Merry Christmas!

Here is The Brittonian, Christmas Edition 2008:

So, what’s the deal with this “time” stuff anyway? It’s like it NEVER stops!

And so here we are again at this point in our solar orbit when the snow is falling in our northern hemispheric part of the world and we are preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ at its traditional wintertime observance.

Also by tradition, the Britton family offers this newsletter, The Brittonian, as a convenient way to summarize our family’s ups and downs of the past annum and to send you our fairest greetings.

Let’s break it down into easily-digestible parts for your Christmas dinner-laden tummies:

Whole Family: We’ve had joys, challenges, triumphs and sorrows in 2008. Notably, we are sad to report the loss of Jean’s brother James, who was 28. It was a shock to us all when a motorcycle accident took his life in August. We miss him.

Seth: Our little guy is nothing short of spectacular. He is the kindest, sweetest, most polite little person around. He is sharp as a Christmas ornament hanger-thingy and says the funniest stuff. He loves to sing and read and is still obsessed with trains (especially Thomas). He loves to laugh, he’s affectionate, and he’s a wonderful example to his parents. He can be a rascal, though: one of his favorite words is “no” and he will drive a hard bargain to try to get what he wants (which usually consists of staying up later). He is very independent and wants to try to do things himself before asking for help. This year’s big triumph: he has pretty much mastered using the remote control, and going in the potty. Yay for Seth!

Jean: The mommy of the Britton family stays plenty busy, keeping up with Seth and putting up with Michael. She has been involved in a neighborhood preschool with Seth that rotates from home to home of the participants, takes Seth to karate lessons, and still finds time to keep her Scentsy wickless candles business rolling along. This year, Jean was called into a leadership position in church (2^nd counselor in the Relief Society presidency), which has also kept her calendar full. This year’s big triumph: potty training Seth. Yay for Mommy!

Michael: Michael changed jobs in March of 2008, but is still working with words for a living. Speaking of which, Michael spent two weeks in October on the Oregon coast at an intense workshop for commercial fiction writers. It was absolutely fantastic, and has opened some important doors for Michael’s career aspirations. He’s currently working on a thriller novel that he’ll be sending off to New York early in the coming year. Dedicated to his goals, he writes fiction nearly every day. Michael is still working with the young men at church (Teachers Quorum assistant) and still has big plans to start working out one day. This year’s big triumph: Honorable Mention in four out of the last five Writers of the Future contests. Yay for Michael!

We’ve had a year full of days, weeks, and sometimes even months. It’s hard to say where we’ll be a year from now, other than at this exact same place in the solar orbit. But one thing we do know: we’re glad we know you; and we’re grateful for the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, that’s two things. Ah well – Michael wrote this – blame him.

With warm wishes for a very merry Christmas!

Love, The Brittons

Those Pesky Undies (yes, they're Thomas undies)

Seth has been doing really well with his potty training...in fact, I wouldn't call it training at all anymore. He can sure hold it a looooong time though! If he is really into his playing, he has a really hard time leaving it to go potty. He'll start to dance and wiggle, anything to keep from having to stop playing to go potty.

So, I say "Do you need to go potty?"

And he replies "No. I just don't want to go potty."

A minute later "Seth, I can tell tell you need to go potty."

"No. I don't have to go potty." is his very firm reply

"Are you sure?"

"No, I'm not sure!" (which means, 'yes, I'm sure I don't have to go potty.')

"Come on, Seth, let's go potty."

"NO!"

And so, he continues to dance and wiggle until he just can't stand it anymore and he'll say "Mommy, I need to go potty!" then we rush to the potty.

So, the other morning we went through this potty ritual then I told him to go into his bedroom and put his undies on. As I was waiting for him to reappear, I heard him say "Not quite right, please try again." (Which is a direct quote from a Thomas game on one of his DVD's) Then he came around the corner, taking very small steps, with both legs in the same hole of the undies, saying "Help! Help!"

Seth's First Hand made Ornament (and the Balloon Story)

Seth goes to a neighborhood preschool and they had a Christmas party on Thursday where he made an ornament and got a balloon. When mommy picked Seth up that day, he insisted on holding his balloon. Mommy told him to hold on tight or the balloon would go up in the sky and not come back. Of course, as soon as we walked out the door, Seth let go of the balloon! When Seth realized that mommy had kept hold of the end of the balloon, he was very upset and said he wanted the balloon to go up in the sky! So mommy acquiesced and Seth let the balloon go up in the sky. As he was admiring his flying balloon and saying "bye balloon", mommy asked Seth to get into the van. Seth then said "Come down balloon! Come down!" but, of course, the balloon did not obey. When Mommy finally convinced Seth that the balloon could not come down, Seth got into the van. As he climbed into his car seat, he said "Go fly van to get it?"

My Boys

I just wanted to share one of my favorite pics of Michael and Seth. I love these two boys so much, my heart almost bursts with joy.