Newark-Granville Road!  Leader Printing does a great job making it a reality!  But of course there is much more than baseball in our lives and here are a few thoughts you might enjoy knowing...

1. Family! We're very blessed this year- everyone is in good health! Sarah is doing very well- the great news is I rarely have to update the blog that shares that information- http://updateforsarah.blogspot.com/   We can't wait to see the new house and more fun in 2010!!  Having both families here at Thanksgiving was AMAZING!! Stoners first, then Leithausers- the cousin time made everyone very happy!  Busy time for Scott and Ann, Matthew and Dawn and Sarah and Greg as all were in the midst of moves within their communities.

2. Faith- Faith in God, Faith in Learning and Faith in Play- all things that matter and make us who we are!!  We're working and involved at church in many rewarding ways- Joe heads up Finance Committee, Sally and Peter sing in the choirs and we're all at FPC on Wednesdays for LOGOS- check out the LOGOS blog at www.granpres.org!  Volunteering and spending time at THE WORKS, the Granville Public Library and school keeps our calendars full! The kids are having a great year in 3rd, 2nd and PreK- all three go just down the street.  And yes we do love to play- running (Clare and Peter ran their first official 5K this year and have enjoyed others), dancing, soccer, basketball, baseball and swim team in the summer.  I often feel like the herding dog Jax- not knowing which child to follow- we're all going in so many directions.

3. Friends- We're lucky to share our rewarding, busy and fun lives with you! Thanks for keeping up with us- the times we're together in person and via emails/phone calls ground and energize us and we're grateful.  Please let us know what you're up to in more details- email us at ssleithauser@roadrunner.com or leithauser22@aol.com.  We have a shuttefly blog- happy to add you to that if you're interested in lots of Leithausers photos that show the fun of vacations, family and friend time, etc.....

Merry Christmas to each of you.  We do hope to see you in 2010- Derby is Saturday, May 1st!!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Looking Forward

Ahhhh- mornings like this are indeed a nice place to be. Granville Fitness provided a great start to my day- spinning followed by yoga.  I decided that in December I was giving myself the gift of yoga- it was hard to make it work in November and I missed it. I need that reminder to live in the moment and the stretching and strengthening my body and focus feels great!  With November's Thanksgiving touch points to ground me (it was an amazing weekend (and month) with family and friends this year  I can't help but look forward to the great things happening in our community and lives this month!  

The spirit of believing is something I hold close- believing in people, communities, bodies, God, attitude and most of all love.  December is all about that and it makes it easy.  Actually I should be saying - the next month is all about that I keep decorations and Christmas fun going until epiphany- January 6, Sally's birthday.  I started this because my mother did it-, as it was my grandmother's birthday- I continue it, as it feels great.  Anyway I'm in a happy place and I wanted to share the why I'm in a happy place and the fun things I'm looking forward to doing...
-decorating- yes I think it is time to take down the orange wreath and find the silver bells! This includes:

-finding our tree- always a very special event as we do this with Joe's brother's family and often (like this year) we combine with celebrating my sister in law's birthday!

-shopping- I save much of mine until this month, as it is fun to shop with Christmas music playing and getting out to see the decorations.  Please shop locals- Columbus friends come to Granville- great stuff here!!  Check out Friday's event at the Pi Phi house- see my list to the right! AND the GES Jingle Bell shop Friday and Saturday- Ryan Reding's key chains are going to be there!

-gatherings- I'm one to love a special get togethers- parties, lunches out (THE GRANVILLE INN is open this month for lunch- hooray!!!), GNO, date night with Joe!! The holidays add a few more and that is something to look forward to...

-Kid fun- the letters to Santa are in progress...hmmmm maybe I'll post mine here, preparation for performance is making everyone smile and sing a lot around here and keeping everyone focused is a bit easier!! The best news is the kids get giving and it is fun to share that with them.

- More family time- the more you have something, the more you want something- I'm looking forward to getting in the car and taking some trips and planning the fun of gatherings in 2010!!!

Yes there is much to look forward to- each day is a gift and there is much to enjoy as we wrap up 2009 and look forward.