Dear Family and Friends:                                                                                                                                              

Merry Christmas!  We hope you are well.  As our kids grow older, we find that we are heading in different directions ALL the time, so this holiday season, we are looking forward to just being together.   It is always fun to reflect on the past year and see how we have changed and grown (well…hopefully, just the kids have grown).  It has never been difficult for us to count our blessings, even when we have been through hard times, and this year is no exception.

Austin (14) has grown tremendously this year.  He is now taller than me and wearing the same size shoe as his dad (size 13!). He is working hard in school, especially now that his grades “count” for college (it probably helps that we are CONSTANTLY on his case).  He is loving lacrosse and is playing on the JV team for Lehi High. He still loves video games, reading and especially eating.  I’m coming to realize that keeping a 14-year-old boy fed is like throwing money to the wind.  I would guess that every time Austin even comes near my kitchen, it costs me at least two dollars in groceries –yikes!  Austin has a wonderful group of friends and loves spending time with them whenever he can.  He is a great kid and even the girls are starting to take notice (if you get the chance, you might ask him about the Hot Tamales that showed up on our doorstep last summer).  He is becoming a master at debating anything and everything.  When we complain, he is quick to point out that it is not his fault that he is the son of a lawyer and is, therefore, genetically wired to argue (and then, he proceeds to debate how this makes any sense at all).

Ashleigh (almost 12) is our child that keeps us running the most.  She has many interests and wants to pursue them all (never mind that there are not enough hours in a day to do everything she wants to do).   She is still playing soccer and involved in clogging.  She takes piano and sings in the ward choir.  She is a great babysitter and is requested often by families in the neighborhood.  There are many other activities she would like to be involved in, but we have to draw the line somewhere. Ashleigh is very social and outgoing, and when we watch her with her friends, we can hardly believe that we used to think of her as shy and timid.  She is a great student and is somewhat of a perfectionist, so instead of pushing her to do better at school, we usually find ourselves telling her to “chill out,” and “let it go.”  She is, no doubt, hitting the “tween” stage of life as evidenced by her Christmas wish-list this year:  clothes, a crimping iron, music and…a giant Costco teddy-bear (doesn’t every girl need a teddy bear that stands at nearly 5-feet tall?).  She is growing up way too fast, and with Junior High looming in her future, she has us wishing that time would slow down a bit. 

Hayden (8) is the biggest BYU fan that you could ever hope to meet.  He loves everything about it, and I am starting to wonder if, maybe, he actually does “bleed blue.”  He is happy (or rather, ecstatic) to attend any game, any time, in any weather (and I mean ANY weather), as long as BYU is playing.  While the other kids attend once in a while, and mostly for the food and to be with cousins, Hayden goes because he loves the game.  We came home last week to a pre-recorded message on our answering machine from J.J. DiLuigi (one that I am sure every season football ticket holder received).   J.J. invited our family to attend the bowl game in Dallas, Texas at the end of the month and said that he really hoped to see us there.  Hayden nearly lost his mind to think that he had been personally invited by his all-time favorite football player to the game, and cried for more than an hour when we told him that we would not be going.  “But Mom, (sob!)…I’ve never even been to a bowl game, and J.J. said he wants to see me there!”  Hayden has more fashion sense than the rest of us combined.   We can’t figure out where he learns what is “cool,” but he seems to be right on with the trends.  Whether it is skinny jeans, skater shoes or layered shirts, if it’s in style, it’s on his radar.  I took him to get his hair-cut last month, and while he waited for his turn, he found the “perfect” style in a magazine.  When his name was called, he did not hesitate to show the hairstylist exactly what he wanted done.  She was clearly amused.  Hayden played soccer and flag football this year and wants to try lacrosse in the spring.   When it comes to sports, he loves them all.  He is extremely enthusiastic and always excited about the fun things planned for each day.  This is a problem when there are no fun things planned for the day.

Ellie (5) started kindergarten this year.  She is as smart as a whip and packs enough attitude to keep anyone on their toes.  She dresses herself every day and does not want any input from me, so we have made a deal that as long as she is dressed modestly and appropriately for the weather, I will try to keep my opinions to myself.  This has proven to be very difficult, and on several occasions, I have had to bite my tongue as I’ve watched her climb into the carpool van in an outfit that might consist of something like: a navy-blue BYU t-shirt, a bright pink and orange ruffled skirt and knee-high black boots (this particular outfit has been our reality on more than one occasion).  At times like these, I remind myself that not every battle is worth fighting (unless, it is Sunday morning and we are getting ready for church…then, I tell myself that it is time to put my game face on and prepare for battle).  Ellie is known at our house for her quick wit and her quick temper.  Last month, she woke up in a bad mood and was taking it out on anyone that crossed her path.  I implored her to stop yelling at everyone, when, in response, she snapped, “I am not yelling at everyone!  I have not even seen Ashleigh yet!”  She didn’t think this was funny, but the rest of us had a good laugh!  Her favorite past-time, of late, is making wish-lists for Santa.  She spends hours poring over magazines and ads, circling what she wants (which is almost every single thing on every single page) and then cutting and pasting her favorites onto one of her many lists.  I can just imagine how overwhelming all of this is for Santa, and can only hope that when a child wants everything, then anything will do.

Hadley (almost 3) is as sweet as they come, but is learning to put up a fight when she does not get what she wants.  She loves to be held and rocked and is, by far, our most snuggly child (which is saying a lot, because all of our children have been snugglers). As she is learning to talk more, it is obvious that she has older siblings because her vocabulary includes phrases like:  “That be awesome,” and “What the heck?”  She loves to sing, especially the primary songs with actions, so our family spends a fair amount of time looking out the window at “popcorn popping” and melting all over the floor like snowmen that were once “tall, tall, tall.”  It always makes me smile to watch even her fourteen-year old brother participate, because in these moments, it is obvious that she has this entire family wrapped around her little finger.  She can be a stinker at church and has taken to yelling out, for all to hear, “I don’t want to go time-out” when she knows that time-out is exactly where she is headed.   She will soon be three, and we are hoping that she will soon be potty-trained.  To say that we are excited about this is an understatement.  Now, if we could just get her to be as excited about it as we are, we would have it made.

Annie would have been one this year.  Instead of celebrating milestones with her, we marked many firsts without her.  We truly miss her all the time.  A prayer is rarely said in our home when mention isn’t made of our littlest one that is not here.   While we certainly ache for what might have been, we look forward with great anticipation to the miracle of what will be.  In a Christmas devotional last week, President Monson referred to this miracle, born of Jesus Christ, when he said, “Because He came to earth, there is meaning to our mortal existence.  Because He came, death has lost its sting, the grave its victory.  We will live again…because He came.”  For our family, this means that because He came, our tears will, one day, be no more.  Because He came, our empty arms won’t be empty forever.  Because He came, broken hearts (hers and ours) will, someday, be made whole.  Because He came, we know that we will have our Annie back again.

We are so glad He came.

Merry Christmas and much love,

Cameron, Amy, Austin, Ashleigh, Hayden, Ellie and Hadley Sabin