Return of the Fox Family Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Those of you on Facebook are up to speed on the minutiae of our every day life – as far as the rest of you know, we fell off the planet, since we couldn’t get it together enough to do a Christmas letter last year. Yay for sorely neglected blogs that allow us to avoid tracking down holiday paper and formatting margins so we can actually get the letter out (up?) this year.

In case you missed it, in 2010 we moved from Georgia back to Texas. That whole transition, while fairly seamless, was a lot bigger transition than we expected, and included a lot of fun things like our Georgia house not selling due to the sucky economy and us temporarily living in a too-small apartment and then renting a too-small house in Austin. But it was all worth it to be closer to family and also have our kids in super-great schools. As a bonus, we both ended up in jobs we really love!

Lest we allow things to stay the same long enough to get dull, we bought a house in July of this year and moved over 4th of July weekend. The new house actually has a similar look/feel to our Georgia one – it must be our “type”. It’s got a nice big backyard, which the boys LIVE in, and lots of little custom touches throughout the house. We have some cosmetic renovations to do and eventually, when the boys get big enough to complain about privacy (or lack thereof), we will probably add another bedroom, but there are no time-sensitive renovations to be made, which made the house quite a find for our budget in this area.

The kiddos are doing great. Cade is in 2nd grade and Drew is in 1st. Their interests can pretty much be boiled down to 2 things: LEGO and Star Wars. Because we make them interact with the outside world, Cade has taken up guitar and Drew is playing basketball this year. Both are in Cub Scouts, forcing Cara to learn her way around the den mom world and even (gasp!) camp. Both boys do really well in school and save up all their orneriness for home, so we can’t complain.

Joshie, who will be called “Baby” for the rest of his life, is rapidly losing all semblance of baby (mostly because he is three now and not a baby at all anymore). Last year, we were worried because he was a man of such few words – now he NEVER. SHUTS. UP. He is under the impression that he’s at least 6 or 7, so he has us in stitches all the time with his precociousness. He’s super naughty but so darn cute - he has us all wrapped around his little finger.

Aaron is happy in his current role at Dell. He is managing a team of folks in several countries, and was excited to go to Brazil for the first time this summer. Cara loves her job at The Christi Center, a nonprofit that provides grief support and is a lot less depressing than it sounds (think angels on Earth).

Every year, we’re surprised to look back and realize that in addition to all the running around town to work, school and activities (plus the occasional trip to see the grandparents in Houston), we’re able to squeeze in a little travel as well. This year, various combinations of us hit up Disney World, San Francisco and Napa, a grand tour of Texas for spring break, the Kentucky Derby, Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, Palm Springs, CA, New Orleans, and Brazil. Whew! We hope 2012 brings as much fun!

We’re definitely counting our blessings, and you’re among them. We hope all of you have a wonderful holiday and a healthy and happy new year. Our door is always open, so if you ever find yourself in ATX, stop on by!
Love,

The Foxes