Merry Christmas 2021: The McMichael Year in Review

It's hard to believe that we first wrote a Christmas letter blog post in 2011, and have every year since (except for 2012, not sure why!). If you're interested, you can read our previous Christmas blog posts here. 

This year has been challenging and heavy. We've had ups and downs with our jobs. We miss seeing family and friends more often. Health issues have popped up. Parenting Adam has been challenging too. Still, it's incredible to see his progression. Last year, he was a soft-cheeked toddler still in diapers, soothing himself to sleep in his crib with a pacifier. Adam is now a preschooler fully potty-trained, no longer needing a pacifier and sleeping in a big kid bed. I'm so proud of him (and Shaun and myself) for these small victories and milestones we see him tackling. 

Even though it's been a tough year, we had a lot of fun too. Here's some of the highlights and important milestones we reached this year: 

During Christmas break (from Christmas Eve until the day after New Year's) last year, Shaun and I stayed at home and potty-trained Adam. Although it took a lot of mental preparation and stamina, it was so rewarding to see Adam learn an important new skill. We decided to completely remove diapers from the equation - both daytime and nighttime/naptime. I'm so glad we did, in retrospect. I grew in admiration for Adam in his ability to learn and grow in his independence. I got to see how, through the process, he wanted to learn the skills we were asking him to learn, and was so motivated by words of praise.  

Adam with his potty training sticker chart. 

For Eastertime, we had such a great time riding the Easter train in Chehalis, which included an Easter Egg hunt and a visit from the Easter bunny. Adam loved all of it and still talks about this train ride. 

In April, we took a much-needed break to Camano Island - much-needed especially since Christmastime wasn't really much of a "break" in the sense of relaxation (we were so busy potty training!). We had a beachfront cabin overlooking the Saratoga Passage, where we could watch the sunsets. We went on a hike (a first for Adam) to Cranberry Lake, and only minimal bribing with snacks was necessary. It was a perfect little vacation for us - close by, affordable, and an amazing beachfront view. Adam did great and we had great weather too. Here's some pictures from Camano Island - we can't wait to go back! 

In April, I changed jobs from Getty Images, where I had worked for 6 years and had become the Sr. SEO Manager, to Amazon, where I now work at Amazon Web Services (AWS). My title is SEO Manager and I work on the aws.amazon.com website, helping to make it user-friendly and discoverable in Google Search.

Shaun has been working at Pongo Poetry Project since March 2020. He's edited two collections of youth poetry, the first of which was published late last year, and the most recent, The Story of My Heart, published this year. Although the job is challenging, Shaun feels it is important work and is grateful to be able to help so many youth deal with their trauma and pain through the healing (and science-backed!) work of guided poetry. He's also found free time to edit his novel, Whistle Punk Falls, and is working with a copyeditor to get it ready to pitch to agents and publishing companies.   

For Adam's 3rd birthday, it was so good to have a few friends and family members over to celebrate a dinosaur-themed backyard birthday party. Thankfully the fickle spring weather cooperated, and we had a great time. After not being able to celebrate in-person for his 2nd birthday last year, it was especially sweet to get together this year. We did a photo shoot in the backyard right before the party - here's a photo: 

In late May we went to Cannon Beach. Adam really enjoyed playing in the sand and going to a nearby park with go-karts and little rides. He still talks about the rides he went on like the "old-fashioned cars" and the "airplane." Thanks to Grandma Sandy for a great weekend trip! 

For the 4th of July, we had a ton of fun at Uncle John and Aunt Donna and cousin Kristin's house on Whidbey Island. We took the ferry over, went kayaking, and explored a new park and watched the fireworks over the water. 

This summer we also went on Thomas the Train in Snoqualmie - another huge highlight for Adam. There were so many fun activities for kids there, but of course Adam just about "bust his buffers" when he saw Thomas and got to ride on the coach pulled by a live-action talking Thomas. Here we are in the Thomas's coach: 

For our 10th wedding anniversary this year (I know, ten years wow!), Shaun and I had planned to go to Lopez Island, one of the quieter San Juan Islands, for 2 nights. Unfortunately, due to labor shortages, our ferry was cancelled, so we ended up only going for 1 night. This meant we didn't have time to go biking around the island like we planned. But we still had a great time with dinner and an acid jazz show on the island, a night at a cabin overlooking a sheep farm, and an early morning hike before taking the ferry home.    

September brought about one of my favorite activities of the year: pumpkin patches. I love pumpkin patches, and any chance to get out on a farm and show Adam how things grow. Earlier this summer and last summer, I took Adam to the Rainer Beach Urban Farm, which has kids activities in the garden. Adam seems way more excited to eat fruit and veggies when he picks them straight from the garden. Our neighbor grows tomatoes and zucchini, so all summer and fall she invited us to pick veggies from her yard or greenhouse and we would go grab a couple for dinner or a snack. Now I just need to get a garden going so Adam will eat more veggies next summer! Pumpkin patches, at least around here, are no longer really just a farm where pumpkins are grown. Agritourism means that pumpkin farms now need to have a full-on amusement park. We went to 2 pumpkin patches with a ton of fun activities - a corn box, pig shows, tractor rides, apple cannons. It's ridiculous! I think Adam now thinks tractors and sandbox toys grow on farms! 

I enjoyed treating my mom for her 70th birthday by taking her to a surprise candlelight concert. We listened to a string quartet play "from Bach to the Beatles." I liked both the classical and the classic rock.

For Christmastime this year, we went to Crystal Creek Tree Farm, which not only has U-cut trees, but also a diesel narrow-gauge train that we got to ride on around the farm. Of course, Adam loved it (sense a theme?) and I think this farm will be where we get all our Christmas trees from now on. Another one of our favorite traditions is going to the Seattle Center Armory (like a big food court and indoor theater space/common area in downtown) at Christmastime where they have the most intricate model train and snow village. There's a hot air balloon that floats up and down, an airplane, even a sasquatch and (new this year) a Kraken! My favorite part is going when the Dickens Carolers come to sing Christmas carols (Shaun's favorite part is eating a fried chicken sandwich from Skillet).

Since late last year, I've been enjoying teaching Adam using a homeschool curriculum called Playing Preschool, by the Busy Toddler mom Suzie. I had been following her on social media and enjoying her activity recommendations for infants and toddlers, and so when Shaun mentioned that he'd like a curriculum to teach Adam pre-literacy skills, I bought the 2-year curriculum. So far I've really been enjoying it. Even though Shaun and I work full-time and Adam is in daycare full-time, I still like having activities that we can use to teach Adam on weekends and week nights. The curriculum is super simple to follow and easy to set up. Each lesson is only 20-40 minutes long, and there are books, crafts, and activities that are centered around a theme and use skills that build on each other, like scissor skills, reading comprehension, and letter recognition. There have been so many wonderful books and activities I would have never thought of. Here's one: 

Here's to 2022:

Shaun and I have been writing New Year's resolutions and sharing them with each other every year since NYE 2012. We get really into it - we have goals for different areas of growth like social/fun, health, spiritual, and work. We set a reminder to check in every June on our goals and adjust them. Then on NYE we grade ourselves and write new ones, both individually and some shared goals. Not saying we're perfect at hitting our goals; it's just a fun exercise that we both like to do.

In 2022, we're looking forward to vacations sledding and snowshoeing, going to the beach, and to the mountains. We're looking forward to seeing how Shaun's job evolves and grows. We're also looking into other options for Adam for pre-school and pre-kindergarten and praying that a good option for him opens up. We're looking forward to getting more plugged in to our new church as well. While it was a hard decision to switch churches (we were at Every Nation Church since 2006!), it has been a good one so far and we have enjoyed making new friends in our community group, and seeing Adam get plugged into the Sunday school program. 

We're also looking forward to spending more time with family and friends. We hope to hear from you and hear what your new year's resolutions are! 

Love,
Kaitlin, Shaun, and Adam