Holiday Greetings from Great Falls, Virginia!

GARRETT will be 8 in January, and all he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth. He's in second grade and enjoys reading, playing soccer, irritating his siblings, and swimming like a fish. He wishes every day was Saturday and Cartoon Network was the only channel on TV.

KIRSTEN will be 11 in February. She's in fifth grade, and has a wide circle of friends. She continues with piano, tennis, cello and caring for the new family dog, a black standard poodle we named Nephi (although sometimes he acts more like Laman.)

SPENCER, who will be 15 in January, is a high school freshman. He completed his football season as a linebacker and guard by having the team-high tackles, an interception and touchdown. Next sport: wrestling. He's decided that girls are good and homework, chores and most conversation with parents is bad.

CHELSEA, 17 1/2, is a high school senior who is juggling early morning seminary, 4 AP classes, two rock & roll bands, a senior thesis, varsity sports, college applications and the hearts of a dozen boys. She's rarely at home during waking hours, so we may not notice when she leaves for college at (choose one) Stanford, USC, William & Mary or BYU.

JENNIFER does early-morning exercise workouts after she gets up at o'dark-thirty to see our teenagers off to early-morning seminary. She's brushing the dust off her painting skills at a weekly watercolor class, and attends a scripture study class and the temple weekly. Despite having one teenage driver, Jennifer is still in the "taxi years" with the rest of the kids, but is grateful for time in the car as a way to avoid all things domestic. She chairs the Ward Activities Committee, so it's always party time at our house!

KEN is still doing patent litigation at his D.C. law firm. Sometimes he travels for work, but it pays the rent. He traded roles again at church, switching from the seniles (the High Priests' Group leadership) to the juveniles (young men's presidency, where his main job is to help Spencer get his Eagle Scout award.) Ken continues to enjoy dunking Oreos in milk and has recently discovered the joys of on-line bargain shopping on craigslist.org to furnish the lake house.

This past year we enjoyed our traditional spring break getaway to Florida, gathered Ken's family for a reunion, and bought a little vacation house at Lake Anna, Virginia, where we hope to host extended family and friends (especially Tina and Ralph when they are escaping hurricanes, high taxes or during the summer).

We wish you a holy holiday season and pray for peace in the New Year.