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December 2024

Hello everyone and Happy Holidays!

Chris tried to help out by using ChatGPT to write this year’s letter . . . yeah, no. Thanks, but he has forgotten that I am a control freak. 🤣 Which is also why my cards are “holiday cards” because they will never get delivered by Christmas even with its fixed date on the calendar.

The year 2024 is a remake of 1994, which was a trifecta year for us: Vanessa turned 30; Chris and I celebrated our 30^th wedding anniversary; and I got a new paperweight from work for staying on payroll for the past 30 years.

This past year also saw a couple of new milestones: Logan turned 18 and he graduated from high school. The turd almost didn’t walk on stage; it took a few minutes, but he finally did. He now attends Community Based Service which is where students may stay in the district until 22 years old for extended life and work-skills training. Vanessa went through the same program twelve years ago.

Vanessa continues to be unemployed after losing her job due to Covid, but she now volunteers one hour a week cleaning at a local museum. We continue to hope for a paying job, but at least the volunteer work will give her something to do to break up the monotony. Otherwise, she enjoys going to the salon and getting pedicures.

We learned something new about our kids and where their seizures come from: Jean passed a bad gene to them (pun intended). Logan was able to take part of a genetics study at Seattle Children’s Hospital, which included obtaining the parents’ genetic info. Logan, and by extension Vanessa, has Angelman Syndrome; caused by the gene UBE3A on the 15^th chromosome. This defective gene is causing the seizures. Basic genetics: we all get a set of DNA from our mother and father. For this specific gene, the father’s gene is silenced; only mother’s is used. I passed a mutant gene that doesn’t fit into the Marvel Universe. ☹️ We will have a genetics counseling appointment sometime early next year. The researcher wanted to provide us with the info before he went on vacation for the remainder of the year. And now, I pass the info to you.

Our cats, Cora and Sheba, continue to be spoiled indoor cats. Since our last update was 2022, they have not bonded but remain tolerant of each other. I think Sheba may be part Bombay given her characteristics and temperament. She Is very social and longs to be a lap cat, but given her girth, you must be sitting to hold her. She is still a good 20 pounds and could probably scare a chihuahua just by her size alone.

Cora has gained back her weight to a healthy weight and “chirps” at you with initial attention. She will seek a hand to be pet, but still does not like to be held for more than 5 seconds. Also, she is the stereotypical black cat that runs across your path when you least expect it.

Oh, and I decided I needed extra crazy and made 8 different sweaters this year. Cards – I mean the design of the sweater for the cards. Those on my address list might get one. Those who send me holiday cards WILL get one. I made only 40. The problem now is. . . I can’t find the envelopes.

Okay, bye from us for now. Stay safe y’all!

Holiday Letter 2022

Hello again and happy holidays! Another year and our bubbles are starting to dissipate.

I finally finished grad school this December. Even though I had a few credits to complete, they let me walk at Husky Stadium this past June. There were 7,000+ graduates walking! Both my brothers and my cousin came to celebrate. The pic below is from my cousin Tanya. I also walked for my Bachelor’s degree at the Puyallup Fairgrounds a couple of days after my Master’s. Due to the pandemic, the in-person commencement ceremony was postponed until this year.

Panoramic view of Husky Stadium. Credit: Tanya Haeussler

About the mortgages on my life, aka the kids. Vanessa is still without a job, but we were able to increase her virtual meetings with her job coach to three times a week. We are hopeful the organization we are working with will find something, but the leads keep petering out. Logan, on the other hand, still enjoys school. There have been a few times where he is the typical teenager and does not want to get out of bed, or go anywhere, or do anything. After writing this, I experience those morning too.

Work is returning to regular in-person business hours. At the beginning of the year for winter quarter, offices needed to be opened twice a week and available remotely three days per week. Then spring quarter we moved to in‑person three days a week, summer four days, and this quarter, fall, five days a week. What this means is that the office needs to be staffed, but not all employees need to be there. We are able to rotate working in the office and working remotely. For me, I was in school twice a week, so I was in the office two to three times a week.

Chris’ office has more events to work, so his work schedule is back to weird hours. He really enjoys his job. Even more so after he made POTUS sound good. President Biden made a stop to Green River College for Earth Day (and my birthday!)

We met quite a few neighbors in April through the NextDoor app. Y’all know I adopted Cora last year. Well, in April this year, Cora ran away after a not-quite-closed-door blew open by wind. A neighbor trapped a black cat, but it was not Cora. Devastated, I adopted Sheba on May 1, then other neighbors helped find Cora a day or two later. Cora had been missing for three weeks. We had to slowly introduce both cats to each other and they seem to be getting along, but they are not friends.

If you can tell from the picture, there is quite a bit of a size difference. Sheba is on top, Cora below. Cora was a healthy nine to ten pounds when we got her. She shrunk to about six to seven pounds coming home. She still hasn’t gained the weight back. Probably because there is another cat in the house that eats a lot and gatekeeps. Sheba was estimated to be 2 ½ years old. I would put her weight at twenty pounds at this point. She is a big cat and has gotten fat. I want to train her to be on a harness and leash so I can walk her. She really is the size of a small dog.

So, that’s it from us this year. 

December 2021

Happy Holidays everyone! It seems we continue to live in bubbles. Still enjoying working from home, especially with the gas prices these days; not to mention the commute time.

Chris and I still work at Green River College. I go in about once a week, while Chris goes in almost every day. About a quarter of the classes returned to in-person instruction this past fall with many offices opening twice a week to the public. Staff are available the rest of the days through virtual Zoom lobbies or by phone. Our college is holding classes remotely the first two weeks of winter quarter. The reasoning is the new omicron variant and knowing lots of people are attending family gatherings, there may be need for post-travel COVID testing or quarantine. I can appreciate the over abundance of caution. Earlier this year, Chris and I were able to get the vaccine February-March since we are parent providers for Vanessa. We received our second dose the day after we learned Chris’ coworker died from COVID. We had Vanessa and Logan vaccinated as soon as we could get them scheduled.

I continue with graduate school. I keep contemplating this life choice, albeit I said in the beginning that this is how I chose to spend my mid-life crisis. A little late to change my mind since I’m almost at the half-way mark. Oh, and I had a kidney stone back in April. Again, painful and jabbed many times by nurses and a lab tech to try and draw blood. A lot of not fun. It seems I am my father’s daughter, as if the genetics weren’t enough with the poor eyesight.

Vanessa is still without a job, although she meets with her job coach virtually once or twice a week. Hopefully, she’ll get some in-person training or a new job soon. She has gotten very adept at taking daytime naps. We had her tested for allergies. She is allergic to many things, but not as severe as me (I receive shots).

Logan was able to go back to school in person for the new school year. He was eagerly waking up to ride the bus, but as all things with teenagers, that attitude wore off after a couple of months. The school district built a new high school, literally. The school district demolished everything on the property and built a new school. All during the shut-down from the pandemic.

Jackie has been living with us in her new apartment. We are very spoiled to have her living with us. While we must fend for ourselves for breakfast and lunch, I think I can count on one hand how many times I had to cook dinner this year. 

We (read: I) adopted a cat in March. Her name is Cora (although Chris likes the spelling Korra). She is mostly black with a gray-ish mane. She is about four years old and has a curious and aloof disposition. She is quite friendly but doesn’t like to be held. She will come to an outreached hand to rub her head against, even if she has to stand on her hind legs and stretch to touch the tips of fingers. She is also quite polite when it comes to being fed. When the kids get fed, she knows she’ll be fed too. She sits where her bowls are and waits for food to come. She has the sweetest “mew” during the day; very quiet. However, like most cats during the night, she can be quite loud: her howling “meow” to find someone awake to pay attention to her; the “zoomies” after using her litter box; or dragging her toy feather wand up and down the stairs. She has fur between her toes, and it took her a while to learn how to safely skid when reaching the bottom of the stairs, or not hitting the wall when turning to head down another hallway.

Our next large home improvement project was to get a roof replacement on the original part of the house and install solar panels. We have excellent south and west roofing and no trees. We started the process in April and managed to have them installed at the end of September. Yup, we missed the entire summer and the 100-degree weather.

We were able to keep the bedrooms relatively cooler from the rest of the house by turning the heat pumps to AC mode and cutting off the main house by means of an old flat sheet and a curtain rod. In case you missed it, we had an extraordinary summer where it reached over 100 degrees. Our kitchen got so hot, that this is what happens when you accidentally leave a stick of butter on the kitchen counter.

My uncle passed away at the beginning of August and he was finally laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery on December 9. Chris and I were able to attend. Even though this was a solemn day, it was an amazing ceremony to attend. Two platoons, a band, a caisson pulled by six white horses, a riderless horse, and a twenty-one-gun salute. The ceremony was held on the coldest morning of the week, but it was also the most clear and beautiful morning of the week. Of course, we crammed in tourist stuff with cousins during our trip.

That’s it from the Carlson household for 2021. Y’all stay safe!

December 2020

Happy Holidays everyone! It has been quite the quiet year. Since we couldn’t go anywhere or do anything… oh wait, that’s our usual modus operandi. We like being boring.

Our state went under a state of emergency on February 29. By March 9, our college closed and went completely online for the last couple of weeks of winter quarter. Then we were completely online spring quarter, summer quarter, fall quarter, this coming winter quarter, and the decision has already been made to be online spring quarter. Our college president is not taking any chances and is hopeful we will be back on campus next fall (although she didn’t mention summer quarter). Now that there is a vaccine available and currently being distributed, she is even more optimistic.

Even so, me and Chris are still working, mostly remotely. My office uses Zoom to create a virtual lobby so students can stop in to ask questions. I go in to the office once a week because my office still receives faxes. Chris goes in whenever he is requested to work with other departments such as the bookstore to help ship textbooks to students. I must say, I really like my commute, not to mention the extra minutes of sleep.

Vanessa lost her job for the time being. The restaurant is still in business, and we are hopeful the business will make it through. They may even rehire her, but it will depend. For the time being, she meets with her job coach through Zoom one to two times a week. The rest of her time is spent in her room watching YouTube or playing with her brother or cousin, Penny.

Logan attends school 4 days a week… through Zoom of course. The school district opened the school for special ed students, but we are not willing to send him back just yet. Jackie is elderly and Vanessa doesn’t do well with congestion. I join his PE class in the afternoon because I can use the exercise, plus it helps motivate him to move. Now if we can get Vanessa to join, that would be a bonus.

Oh yeah, we were able to move into our new addition/remodel a couple of days before the state stopped public gatherings and closed schools. The extra elbow room has made our lives comfortable during this pandemic.

I almost forgot. I finally graduated with my bachelor’s degree in June (yay me!). A lot of people ask: Major in Communications, minor in Law and Policy. So, what do I do now? To my own surprise, I enrolled into graduate school: Master of Jurisprudence. Nothing like the decision to go into debt for that extra credential. I just finished my first quarter, and because we are attending remotely, I decided to take two classes instead of one. I survived. I’ll take another two classes this winter and hope to survive. Spring quarter has yet to be determined whether classes will be in-person or remote.

And that be all the updates from the Carlson household for 2020. We hope all of you are staying safe by being a little more hypervigilant with a boring household chore.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Let’s start with the kids. Vanessa continues to work at a local café three days a week, including holiday… if they are open. Logan is in 8^th grade and doing very well in school. BTW: Vanessa is 25, Logan is 13.

Chris still enjoys his work; going on three years in Conference Services at Green River College. I just got my twenty-five-year service award.

Twenty-five-year service award. I had to put it in front of a card to be able to read what it says.

I’m slowly getting to the end of my bachelor’s degree. Fall quarter had a lot of reading.

The stack on the left is for my research paper. The stack on the right is reading for class. That’s two jumbo paperclips (2 inches in length) hanging. I killed a few trees.

I will graduate June 15, 2020 with a major in Communications, and minor in Law and Policy. What do I hope to gain? A new job. Why? Because…construction started!

It took a few months to get the permits, so we started well after the hoped-for summer window… skip now to winter. The siding is up and the 99% of the drywall is installed. They’ll start mudding the walls before New Year’s. After that, floors and doors, heat pump, and whatever other innards are planned.

Hey look! Pictures! I think they’re captioned…

Slab!

Building material!

Addition!

Peek inside!

One last look in Logan’s room…

A different angle…

No more closet. No more Logan’s room. No more laundry room.

Going up!

New master bedroom, bathroom, and closet!

Insulation!

Siding all done!

Drywall! Getting closer!

Shout out to Kathi S! THANK YOU for opening your house to us while you were away visiting your grandbaby. We were able to celebrate Christmas Eve and Day with a bit more elbow room.

Happy Holidays everyone!

w/love, Chris, Jean, Vanessa, & Logan

December 2018

Happy Holidays! It’s been quite the whirlwind year… and forgetfulness. Having envelopes and stamps are kinda important if one plans to mail out Christmas cards.

Where to begin?

My mother-in-law, Jackie, moved in with us. She’s currently bunking with Vanessa. We are in the early stages to build an addition to our existing home. We’ve worked with an architect for designs, now he is working with our contractor. We’re hoping to break ground early next year.

Vanessa continues to work at a local café three days a week. Logan has transitioned middle school. He’s in a class with all boys – not planned, it just happened that way.

Chris continues working in the Conference and Events Services at the college and likes it. Me, not so much. I don’t like his odd hours.

I am still taking classes at the University of Washington Tacoma. I took two constitutional law classes, one last spring and completed the other just this fall. I think I’ll be able to read anything after reading abridged Supreme Court decisions.

I also completed a 5-week business macroeconomics class (online) during the summer. I had to study while travelling to Colorado for my brother’s retirement from the Air Force and my nephew’s ceremony to Eagle Scout. Congrats again! It was a great mini-reunion.

My other cat, Ashley, died early November. She was seventeen-and-a-half and became quite spoiled after Kiki died. I think it was for the better since we’ll have construction on the house.

Hello all,

Another year and another a near-empty journal. New Year’s resolution: take up bullet journaling.

Vanessa continues to work six hours a week at a local café with a job coach. Logan is in sixth grade, and continues to receive extended school year, or summer school.

Chris and I both work for Green River College; we carpool occasionally. Green River has a new president and so far, she has made a great impression on all staff.

I continue to chug along taking classes toward a Bachelor’s Degree. I put in my academic plan to graduate 2020 since I can only take one class per quarter. Which means, one whole year equals one quarter. Ugh.

Chris has worked a full year as a Stage Technician for our Conference Services Department. He doesn’t get to work with Fine Arts Department or the family theater much; however, Vanessa is always welcome to attend all shows for the family theater. Chris keeps a relationship with the bindery to provide assistance with tech plus a few other things.

That sums up our year.

Season’s Greeting everyone!

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Hello all,

Another year has gone by and I can’t seem to remember a whole lot. It’s a good thing I started keeping a journal. Unfortunately, I can’t remember to enter stuff in – only 2-4 entries per month. It can only be as useful as the user intends it to be.

Vanessa continues to work six hours a week at a local café with a job coach. Logan is still in school. This year he had ESY (extended school year, or summer school). He is still non-verbal, but has a few additional verbal “words.”

A lot has happened for me. I went back to school; started the beginning of the year. Maybe this time I’ll finish my Bachelor’s. Since my AA degree was geared towards Journalism, I decided to go with Communications as my major. Actually, I thought I’d go a little crazy and do a double major and also get a BA in Arts, Media, and Culture. What do I plan to do with these degrees? Not much. Out here, a BA is basically a credential. I thought I’d focus my mid-life crisis on something productive, with my “crisis” being a double-major. Plus, in WA state as a state employee, we have a tuition waiver that allows us to take classes at reduced tuition, but we can’t register until the fourth day of class.

The faculty at Green River went on a 3-day strike this past April due to the lack of interaction with the President. Decisions to close programs without consulting the faculty was a major factor. They chose to do three days because we’ve closed for snow and weather, and it didn’t affect classes. Our president resigned at the end of June. We now have an interim president for one year. We hope to have a new president by next August.

We had to put Kiki down at the end of June as well. We should have done it sooner, but couldn’t find the time. Kiki was supposed to be Vanesa’s cat – helped wake Vanessa in the morning. We miss her; however, Ashley our other cat is getting very spoiled.

The biggest news of this year happened mid-December. Chris quit working at Seattle Bindery, a place he worked for over 30 years. He was finally hired at Green River College as a Stage Technician for our Conference Services Department. He should still be able to work with the Fine Arts Department for concerts and shows, but that still needs to be worked out.

Happy Holidays everyone!

follow me on twitter: Beandip0473
friend me on facebook: Jean Uemura Carlson
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December 2015

Christmas comes but once a year, and when it comes it brings good cheer.

Always, every year, on the same date. But that doesn’t seem to matter much. It doesn’t matter that I started thinking about my Christmas card design in July. I still can’t seem to get them out in a timely manner.

At least this year wasn’t as eventful as last year – just have to pay for it – literally. Hooray for a somewhat boring year!

Logan is doing well in school with his new teacher. Last year we had his teachers send a happy face or sad face to show his day. So far, the Log only had a few sad-faced days. He is getting better going to different places and dealing with different people. We take him to the UW Pediatric School of Dentistry which means he gets a different dentist each visit. He has a new neurologist this fall. He did well with both visits, and his EEG (but he was half asleep for that – see pictures).

The only problems are getting him to cooperate to take his height and weight measurements. Oh, the EEG results? He’s still having seizures. As a matter of fact, since he is a growing boy, we had to increase his meds before his scheduled EEG because we were seeing seizures.

Vanessa graduated from CBS, Community Based Service. She still has the same job at a local café, still works 3 days a week for 2 hours, and she still has a job coach to help keep her on task.

I managed to plant a few tomato plants in pots this past summer. I actually harvested a few tomatoes… instead of killing the plants!! My walking buddy had me try kefir (fermented milk), which I cultivated and drank. Come to think of it, I have to throw out my grains – they’ve been stuck in the fridge since September when life got too busy. I got a chance to meet up with my maid‑of‑honor, Charlene, over the summer. The big news is that I plan to go back to school next year. I have to figure out my school/work schedule.

Chris is still working at the bindery. Business has taken off. The bindery bought another company and hired another driver, but Chris still drives quite a bit. And, he still works part-time working at the college for the fine arts department and family theater. Vanessa still attends all of the family theater shows. Logan gets to attend if he can behave.

That’s about it for this year – pretty boring. I got my Christmas wish from last year.

Happy Holidays!

Your card should stand up like this:

December 2014

Hi everyone.

I’ve actually started this Christmas letter several times. I’ve had to revise several times – almost to the point of not having a letter. Then I remembered I have to make up for last year; and being a trifecta anniversary year, I guess I’m obligated to write something up.

Vanessa turned 20 this year. (I, too, feel old.) She continues to attend school as a “super senior”; this is her last year. She is currently in a School–to–Work program through the county. It’s a transition program before the state agency takes over to make sure she has a viable job once she finishes school. Vanessa works at a local café doing janitorial work three days a week. We set her up with ACCESS bus, King County Metro Transit for persons with disabilities.

Chris and I have been married for 20 years. (If you weren’t already feeling old by the last paragraph.) We celebrated by going to Las Vegas for a weekend. We stayed at the Bellagio and had a view of the fountains from our room. Had dinner at Le Cirque and then went to see Cirque du Soleil’s “O”. Talk about people who absolutely love their job. Speaking about jobs… I got my 20-year service award from Green River. Like I said: Trifecta anniversary. Only 20-some-odd more years of work (depends if the government changes the retirement age again), then maybe I can think about retiring! Actually, retirement talk is quite depressing when you have to think in decades for it to become reality.

About the boy we call Logan. We get to start off from just before Christmas last year. He had to get some dental work done, but because he enjoys biting, turning, basically avoiding, we have to put him under anesthesia. So, we met with UW Pediatric School of Dentistry, then off to Children’s Hospital for his procedure. He did well. He did well for his follow up too. We were all surprised. Logan ended this year with a double-whammy. He got both rhinovirus and influenza A. He vomited and couldn’t keep his meds down, and we ended up at Children’s Hospital this December.

Chris still works for Seattle Bindery as a driver, and he still works for Green River doing sound for the drama department and family theater. Vanessa still gets to go with him to all the family theater rehearsals and shows. It’s such a treat for her. Chris started working with a band, transporting, setting up, and doing their sound. It’s a lot of fun for him.

Me, I had an eventful year at work. If you didn’t know, I am a shop steward for our Union. I got to be on the hiring committee to look for a new Vice President of Human Resources and Legal Affairs earlier in the spring. That was stressful. I was also on the collective bargaining negotiations team over the summer representing our college. Our contract is grouped with 12 other colleges (coalition) and each college sends representatives. We have a head negotiator that speaks to the head negotiator for the State, who sits alongside with the College representatives. That was more stressful. And if this wasn’t enough from work, at home I’m Vanessa’s legal guardian and representative payee for Social Security. This equates to lots and lots of paperwork with deadlines I have to deal with. At the end of summer a lady didn’t like my car and did this to it:

I had Logan in the car with me, and he was in the backseat where the car took the most damage. He’s fine, but my back wasn’t. It’s a good thing I’ve been going to massage therapy and the gym. I think both combined helped me heal faster.

Earlier this month, another lady didn’t like Chris’ car either. So, both of us got new wheels – well, I got a 2014 Civic Hybrid; Chris got a 2005 Odyssey – and car payments to go with (hooray of the economy!).

The year is almost over and we can’t wait. Honestly, we like having boring years.

Happy Holidays!