Merry & Bright

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Ah, it's that time of year again.  The time of year when the Carlsons wage a battle of multi-color vs. white lights on the tree.  Tracy learned the best tactic is to decorate the tree under cover of night and was crowned this year's victor.

Tracy is still plugging away at the same job, and for the sake of managers potentially reading this, is loving every minute of it (doing Event-Based Marketing at BMO Financial Group)!  Due to frequent trips to Canada, she is becoming somewhat of an expert on all things Toronto - hit us up if you are heading that direction and need some travel recommendations.

Many of you know Tracy's father passed away this year from a short battle with an aggressive brain cancer.  Thank you so much for all the thoughts, prayers, and kindness shown to our family as we deal with the loss and the first moments without him as we move throughout the year.

Kevin started a new job at Heitman as a Finance Manager.  While it was tough to leave his colleagues and friends at LaSalle, he is lucky to have a weekly movie night with many of them.  Sometimes Tracy gets invited along as well (just learned she is invited to the Star Wars movie and is thrilled.  Don't tell the kids they are being left behind).

The highlight of the year was a family trip to Alaska where we traversed numerous towns and cities -- hiked, kayaked, and (our personal highlight) dog sledded on a glacier -- and commanded our own team of dogs.  Though it was disappointing when they caught us sneaking a pup home into the helicopter.

Our townhome continues to suck money while simultaneously adding zero value to re-sale.  We had to purchase six new windows and two new doors to take care of rotting and the "minor" issue with rain pouring inside our house...which we assume isn't the goal.  Thinking about a kickstarter campaign to fund further updates on our house.  Feel free to get in on the ground floor (literally, we would love new floors) -- we are accepting check, paypal, or google wallet payments .

The boys (Chase 5yo, Kiefer 3yo) have been loving school, their friends, and Star Wars.  Highlights of the year include Chase breaking a wood plank with his knee (on purpose) in karate, Kiefer dressing in costumes, nightly light-saber duels, riding the El, and general other kid stuff.  They are great, but may require a hearing check as they seem unable to hear phrases involving "time" -- as in: Time to go to bed, Time to get up, dressed, brush teeth, ...so hopefully we can get that fixed over the next year!

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and look forward to hearing from you (as Kevin and Tracy CAN hear) in the near future!

All the best,
Kevin, Tracy, Chase, and Kiefer

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