2011 Christmas Letter

What's Up With The Nowell's
2011 Christmas Letter
Another year is coming to a close, months have passed, days have come and gone, adventures have waged war and brought peace, but life goes on and we must recap in order to set new goals and plan for new encounters. This year we have undertaken lots of activities including visiting new lands across many an ocean and vast lands to forge a new home in a new frontier.

This new land we call Ohio, has brought us strange new encounters like trees changing their colors and molting their beautiful leaves. We have yet to understand why such beauty is traded for such empty and barrenness. The strange white flakes that fall from the sky erect squeals from Kilee and Kandon, but poor Kowen is struck with bewilderment as he has never seen how such soft things hit his tongue, yet when compiled together they form such a hard painful ball when hit in the face. “It hurts, It hurts,” “It’s too cold,” “Please can we move back to Hawaii,” they say. “No” says their wise mother, “There are great things here that we have yet to discover. We must forge on with a new found desire for adventure.” Oh how they complain about the strangeness of not being able to wear flip-flops and shorts. What kind of people desire to live in such a strange
land where flip-flops must be put away and where one must wear so much just to
go outside to walk to the bus or walk the dog or even get the mail or let alone
just get in the car. “I don’t want to look fat,” says little 5 year old Kowen as his mother tells him daily that not only must he wear tennis shoes and socks, but he must also wear long pants, thermals, sweaters, inner coats, outer heavy coats, mittens, hats, and his hood. These hassles surely take many a minutes from their playtime, but as it gets colder they see that it is impossible to wage war against their mother’s demands and that the winter winds are fierce and have caused them to retreat inside for the coming months.

They have had time to reflect on their year and what has brought them to where they are. Fresh on their minds is Thanksgiving and how
grateful they were to have their Aiti and Grandpa come visit and take them for
crab legs. They enjoyed spending the nights at their hotel and refreshing their abilities to swim and dive and feel the new again as they swam in the pool many a days. In recollect they talked of how they learned to skate for the first time and Kandon relished in his memory of his knees and legs covered in bruises from falling so much. Yet, they also are grateful that their father’s ankle reconstruction surgery went well and that he is now hobbling around on his bright green cast. However, they pray for the day when he is able to wrestle and run with them. Kilee remembers how mother tried to get her to be the one to touch the raw turkey and smother butter and other herbs all over its slime covered body, but she had refused such a challenge, saying it was “disgusting” and “that there was no way she was ever going to do that!” Her mother quickly explained to her that “of course it was disgusting, why do you think I was trying to get you to do it.” Oh how her mother rejoiced when it was all over and she could exclaim, “Thank goodness this holiday only comes but once a year!” The kids were sad to see their
grandparents go, but were so glad that they themselves did not have to ride in
the car for 13 hours. They had remembered how they too had gone on such a treacherous journey this last summer and Kowen had thrown up in the car, and oh how it smelled, and oh how it took so long. They had not been through such
a trial living on an island that took only 1 ½ hours to get to the other side,
a vast land where we did not take too many a trips. Our frivolous complaints had kept us away from such beauties that lied just on the other side, oh how we miss the palm trees, and beautiful beaches, oh how we long for the day when we can visit, but
knowing it is a dream, probably never to be realized again.

Kowen had much to tell as he remembered that he learned to tie his shoes while waiting to get his flu shot at the hospital. How he is now in school
because mom and dad went to the super-intendant and argued his case that he was
too good enough to start early entrance Kindergarten and that he would be great
and almost always stay on green light, not counting the time he threw food in
the cafeteria and that the principal knows him by name, but that he will and is
in the top reading group of his class and he loves his teacher. This year he has enjoyed playing indoor soccer, thank goodness says his mom because it is way too cold. He does not feel the desire to run and score,
but is more of a defender of the goal and has a little trouble differing
between what is allowed in soccer on the walls and what is allowed in
professional hockey on the walls. Many of times his mother has pleaded for him to run and score, but he says no. Many of times he has been seen ramming poor
girls into the wall as he pins them there to keep them from scoring. And many a
times he has been found smiling as he kicks while in the group of misfits who
know not what to do when piled together other than kick, kick, kick each other’s
shins. But oh how he cheers for joy and grabs and lifts his other 2 players as they continue to score goal upon goal one time up to 20 at least in one game.
He himself has brought joy to his mom with his 2 goals, one a bounce off
his foot, but it counts to her, and she is joyful in her heart, when he is
joyful in his soul. Just as she was joyful when he graduated pre-school in his
Hawaiian shirt, just as when he learned to swim all by himself in the deep end
of the pools of Hawaii and continued to impress the passing swimmers here in
Dayton, and just as he continues to impress his mom with tricks on his scooter
and bike. She loves him even when he is wild and reckless, but is so glad he is here for her to cuddle. She reminds him of how he got stitches twice
so far, once for kicking glass in flip flops and once last February for missing
a car and running his sister’s electric scooter at full speed into a basketball
pole and slicing his eyebrow open. Oh how he cried, but not for the blood, or the pain, or the craziness, but “please dad don’t stick me with the needle again” (Meaning numbing meds), and “please dad don’t take my eye.” Oh how his mom, dad, and the other doctor smiled at his remarks and were proud at how brave he was. “You continue to amaze me” his mother said. “I know, because I’m awesome,” he said.

His sister jumped in to tell of her memories of how she enjoyed riding in a discarded duct tape boat while she still lived in Hawaii. Oh the uses of duct
tape are limitless her mother said. She longs for her lost friends, but loves
her teacher and enjoys being the top reader of her class. The class in on a quest of their own to reach Kilee and her soaring AR level points as she read all Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries and many other series. She is glad to not have to wear uniforms
anymore, but is boggled with the struggles of picking out a different outfit
every day, oh the choices she must endure.
She still enjoys to sing and has rejoiced with her new found Just Dance
3 game. She longs for others to play with her and dance till their limbs are sore.
She has forged ahead and even chosen the family dentist for us, not by a
true choice, but by fault of none her own.
She came home from school, only to exclaim in pain
to her mother that she had taken poor care and bitten into a hard cookie that
had cracked her tooth in half and left in hanging and bleeding. Oh the pain was
too much to wait for it to fall out on its own, her mother must quickly find a
dentist that would ease her pain today.
And he did, through more pain than before she was healed with a comfort
that it was not her fault, but that the tooth was coming out anyways and its
replacement had shattered through the middle of the first and would have happened
anyways. Her mother rejoiced at his kindness and repaid him by signing the rest up for cleanings too. Despite all the teeth trouble, Kilee continues to love sweets and baking. Her favorite food though is Popcorn. She asks for it daily, but sadly is denied most every day but Friday. She is patiently waiting to try tennis and longs for next August when she and her brothers can perform in the Missoula Children’s Theatre again. This year she was Wolfy in the Jungle Book and thoroughly enjoyed it.

“I was a monkey too,” remembers her brother Kandon. He too enjoyed dancing
crazily on stage and can’t wait for next year.
Kandon proclaims that he also loved learning to dive to the bottom of
the deep pool with Kowen and Dad. But most would be breaking the trampoline
with his friend Alex. It was such a cool thing to be jumping and being all crazy and then all of a sudden we were falling to the ground. Luckily no one was hurt, but boy to I miss our trampoline that had rusted through. Oh well, one day he hopes his parents rekindle his love for jumping soon. He also shares how he enjoyed going to a monster truck show in Cincinnati and loved to see the trucks jump over hills, but better yet, burst into flames. “That was Awesome” he would proclaim often throughout the show. He was so grateful that we were in the shaded side of the arena, but oh how thirsty he still was. He wishes often that he could return and learn to surf or hike the trails to see whales again, but understands that those dreams are for a land far far away.
Kandon loves his teacher here, especially when she gives out candy, and enjoys
continuing to be the top level reader in his class like he was in Hawaii. He has pleaded for a phone and Ipad for Christmas, but sadly his requests have been denied.

His faith in Santa shattered at age 8, but
was joyful to remember how he was baptized in July and was able to visit his
cousins and grandparents for such a wonderful occasion. He also enjoyed singing in his choir performance at school, oh how his face radiated with joy as he proclaimed the
words he knew. He was sure he did better than his sister’s performance, but his
parents proclaimed that they were both delightful in their own ways.


Our many wonderful memories have filled our books of remembrances, too many to share, but if you haven’t looked lately some are printed on www.nowellfamily243.blogspot.com free for your viewing and laughter. We know that each year is an experience given to us to cherish and yet endure at times.
We hope that we are able to use our time wisely making experiences that
will form our souls into who our Father in Heaven would want us to be. We hope that his year brings your families great joy and happiness as you forge new challenges and cross new lands. May you always keep the knowledge of who you are and where you eternally are going within your hearts and minds. May next year bring good news and cheer for
you.
Love, Clifton,
Nakeysha, Kilee (10), Kandon(8), and Kowen(5) Nowell