Christmas Letter 2019

Dear Friends,

They say life gets busier with three kids. Whoever ‘they’ are appears to be correct, as the verdict is still out whether this letter will actually be finished or even go in the mail before Bryce gets to kindergarten.  I tried delegating this to the kids to see if they would write it for me. When I asked them what they’d say about the year, Bria’s input was “I love purple!,” Bryce brought me Wallie’s leash, and Addie said “This is boring; let’s play SCHOOL!”  Honestly, it’s not the worst summary of 2019.

You may notice that our address has changed. Earlier this year, we discovered the joy of moving with three kids (and what fun that process is), but are now happily settled in, a whole 8 minutes from our old house, which I still drive by and thank for its many wonderful memories.  We thought our new one wouldn’t be a fixer-upper, so naturally, there’s been about 5892 projects that needed some Chip-and-Joanna-style love, and 3021 more to keep us on our toes for 2020. As the girls tell anyone who will listen, New House has a lovely set of woods in the back for exploring and for interesting encounters with wildlife (Sheaff keeping an ever-sharp eye out for bears), a great yard for our hooligans, and space inside for the them to destr-I mean, enjoy.  It does seem like a good home sweet home! Come visit!

These days, Addie is into math, Harry Potter, carefully-chosen outfits that reflect the activities for the day, cooking, sort-of playing violin, directing her sister and brother, plays at her school, and making things- anything she can come up with. Bria loves finding all puddles and muddy areas, beating us all in Go Fish, reminding friends to follow rules, painting, her purple room, and would gladly never wear pants again.  Bryce currently boasts a huge vocabulary, which mainly consists of ‘dog’ and ‘ball.’ He, too, loves dirt, and removing it from house plants. He loves being held. Being put down. Being held again. He runs more than he walks, and loves dancing to the Get Up. He loves shoes, eating cheese, blowing kisses, and books, as long as there is either a dog or ball in them. We are so thankful for his toothy smile and occasional moments of quiet cuddles. We all continue to remember Abram, in the many ways and places his sweet spirit finds us throughout the year. His legacy remains one of love and warmth.

The girls tried soccer this fall, and we’re going to see if we can all handle the basketball chaos this winter without being heavily sedated. This year, we had farmhouse pirate-boat-building adventures, first jumps off the diving board at the pool, led by Bria; Charlottesville celebrations of Oma hitting 90; DC and Pennsylvania exploring; Great Wolf Lodge with the cousins, and plenty of school fun. The girls were flower girls in Sarah and Ernsts’ wedding this summer, and Sheaff got named as one of Lynchburg’s Millennials on the Move, which basically means he’s a cool, professionally-awesome, not-quite-technically-old-yet dude. I’m still teaching writing at University of Lynchburg, while playing with the kiddos the rest of the time, and loving both.

Life is busy, but grand. I probably forgot at least 50% of other Sheaffer Family Updates, but hey, this letter is nearly finished, so I’m going to call it a win. Excuse all typos; Wallie was in charge of proofreading. Now to find a picture where we are all looking at the camera and no kid is picking their nose! We’ll see what we can do!

Best wishes for a warm and wonderful New Year,

Carly, Sheaff, Adalyn, Bria, Bryce and Wallie