Phew. It’s this time of year again already? No, actually it’s past that time of year, and we’re scrambling to get a letter typed up, printed, and mailed in time. Oops. So much for the New Year’s Resolution to be more organized and on-time, huh? Yeah, we’ve made it to the end of another year. Well, if you look at it like this, we’ve made it to the end of another decade, too.
Next year is 2010 and it seems like only a few yesterdays ago, Mom would write the letter by hand and then type it up on the old IBM PC. Oh, how times have changed. Now, I’ve taken over as the ‘official’ “Christmas Letter” writer, and Mom just scribbles down a few usable notes – a few not so usable, too – and I get the liberty of ad-libbing this wonderful annual. Not to mention I’m writing on a laptop, on my bed!
This past year has been an up and down one, with far more ups than downs – at times. Everyone is feeling the squeeze with the economy right now, and we are no exception. We’ve whipped out the old belt, and have done our best to tighten our budget as best we can. Really, all we need is the love of one another. That is what gets all of us through these trials.
As always, I’ll start off with Mom’s update, as she’s the only one who gave me anything to actually build from – Thank You Mom! Once again, she is still working for Air Specialist. She would have me add, however, that she is just blessed and thankful to have a job in these times. On Wednesday nights, she is still volunteering with the kids at church, but now she is working with the first and second graders. TOPS is still a big priority for her, too, and she’s working her tail off – literally! – to get down to her goal weight once more. Her TOPS group paid for her to fly to Orlando for the International Convention this year, and she got to visit and catch up with her friend Jeanne, who lives there, while she was there. Also, she’s begun attending New Hope Church, and so far has enjoyed the services and friends she’s made. She meets weekly with a Care Group – Bible Study – and has made a couple of new friends from there as well. One thing she didn’t include in her stuff she wanted me to write about was her Farmville farm on Facebook. Goodness, this thing has taken over her life! If you play, I am deeply sorry!
I think we’ll do Dad’s update next. When the hurricane hit in 2008, he lost the job he had. For the first quarter or so of 2009 he spent most of his time working on the house and getting it back up to the level we had all grown accustomed to. He’s actively been looking for a new consistent job, but with the economy as it is it has been tough going. Right now, he’s working for merchandising companies, which allows him to also run his classes simultaneously. The flexible schedule is great, and the work isn’t too hard. His business is still pushing on, and he’s beginning to look toward the January boat show once more.
Let’s talk about Amanda now – she’ll love that (only kidding sis!). She turned the big 1-9 this year. Well, I guess 19 really isn’t all that big in retrospect, and she’d be the first to tell you it’s really not a big deal compared to say turning 18. She’s been attending San Jacinto College at the South Campus since the Fall semester of 2008. She’s also been experiencing the joys of the holidays working in retail for T-Mobile in the mall. Oh, the joys of the day after Thanksgiving, aka Black Friday, and the late Christmas shoppers. Working in retail has proven to be something she enjoys in some manner, and is also very natural at as well – must be that Ringrose blood in her!
That brings us to Ashlyn, who will be turning eighteen in January – goodness how the time flies! She’s been somewhat faithfully attending school at Pearland High School, and the fall semester of this year and spring semester of next are heavily art studies oriented. She has a fairly solid chance of nabbing a scholarship to Alvin Community College or maybe the Art Institute of Houston for the Fall Semester of next year – of course those are art scholarships! If anyone needs any artwork done, she’s your gal! We hope to setup a portfolio site in the coming year to let others enjoy the fruits of her talents.
While we’re mentioning our highschooler – who will be graduating in May! – we should mention the Pearland Oilers High School Football Team. This season they fought diligently, and made great strides after losing a large portion of their team to Dawson High School (the new high school in Pearland which is a split from Pearland High School). Dawson lost in the Semifinals of the State 4A Playoffs, and Pearland lost in the first round of the State 5A Regional playoffs. Both teams proved that Pearland has a strong football base, and will look to build on that even more in the coming years. Go Oilers and Eagles!
I guess that brings us around to me. This year was a pretty non-eventful year, spent mostly rebuilding the broken pieces of our house and slipping in some database work with my Dad. I’m officially running my own business doing the computer repair stuff, now and understand the trials and tribulations associated with it. I was elated to have the opportunity to go and see my nieces, and my older sister over Thanksgiving in Florida. The whole family – minus Amanda who had the joys of post-Turkey Day retail trauma to valiantly attend – made the trip via car. It was a fun drive, and it was a blast getting to play with the twins and Violet, and Hazel. We all hope to make another trip next year.
As I’ve been writing this, I keep glancing out my window in hopes that maybe we’ll be blessed with our second snowfall of the season. Yeah, you read that right – SECOND snowfall of the season. The first dumped two and a half inches onto Pearland. Some of you may think, “so what? Two and a half inches is weak,” but let me tell you that was a blizzard for us. A whitewash! We were all pretty elated as it came during the day, too. Heck, they even closed schools and businesses early. All for two and a half inches of snow! Haha! We’re anticipating freezing temperatures most likely the week of Christmas – who’d have thought in the middle of global warming, eh? – and they say there’s a fifty percent chance we’ll see frozen precipitation and a decent chance for it being snow. An important note is the snowfall we’ve already had was the earliest in recorded history for the greater Houston area. Pretty cool if I do say so myself.
Well, that just about wraps it up from here, but I do want to apologize for the letter being later than normal. It seems like every year we try to make a conscious effort to get the letter out earlier, so that it arrives early or on-time. It just never happens. I can’t take the fall this time, though! I enjoy writing the letter, and having the opportunity to flex my narrative muscles.
Thanks for reading, and we hope God blesses you with a wonderfully joyful holiday season. We love you all and wish a blessed coming year for ya’ll – yeah, I said ya’ll, and no, it’s not a Texan thing!
Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
God Bless,
The Ringrose Family (Roy, Lynette, Sean, Amanda, and Ashlyn)
P.S. – Mom, Sean, and Amanda are on Facebook!!! I created a group there called “Roy Ringrose and Family Updates”. If interested, please let me know and I’ll add you!
