Christmas Letter 2007

Merry Christmas from the Reyersons!

OK, busy year, plenty to talk about. Let’s jump right in:

File this one under Things I Didn’t See Coming: our kids are becoming young adults before our eyes. Adrienne has developed a taste for Caribou Iced Coffee, has been spotted wearing her mom’s jewelry and is impossible to get off the phone. Collin is getting an B in Algebra, asked for books and an electric guitar for Christmas and has admitted that girls don‘t make him sick anymore. They have both devoured all seven books in the Harry Potter series, and were up until 2:30 a.m. one morning this summer waiting in line for the release of #7. Two years from now, you’ll be reading about their first semester in high school. This ride is going way too fast, but you can’t stop it, so you might as well enjoy it, and we are.

What would our Christmas letter be without a brief update from the sports desk? On the diamond, the boys struggled with injuries and stumbled to an 7-23 start, but then won 7 of its last 9, including 5 in a row and a tournament championship, to finish 14-25. Collin got a couple of hits in the tournament final and scored the first run in a 2-0 win over a team from Owatonna. Adrienne played soccer this fall, made some friends and had a good time. There are few things about being a parent that I like better than watching the kids compete. On the field and in the classroom, we are mighty proud of both of our kids.

As the days grow shorter and colder, it should not surprise you that Connie is preparing for her favorite time of year in a familiar way: getting the house all dolled up, procuring, wrapping and hiding presents, and churning out sweet treats at an alarming rate. She’s still working at the elementary school, helping out wherever she’s needed, and has a fresh set of stories about the cute and goofy things the little kids do there. She’s planning a “girls only” trip next April to (are you ready for this?) Las Vegas with a couple of friends from back home. Something to bring up in next year’s letter I suppose.

One of my co-workers at Best Buy found my name on a list of employees listed in chronological order of hire date (mine was 6/12/89). I was shocked to discover that out of Best Buy’s 90,000 employees, there are only 225 people who have worked there longer than I have. I am #226. Best Buy has been awfully good to us, and joining the company half a lifetime ago was one of the 3 or 4 smartest things I’ve ever done.

Three years ago, we went to Orlando to see what all the fuss was about Disney World. Well, we had so much fun, we did it again this past October. This time we brought Adrienne’s friend Julie and the five of us went crazy at Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios and Typhoon Lagoon water park. As far as vacations go, I’ll take fishing up north over just about anything, but in case you were wondering, you can do a whole lot worse than a week in Florida while the rest of Minnesota is tuning up their furnaces.

I usually reserve a paragraph to chat up Iowa Hawkeye football, but this year let’s hear it for the University of Northern Iowa Panthers, who won their first 9 games for the first time since 1960, when a 21 year old, 190 pound flat-top named Mace Reyerson wore number 83 and scored 7 touchdowns for the Purple and Gold. Collin and I joined Dad and Uncle Joe in Cedar Falls for a game back on November 10 and cheered the Panthers to their 10th straight win, a 68-14 dismantling of Indiana State.

Back in July we marked our 11 year anniversary in St. Louis Park. I’m not a real big city guy, but the Twin Cities area has a lot to offer and has proven to be a great place to raise a family. All that and it’s just a short drive back home.

Well, that pretty much wraps it up. If you’re ever in town, be sure to stop by. Our house is just a few minutes from downtown Minneapolis and we love to have visitors. We hope this letter finds you in good health and good spirits, and we wish you all a happy and safe holiday.

Warren, Connie, Collin and Adrienne