Merry Christmas!

Normally, I write one of those Christmas letters and send them in the mail. This year, like a lot of things in my life, I didn't have time to do it. Honestly, there wasn't much to write about, and I'd just as soon forget the whole thing.

It wasn't all bad though. Here are some of the highlights.

* Mathew (10) is still being homeschooled and working about two years ahead in most things. He played soccer in the spring, and that's his only sport now. He is pretty involved in church activities, including children's chimes and choir. He's also an acolyte. His highlight of the year though was his first communion this fall. He had been looking forward to that for at least two years. He had a great deal of enthusiasm for his church activities. He is also in the last year of Cub Scouts. We'll see if he goes on to Boy Scouts.

* Erik (8) is the family athlete, by Palm standards, anyway. He plays soccer, football and basketball. After being one of the smallest kids on his football team last year, he got taller (if not wider) and played left offensive tackle this year. I think soccer is his best sport, but he has also played that the most. He is one of the best defensive players in his age group. I think he likes basketball the best, but that is also the current sport. He is also taking an interest in watching college and pro sports. Sometimes, he'll get up in the morning and instead of turning on cartoons, he'll turn on the Big Ten Network.

He is also working ahead of grade level at homes going reasonably well. He is at the Bear level of Cub Scouts and joins Mathew in the children's chimes group at church.

* #3 son, Karsten (4) is starting to do some pre-school work at home. He's reached the age where he wants to do everything his big brothers are doing, which includes schoolwork. He knows all the letters and can write most of them. He is now constantly asking us how to spell things. He also started Sunday School this year, which he just loves.

* The last but not least Palm child, Annika, will be 2 in March. She's adorable, of course, though I may not be the most objective observer. She's also wants to do everything the older kids do, but we haven't armed her with a pencil yet. Right now, she's into learning parts of the face, so whenever we hold her, she's poking our eyes, sticking her fingers in our ears, etc, wanting us to tell her what part that is while we also try to stop the bleeding.

She is also trying to talk and has a few words, mostly names for all of us. Mommy and Daddy she has down pretty well, although sometimes it's "mommies" and "daddies." I know I'm big, but I didn't think I was big enough to be plural. Mathew is "Momo," Erik is "Ay-yah" and Karsten, who was the first one to get a name from her, is "da-DEE", where the last syllable is kind of like a squeal.

This is such a cute age.

* The newest thing in my work is that I have been covering games instead of just writing about ratings. That actually started last fall, with Notre Dame football. I didn't cover them as much this year. :)

I also covered a lot of basketball games, including the Missouri Valley, Big East and NCAA Tournaments. All this game coverage is for CSTV.com, which is where I do most of my freelance writing.

* Cheri has been trying to keep the household from falling apart, and despite all our best efforts to thwart that, she succeeds. None of us function without her.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! I started writing this before 5 AM, so naturally, Mathew and Erik are already up. We never see them this early the rest of the year.