Hypothetical 2014 Christmas Letter

In an attempt to simplify, I did not write a holiday letter this year, with the thought that most people would already know everything about our lives because they are on Facebook and/or read this blog. But I am feeling a strange lack of closure without having written a Christmas letter. So here is our family's Hypothetical 2014 Christmas Letter, which could have been used to describe our year:

Dear Family and Friends, 

Happy Holidays from the Hageman household! We had many adventures this year and have compiled our "Top 10" moments from the year: 

10. Annika is now in 5th grade and Daniel is in 1st grade. We love the kids' school and that the kids can walk there together every day. 

9. Both of our kids are in 4-H and Will is one of our club's leaders. Daniel is a Cloverbud, and Annika is a co-historian for our club. Annika entered projects in Legos, photography, arts and crafts, and pets into the county fair over the summer, and her photograph of the Grand Canyon went on to the state fair. 

8. In our children's other endeavors, both of them have enjoyed swimming lessons, pottery classes, the science fair, and summer musical theater. Daniel played t-ball this summer and Annika went to sewing camp, both firsts for our family. Both kids tolerated cross country club this fall, which we are chalking up as a huge win. And, both of them learned to ride a bike this year - we are loving being a whole family of bike riders!

7. Our whole family loves our church and church family at College Avenue United Methodist Church. Both Will and Amy help on various committees, attempt to corral children in Sunday School and children's church, and hope that no one notices our family's crazy behavior during service. 

6. Amy and Will are both still assistant professors at K-State in accounting (Amy) and electrical engineering (Will). We are united in our love of teaching and our hatred of grading. 

5. Our life is regularly crazy due to our three cats, including a 19+ year old cat, Audrey (still alive and feisty) and two "kittens" who regularly chew and eat all plastic bags and headphones in a two-block radius. 

4. Due to the craziness of territorial battles of #5, we put in new tile and laminate flooring in much of our house this year. Carpet with our cats is a losing battle. 

3. Will and Amy have enjoyed many road races, including half marathons, a 25k trail race, and each of our first full marathons this year. The full marathon distance is kind of ridiculous and we are never going to do it again after we do at least one more... 

2. We went on several family vacations this year, including a spring break trip to Chicago, a summer trip to Colorado and Yellowstone, and a road trip to and from Florida. The kids are happy travelers as long as we can convince them that we will see something "Very Famous" along the way.  

1. We love living in Manhattan, Kansas. And can't believe that before we moved back here, we worried that there wouldn't be enough to do or that we would be bored. HAHA! We absolutely love all of our wonderful friends and family in town and nearby. 

We hope that all is well with you and your family. Thank you for being such special people in our lives. 

Love, 

The Hagemans