By now, some of our friends and family already received their copy of our 2008 Holiday Letter—our third annual. If you’re expecting one, just hold tight… it should be there soon.

Of course, why wait? You can download a copy right here (in PDF format).

Now that you’ve read up on everything, allow me to add a bit about this year’s design. Crystal had the idea of going “vintage,” and I agreed. It seemed appropriate after 2007’s computer-styled approach (you can remind yourself with it here: 2007 Holiday Report).

We started by looking for an iconic Christmas figure. Vintage santas are easily found. After some enjoyable time searching, we picked this one. The santa figure is clad in a purple cloak and hat and is clearly headed to the cottage in the distance. He’s laden with gifts and even a tree. I especially enjoyed the wisp of smoke against the field of stars.

We augmented the vintage feel with two fonts I found online: Kingthings Christmas (from DaFont.com) and Typogropher’s Woodcut Initials One (from FontRiver.com). Both are free and give the perfect vintage Christmas feel. Neither could be used exclusively for the text, as they are too “busy” for body text. That duty fell to the venerable Baskerville Old Face.

Visually, we added the holly as a border and frame for the photos, and the bluebird bell. These, plus the green and red accent colors makes for a strong Christmas theme.

We hope you enjoy this year’s letter, both for the content it includes as well as how it looks. Crystal and I wish you all a wonderful holiday and hope 2009 is a great one for you and yours.

This year is the second year of making all our gifts and I have to say that it is very enjoyable. We are getting our newsletter printed up and will be mailing it out soon and I will be working on baking cakes for the family.

We will be renting a live tree again this year from Scott’s dad and uncle. We have been doing that for about 4 years now. Stu brings us a tree from their plant farm with the root ball rapped in burlap and in a plastic bag and we prop it up in a packing box. Then we use the tree skirt to hid the box and bag. The trees are fairly small, but with the added height of the roots it makes for a great Christmas tree. The needles tend to be a bit sharper, but gloves help decorate them. We feel good about not killing a tree for Christmas every year. We usually water the roots once or twice during the 3 weeks - month that we have it and misting can be a good option too, but with lights you would have to do this when you do not plan on turning on the tree for a few hours. Stu comes by and picks it up from us when the season is over. It is a great Christmas gift and could be a good business if he ever wants to go that route.

No, this is not the tree. But is funny…he..he..he. I’ll post a photo this year after decorating the said tree.

I just bought a Debbie Bliss knitting book and so far I am loving it. The pictures are super high quality and make it easy to see what your finished project should look like. The photos always help me to figure out also how the project is worked. I have to say that I really like her baby cashmerino product. I started a project today and found it to work quickly. I am still working on my first project out of the book, so I will give you an update on how it goes.

Well the Susan G. Komen’s walk for the cure went smashingly. It was three days of lots of cars driving by honking their support, women in pink chatting and walking at different paces, standing at street corners stretching while the light changes, and high -carb low flavor foods. I enjoyed the experience immensely. 

All my training paid off and I had no blisters at all; I did have sore feet though. Saying that is the biggest understatement I think I have ever written. “Sore feet” - Wow I don’t think I have ever really know the meaning. By the last day I felt as if all the blood in my body was in my feet. They were boiling hot and shooting pains from my bunions did not help. Amazingly the next day I could walk on them with no pain. I was sore and tired, but felt great. I do have some sensitivity missing on a few toes but that should come back I assume.

It is awe inspiring to finish walking 60 miles. It makes you realize you can do anything if you set your mind to it. So, yes I did walk the full 60 miles. I actually pushed myself at the end and finished with an hour to rest my feet before closing ceremonies.

Since the walk is done I have a bit more time on my hands, but I still desire to walk. I don’t think I will be walking 18 miles in one day anymore, but a three mile walk to the store and back sounds super easy. I think hiking this year may be where it is at. Only time will tell. 

 
Work is picking up for me and I have been busy interpreting. Scott and I still attend Karate and Aikido classes Tuesday, Thursday and some Saturdays and Sundays. So, we are keeping ourselves fit. 

Thanks everyone for all your support and happy walking!

Crystal

This is a fab new website for swapping kids stuff. Really cool instead of exchanging money you get points for every item you “sell” and you can “spend” these points to “buy” new items.

You should check it out. If you decide you want to join you should use my referral code and receive two free points. My Referral Code: TT3AXX

Right now I posted a dress I have and don’t need. This will be my first item for Kizoodling. Here is a link to the item on Kizoodle.com and the photo of the item.   my kiz item

We had a blast at our ‘Tinis for Ta-tas Night”.  Incase you did not get the invite or live out of town it was July 9th at the Tractor Tavern. We had a band, Ruby Shuz was great. They did two 45 minutes sets and donated a portion of their CD sales to our walk. Joseph Réohm preformed up close magic after which my teammate was” freakn’”. 65 people attended the event and we gave away hundreds of dollars worth in prizes. My sister won the most desired prize of a night in a fancy hotel downtown.  I actually made so much at the event to put me over my required minimum.

Now I am focusing on my training and packing. I am looking for a huge duffle bag to put all my camping stuff and walking gear in. Should be able to find it in a thrift store. I have walked 258 miles in training as of today. I have not gotten any blisters since the first two. I received those from my socks sliding down my heals and I did not notice until the blisters popped. Ouch! 

This weekend is Sarah Bush, Scott’s sister’s, wedding. We are ecstatic. There are people flying in from all over and it should be a beautiful weekend. 

I’ll post photos after the event. 

Crystal Bush

Here is an update for the 3-Day.

I have walked a total of 194 miles as of today in training. My fundraising is going well. I have raised $1800 and have only $400 to go. It is July so I am well on my way to making it.

I and a couple other girls are hosting an event called ‘Tinis for Tatas coming up in July at the Tractor Tavern. Here are the details:

‘Tinis for Ta-tas - 7-10pm, Wednesday July 9th. Spend July 9th fighting Breast Cancer by having a Martini for Ta-Tas! Join the party at Ballard’s Tractor Tavern at 7pm and rock out to Ruby Shuz at 8pm. A $15 cover gets you a delicious martini of your choice and supports the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk. Good times, good tunes, good raffle prizes, all for a good cause! What more could you want on a Wednesday?

After that event I am hoping to continue in the training and hopefully rest from the event business. It was a lot of work to put this together.

Thank you all for your continued support in this endeavor. 

Crystal

I have been sewing for a while now and I really enjoy it. Someone told me once people enjoy the things they do well. I am no expert, but things are going well so far. I can look the other way on little mistakes like gathering that ends up in the front of the shoulder instead of on top.

I am currently making burp cloths and receiving blankets for my friends who are due to have new members of their families soon. I will be sewing a baby dress for my friend in Africa who is having a second girl. When they moved to Africa she had to give away a lot of the baby things. Its amazing to thing my work will be on the other end of the world in a month or so.

I made a dress, a shirt, a dress jacket, and a summer jacket. I already made baby dresses for my niece and for a friend, with matching bonnets. It is so fun! I have also hemmed lots of clothes for friends and family. Yeah, I have been busy. So, now you know what I do with my spare time. And who to ask to sew on your buttons for you.

Here is a photo of a hat I made for my new niece Aniya.

Scott and I are working on a project to take his old shirts that have memories and make a quilt out of them. I will post a photo when we finish. Here is hoping our first quilt will come out alright, but I know where I can go for tips. (Mom, Grandma, neighbor, ect.)

Crystal Bush

My fundraising is going well. I have raised half of the amount of money I need before September. That puts me closer to my goal of being done by July. My team will be putting on a couple events trying to bring in some more donations.

One will be an adult event called “‘Tinis for Ta-tas” in which we are finding a venue to have a band and martinis. We are hoping to advertise this event.

The second event is a BBQ at Karalee’s sometime this summer. We want to have silly games with a breast cancer theme. We plan on putting up flyers around her neighborhood.

Should be fun. When we know when and where I will be sending out emails.

Scott has been good to help me with designing a team logo. We chose the name team “Wonder Women.” That way I can get shirts printed.

So far I have walked over 110 miles. I should be even further along, but I got a nasty cold and have had to shorten up a lot of my walks this last weekend

Happy walking everyone!

So far I have walked 17 miles in training and will be walking 12 more this week. (Wow doesn’t that sound impressive.)

I am enjoying the activity. I have had some issues with not stretching like I should and it is easy to believe the wonders of the stretch when you wake up feeling like someone beat you up. Funny I use to think that walking is a lower body activity, but it is not. I have noticed if I do not stretch out my arms I will have sore shoulders the next day. We need a hot tub.

Fundraising is a little slow, but I have a couple friends and we are working on some ideas. So check back for some fun fundraising events. We actually have a friend who donated even though Scott and I had not told a sole that I would be walking. I still need to ask him how he found my page…

No blisters yet, but the caluses are really coming in. We are told not to get pedicures until after the walk, because then it would be easy to get bad blisters during the event. Yuck! I will have ugly feet this summer; no fancy sandals for me. My friend has scheduled a massage and pedicure for the day after. Maybe I should plan on something similar.

If you haven’t donated yet and want to here: is a link. Happy walking.

Crystal