2012 Christmas Letter

Once upon a time, in a little city named Victorville, there lived a small family of 5: a papa bear, a mama bear, an older brother who was 9, a middle sister who was 7, and a baby brother who was 3. Now this family had been very busy during the year 2012.

The mama bear had been busy teaching the children bears about becoming knights and all the little bears were so excited, especially when they learned about Joan of Arc. After a break, from school that is, during the summer, the children bear got busy seeking for Truth, Goodness, and Beauty in Art and Music. They started with the renaissance and reformation time periods and currently await the beginning of their search through the baroque and classical periods. At church, mama bear had been busy serving in the Relief Society as a Visiting Teacher Coordinator and as a Gospel Doctrine Teacher (every other Sunday), but that all changed when she was asked to serve as the Stake Primary Secretary. That happened right when all the Ward Primary Programs began, so papa bear had to take care of the little bears almost every Sunday by himself! What a trooper!

Papa bear, himself, had too been very busy. After teaching Seminary last school year and working at a less than desirable job, he made some big changes! He started a new job, which works normal, 8-5, hours and made some calling changes! He was asked to serve as the Scout Master and advisor to the Young Men and the Seminary Supervisor. He was very busy and very happy!

Outside of school, the children enjoyed piano and their Martial Arts classes. Isaac was able to play the piano in Sacrament meeting 2 times! Isaac also loved to read books, especially the Eragon series. He even tried to be a vegan for a month in hopes his ears would become pointy and he would turn into an elf! Rebekah fell in love with the American Girls Series and started paying attention to the 18” doll she had owned for 2 years. =) She loved to spend her time playing with her dolls and being the most sympathetic bear on this planet! Benjamin spent the year proving to mama bear that not all bears are the same! He had a love for guns and destruction mama bear didn’t know existed! However, at the end of the day, he always wanted to snuggle and give lots of kisses!

During the year they went to Sea World with their annual passes, went camping in Wrightwood, and filled their void for more children with LOTS of exchange bears (all girls)! First in January, they invited Frederike bear, from Germany, to live with them until June. They enjoyed taking her to Joshua Tree to go camping, the Grand Canyon, and LA to see the Hollywood sign. While Frederike was staying with them, they also hosted 2 two-week exchange bears from China! These bears came to visit right in the middle of their Spring Festival, so the entire family got to have a Spring Festival Dinner! To keep this bear family’s summer alive, they hosted 2 more Chinese bears for 2 weeks! These 2 were especially fun because they were from Southern China! Such a difference in food and culture! While these 2 bears were there, the entire family, minus papa bear, got to go to Disneyland! That was a treat!!! In the fall, the bear family had just settled into a quiet, predictable routine, when they got a phone call. There was a Loreena bear, from Germany, who needed a new home for the rest of the school year. The bear family met with her and one week later, a new exchange bear had moved into their home.

Now this bear family continued to stay very busy and looked on the New Year with excitement, for they knew that they had no idea what new blessings were going to come their way!