DRAFT- Christmas Letter 2021

*This is my Christmas Letter Draft for December 2021. I think it was the first year that I didn't blog a Christmas letter since I started when David was a baby. It's something I enjoy doing, even just as a way to summarize the year. I also didn't get 1 single Christmas Card out, which is something I also enjoy. I can say that I am busier than ever but I don't think that was it. Regardless I wanted to share my draft and wish you and yours a Happy 2022 and a Merry Christmas that lasts all year long. 

Much love, the Neufelds

     It's Christmas time! We are very happy to be heading into a more normal feeling Christmas, after experiencing quite a different, lonelier Covid Christmas last year. True, Covid is still part of our new reality but are heading into the season without restrictions and impending fines for gathering with loved ones during the holidays. 

    This year we have extra reasons to celebrate family as my brother, sister (in-law) and nephew moved to Port Alberni in the Spring. We have all been so happy to be able to get together with them on a more regular basis. It seems to have started a trend because Jonathan's parents and brother bought the house right next to us and moved in September so we now have parents/grandparents and a brother/uncle for neighbours! We count the blessing of family very high on our list and so just this news news alone has made 2021 a very blessed year.

    We continue to Homeschool our six children, Naomi started kindergarten in the fall so this is the first time officially educating 6 kids. For Grades 2-7 we are continuing to use the Gather Round Curriculum with the approach of learning the same unit study topics together and completing separate grade appropriate notebooks. In the new year we studied Oceans, Africa, Earth Science. Starting this school year we have learned about North America and we are just wrapping up a unit Study on the Human Body. In the New year we will be learning about South America... David is completing Grade 10 as online synchronous courses, most that have weekly class times on zoom. Naomi is working her way through Reading Eggs, completing fun phonetic learning games on an app and working on corresponding work pages.

    In other news David has just managed to grow taller than both Jonathan and I, that combined with my baby turning 5 has really hit me this season of life. They are all growing so much.