Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
We hope that this letter finds you all in good health and in better good spirits this great holiday season. We have decided, as a family, to save paper this year and send this as a Christmas card in lieu of the traditional card. The money that we would have spent on cards and postage has been given, on all of your behalves (is that a word) to The American Cancer Society.
This has been a busy year for all of us. We moved back to Columbus, Ohio from Dallas, Texas last December. We left some good friends that we had made there and a great job that Steve had with Starbucks but, as a family, we felt the pull of family bringing us back to the Buckeye state. We have loved cheering on The Ohio State Football team while be in the state of Ohio.
We took a fmaily vacation to Southern California, Los Angeles and Anaheim to be exact this summer. We stayed with family friend, Steve Callahan, and he kindly gained an instant live-in family for a week. He lives close to the Hollywood Walk of Fame so we saw that one evening. We went to the beach one day and had fun in the sun in Santa Monica and Venice Beach. We also went to Disneyland for the whole day and saw both the Magic Kingdom and California Adventure, which is right next to the Magic Kingdom. We had an amazing time at both attractions and were exhausted at the end of the day. Mimi's favorite character was Cinderella and Macks' was Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Carribbean.
Pam is continuing to relish her full-time position as stay-at-home-Mom. She has taken many freelance hair and makeup jobs this year that has kept her in the professional world and from going bonkers. She has done hair and make-up for numerous photo and video shoots here in Columbus and also the CBS Good Morning America show when they did a live braodcast from Cleveland and the Rock and Roll Hall fo Fame. Very exciting. Pam is looking forward to increasing her freelance work as the kids permit. Pam has discovered the addiction that her husband has and has taken up running. She ran her first 5K race ever at Thanksgiving and ran it in 33 minutes at the weather was cold, windy, and miserable. A great first race. Way to go honey!
Mack is in 5th grade now with Mr. Hoover, he loves him and he is a terriffic, creative teacher. He is doing well in school but has had some instances of being too social in class. The apple didn't fall too far from Dad's tree on that one. He had a very fun season in outdoor soccer, coached by his Dad, Coach Calhoun, and is looking forward to the indoor season starting in January. He is in "The Trial of the Big, Bad Wolf", a play being put on by the Bexley elementary schools, and he will be playing the part of Marcellus the Pig. He continues to enjoy playing the violin and is getting better all the time.
Mimi is 4 years old and is in Pre-school at Christ Lutheran Church and has Mrs. Lebson and Mrs. O'Neal. She loves being in pre-school and is really enjoying herself and her personality is shining in class. She goes in the morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She is quite the comedian and she never ceases to make us laugh with her funny comments to any situation. She is looking forward to starting Kindergarten next year at Montrose Elementary and she wants to play outdoor soccer this spring.
I, Steve, work at a retail design and branding consulting firm in the Brewery District of Columbus named Chute Gerdeman. I have designed projects for Ross-Simons jewelry, M&M Mars Brands, Hanes brands, Shopko Express, and other world wide brands that I am not allowed to mention due to confidentiality. I enjoyed coaching Mack's soccer team and they probably taught me more than I taught them. I will coach his team again this coming season so if you are ever near the Easton Soccer Fields on a Saturday in April please stop by and cheer us on. I have continued with my Running addiction this year and competed in races ranging from a 10K road race to a 60K trail race. My best race of the year was the Hocking Hills Indian Trail Run which is a 60K race and I placed 9th overall in 6 hours and 23 minutes. I also ran in the Buckeye Trail 50K trail race and did well in it too. I am looking forward to this coming year of running and plan to race in at least one 50 mile trail race and maybe a 70 mile trail race in Pennsylvania.
That is only a few of the things we have done this past year and we look forward to the coming year and what joys and trials it will bring our way. We wish you all the most Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year. Please let us know what you have all been up to this past year too.
All our love,
The Calhouns
