Christmas 2011...

Merry Christmas to All

and to All a Good Night!

Santa did find our house and must have decided the boys were good as indicated by the nice pile of presents he left.  The hit of the season was the iPod Touch each boy received.

The Christmas letter sent to family and friends was as follows:

Wow!  What a year!  We definitely JUMPED IN WITH BOTH FEET!  The boys continue to grow like crazy, no matter how much we tell them to knock it off. This year we thought we’d share with you our Top Ten Quotes of the Beeson Family for 2011.  (Names have been left out to protect the identity of the sometimes guilty party.)

10.  While discussing the Last Supper, we were looking at the painting by Greg Olson.  When we talked about that was when Christ first shared the bread and water, a boy exclaimed, “That’s not bread, it’s a quesadilla!”  Quesadilla and unleavened bread must look the same to little boys.  A Mexican twist on an important story.

9.  Overheard while driving to church from a boy who DID NOT want to be going to church meetings that day, “I wish this church hadn’t been restored.  I wish it was still lost.”

8.  Having two acres to maintain, Scott was researching the best lawn mower to purchase.  Flabbergasted by the cost, he decided to try a used model first.  What a curse that thing was!  It needed two hours of tinkering before each lawn mowing to get it going.  Scott finally decided to break down and buy a new professional lawn mower (One of our children will now have to miss out on a college education since the cost of the mower is equivalent to the cost of receiving a bachelor’s degree.  We haven’t decided which child will remain uneducated…). We were able to find a buyer who figured he could get the old mower working.  During prayer that night, a boy included in his prayers, “...and thank you we could sell that crap mower.”

7.  We had an extended family camping trip planned to Palisade State Park last summer.  After we’d gotten there and set up camp, a boy asked, “Is this Palisade?”  When we answered in the affirmative he responded, “I thought that Palisade was a ship.”  The poor boy thought we were going on a cruise!  It is only a young child who can go from thinking he is going on a cruise to discover it’s actually a week of camping without the least bit of concern.

6.  Our poor children have a 0% possibility of being able to sing, Mom and Dad are genetically deficient.  While Mom was singing, “How Much is That Doggy in the Window,” a boy asked, “Mom, will you stop singing?  You’re making me weak.”  Mom asked, “My singing is making you weak?”  “Yes, it’s making me kinda sick.”  We were not aware he was Superman and Mom’s singing his kryptonite.

5.  As we were driving in the car, listening to Steve Miller Band, a voice from the back seat states, “They just don’t make the quality of rock and roll like they used to.”  His vast nine years of experience on earth has given him the perspective he needs to make this observation.

4.  While discussing resurrection and telling the boys we will be resurrected when Christ comes back to the earth, a boy asked, “When is Christ coming?”  After explaining that no one knows for sure, he responded, “Just like no one knows how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop.”  The two great mysteries of the world, when Christ is returning to earth and how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.  He followed up with, “I’ll bet Jesus knows how many licks… and Albert Einstein.”

3.  While discussing all of the people that we love, including extended family, a boy made the statement, “But you can’t marry your cousin or your kids can’t speak.”

2.  We have called Asher “Ash” for as long as we can remember.  Scott was out winterizing the boat and asked, “Ash, would you hand me that socket?”  To which he said, “Dad, why did you call me a**?  It’s a bad word and isn’t nice.”  Has the boy thought we’ve been calling him a** all these years?  After five years we guess he’d had enough and wasn’t going to take it anymore.  Oh, the things our children will have to discuss with their therapists in the future!

1.  Summer vacation gets long for everyone, I do believe.  When we were reaching the end of the three months of having the boys home all day, every day, Scott, who had had his fill of family togetherness, made the truthful statement, “I feel like I’m living with all of my worst mission companions at once!”