Another
exciting trip around the calendar at the Williams house.
We left off last December with Jennifer’s 19th
birthday. Along with the ladies ornament
exchange, the WGA party, Metrocall party, Myford PTO party and New Year’s Eve at Mike & Sheila’s
we added a new tradition this year.
Following the Fountain Valley Christmas lights viewing, Mary hosted a
white-elephant gift exchange. Julie had
the right idea by throwing all of her junk into one bag and giving it
away. Big prizes included a 3-foot high
bottle of Heineken, a Blues Clues piñata and a framed picture of Mary. Then, the BIG DAY. We had church and dinner at our house on
Christmas Eve. Then, Santa presents in
the morning and all day at Mom and Dad Williams – opening one . . . present . . . at . . . a . . .
time.
In January Chris went on his
first overnight camping trip, 5th grade outdoor education/science
camp, and they saw snow! We helped
Georgia and Jake celebrate their 5th and 8th birthday
parties. In Kim’s Rainbow organization,
she was nominated to the position of Patriotism and sewed her own red, white
and blue dress.
February started with Superbowl at our house. Damian’s beloved Tivo received its biggest workout during the half time
wardrobe malfunction fiasco. To steal a
quote from the movie Scrooged, “You can hardly see them nipples” and the guys in the garage were really
looking! Lisa visited
Much of March was spent
selling and delivering Girl Scout cookies.
While Autumn did not sell as many this year the
family was also grateful that we did not have as many boxes lying around the
house. Kim participated in a ritual
contest in Rainbow and she placed second in her age group for the local
region. Chris and Damian attended Myford’s “guy stuff” program. There is nothing like sitting in a room
filled with 5th graders snickering and laughing every time the word
breast is uttered. Jennifer, Danny and Haylee moved to a new townhouse in
In April Chris has his birthday at LaserQuest
with pizza at Angelo & Vinci’s.
Damian’s cousin Meji, his daughter Ranae, and his son Reese came out for a visit. Damian, Meji and
all the kids went to
Kim attended
Rainbow’s Grand Assembly and won second place in the sewing contest. She almost did not enter the contest because
Lisa had ironed the fabric before Kim started it and the rules stated Kim
needed to do everything herself. Once
the advisors saw the dress and found out why Kim had not entered it they made
calls to get her and the dress entered into the contest. After attending every lodge meeting since
February one of the officers asked if Damian if he could give them a hand. Damian said sure and next thing you know he
is has now taken on the responsibilities of Assistant Esquire.
Birthday celebrations continued in May with Rebecca’s
second birthday and Mary’s surprise 30th birthday bash, complete
with a two-hour “Something About Mary” video. Mike did a great job putting it together and
Mary made a big mistake by not destroying her old videos years ago. If you have not had a chance to see it you
should see if any copies are still floating around on ebay
or get in touch with us and we will see about getting you a copy. Kim’s new position in Rainbow is
Chaplain. The night before Mother’s Day
Chris dropped a knife on his foot.
Damian was trying to explain to Chris that he just needed to walk it off
but Lisa, being the mom, wisely suggest it might need a bit more than that,
sending us to the walk-in clinic. Damian
went up to the Elks state convention in
School ends in June.
Kim was promoted from
style party at school, wearing another dress she
made. Chris was promoted from Myford Elementary and the 5th graders celebrated
at Wild Rivers. Autumn finished third
grade at Myford and Lisa, well, she just keeps going
to school. Kim has already moved into her
high school role. She is on the high
school frosh-soph cheer squad and she attended her
first Life-Teen retreat – on a houseboat, no less. Damian was awarded Elk of the Month (we think
it was the cookies!). And then, there
was the highlight of our year, our 15th anniversary party 50’s
style.
Of course, July starts with the
During Lisa’s brief school break, she went on a
business trip to
In September, Autumn
continued with her Girl Scout troop. She
moved up from Brownies to Juniors this year. Chris returned to AYSO soccer on the Knights
team. The family attended an Angels’
game with the Elks on the eleventh and there was wonderful tribute during the 7th
inning stretch to those in the military fighting so far from home. Kim’s new position in Rainbow is drill
leader. Lisa and Autumn
went to Sea World’s adventure camp with the girl scout troop for a
weekend. Cake week starts with Autumn’s 9th birthday, which she celebrated with
friends at Boomer’s, followed by a slumber party. For Kim’s 14th birthday she had a
house-full of girls over for a movie night sleepover, with more popcorn and
candy than you’ve ever seen outside of a movie theater. Somewhere in there Damian turned 39 (or 40 if
he’s at the Elks’).
Lisa spent her birthday watching Kim and her cheer
squad at the Tiller Days parade, then to Rainbow installation and Chris’ AYSO
soccer pictures and kick-a-thon. Kim’s
squad placed second in the parade (of two squads in their category). The cheer squad also sponsored a clinic for
younger girls, which Autumn attended and enjoyed. At Mary’s Halloween party we went as Fred and
Wilma, complete with Fred’s water buffalo lodge hat. The kids trick-or-treated as a devil (Kim),
Dracula (Chris) and a vampiress (Autumn). We did not do a haunted house this year, so
it was a pretty slow night for trick-or-treaters.
In November Autumn went to
For December we plan on
Alex’s baptism and the ornament exchange at Knotts,
on the same day. And in the middle of
Jennifer’s 20th birthday, the parties for WGA, PTO and Mary’s white
elephant, Lisa has to make a business trip to
We wish everyone wonderful
holiday celebrations and an exciting year to come. God bless you and yours all the year long.
P.S.: The annual reminder . . . If you received
this by snail mail and prefer to access it via the web (complete with pictures)
at www.williamsfamily.org, or vice-versa, just email and let us know. Damianwilliams@cox.net or Lisawilliams@cox.net.