Merry Christmas from the Hansen Family

Lowden (11 years old): "My favorite part of the year? Um. Woo. That’s a toughie. (Big Breath) It’s probably when we went to the California State Fair because I scared myself out of my wits by going upside-down, high up, screaming my head off on “The Hammer.” I also went to Six Flags Marine World …well, Discovery Kingdom. And rode “The Medusa”. It was awesome!!! The Shamu show was exciting and interesting. Before they started they were asking these questions about orcas and one of them was “What was the leading cause of dying orcas?” And it was “A. Habitat loss, B. Sickness, or C. Slipping in the Bathroom.” That was funny. I have been working really hard at reading because of the adventurous opportunities from books. I mean that it interests you SO much that you can barely put down the book. I’ve read 14,000 pages this summer and in my lifetime I’ve read A LOT. I’ve been working hard at school to prepare myself for middle school because in middle school you need to be pretty smart to be able to do well. And I’m just being prepared… as boy scouts do. When I grow up I wish to be a marine biologist because I have a great interest in aquatic animals. I have an aquarium that has three fish, two snails, one tiny snail, one frog, and three frey. It’s spelled “F-R-Y” mom. I had bought a fish for my aquarium that apparently was pregnant but died of stress after having four babies. One of the babies were eaten. My mom got an aquarium divider to separate the fry from the other fish and the frog. …..Is that enough? Goodbye! (Walks Away).”


Parker (9 years old): “My favorite part of this year was when we went to all the Duck football games because it was totally rockin’ dudes. I liked it when I got the new football and when I go on the turf field and get autographs from the other duck players. I liked it when I play football in my backyard because you get to run and to make touchdowns and tackle people. I also ate and slept. I also went to school. It’s going good. I like lunch and recess. I am going onto the turf field and playing soccer. It is totally rockin’ dudes. I’ve been working really hard at my football skills so I can do better in football because if I don’t then I will get hurt a lot when I play flag football next spring. And I wouldn’t be able to play much because I wasn’t very good. When I grow up, I was to be an athlete and earn 6 billion dollars. If that did not work out, then I would want to be a guy who plays video games for money. Someday I want to go to China because China’s cool and they have really good athletes there and I want to meet them.”


Lauren (8 years old): “My favorite part was when we went to California because we got to see Grandma Lynda and Mindy and Grandpa Bob and Doak and Champ (Grandpa’s dog) and the horses, Ed, Classic, Diamond, Glory and Edie. I liked swimming, playing with Champ, feeding the horses, and riding two of the horses. I love horses. I heart horses! A special thing of my year was getting baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost because I am now a true member of the Jesus Christ of Heavenly Father’s church. I felt good inside and happy. Change that to “very happy” mom. I’m in second grade now and it’s a lot of fun. My teacher is very nice. I have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, a whole bunch of friends. I like to play with them. We play Chipmunks which is a game where you collect stuff and make soup out of leaves, woodchips, and grass. In the week, I have dance, activity days at church, piano, dance again, and then a day off. I do ballet and musical theater and jazz. Last month, I did a performance called “Beyond the Yellow Brick Road” which was mix of Wicked and The Wizard of Oz. I played the Barrister (lawyer) of Munchkin City in the County of the Land of Oz. I also played a munchkin and a jitterbug. I wasn’t really nervous when I said my lines or went on stage or when a million people were out there. I want to work at an aquarium when I grow up. I want to feed fish or be a tour person. Someday I want to go to France because the Eiffel Tower is there and a famous painting…the Mona Lisa. I want to get married there in the France temple. Is there any France temple? If there is one, I will get married in it. My husband or fiancé….what’s a fiancé? He will bring me flowers and bring me over to my marriage place. ”


Bennett (4 years old): "I know my favorite it was the one when we made Christmas trees. Remember we painted them at school. I play with my friends and what I want to play with my friends is soccer. Yeah. I try to kick very very very hard to get into the goal. Yeah. I used to go very fast and charge and kick it. Charging is the best. When you charge the ball goes very fast and gets into the goal. I am going to tell you the next thing I can do the best…football. And when I can do fast throw and very very very fast throws. And I like to go bowling. You know when you go to the bowling stadium to play bowling. And the last thing I like to play is catch. Catch is when you try to catch the ball and get it into the bowl. I want to be a baseball player when I get older because when I get older I wanted to play baseball and go very fast. I like to go to the baseball stadium and every place that my mom lets me to go.”


Greg and Margaret: “Children are far more interesting than adults; everyone knows this. So we allocate column space in our annual newsletter accordingly. 2008 was another fairy-tale year for Margaret and me, complete with castles, exotic locales and the kind of love that makes you feel a bit unsteady on your feet. Whenever we think life can’t possibly get better, it does – blessing counting is nearly a full time job (visit our family blog to see what I mean). We are grateful above all for the gentle love of our Savior Jesus Christ – may you feel that in abundance this Christmas!”

Wishing you and your family a happy Christmas season,

Greg, Margaret, Lowden, Parker, Lauren, and Bennett Hansen