Christmas Letter 2009

Merry Christmas from the Reyersons!

You know, I think I can almost still taste the stamps I licked for LAST year’s Christmas cards, so to say that this year went by in a hurry is an incredible understatement. Truth is, I don’t know where the year went.

Kids are doing great. They are just finishing up their first semester of 9th grade at St. Louis Park Senior High. Connie and I are both amazed at the SIZE of this place, but for 1,100 kids, you NEED a place that big I guess. Last time Connie checked grades, it was all As and Bs for both of them, so no complaints there. Collin opted for the Honors course load right away, and Adrienne will move into Honors English and maybe 1 or 2 others next year. I must also warn our readers that Collin began Driver’s Ed this semester and Adrienne is next.

Collin landed his first job this summer, as a caddy at the golf course here in town. He liked the work, but he often showed up but then would get sent home right away because nobody was asking for a caddy, so he’ll be looking for steadier work next summer. Collin also got in another season of baseball (team finished 18-17), and he found some time to volunteer at the Westwood Hills Nature Center between games and practices. Busy kid, and as you can see in the enclosed picture, he is growing like crazy. Grew 6 inches this year alone, and his feet are now bigger than mine! I predict he will be 6 feet tall by next Christmas.

At the tender age of 14, Adrienne doesn’t reveal a lot of information to her pop, so I struggle to come up with things to write about her. She just goes about her business at school and hangs out with her friends. Ridgedale Mall is one of her favorite places, which is what you might expect from the typical American teenage girl. She doesn’t fancy herself much of an athlete, but she ran the 200 meter on the track team this spring and WON a couple of heats. And when she’s not knitting baby blankets or the red scarf I have been asking her for years, she’s either texting or Facebooking somebody.

As the days grow shorter and colder, Connie is preparing for her favorite time of year in a familiar way: putting the holiday decorations on display, wrapping and hiding presents, and cranking up the goody machine. This time of year, when I get home, there‘s always Christmas music playing and the house smells great. Cookies, fudge, peanut butter balls, popcorn cake, Connie does it all. She’s been at the elementary school for 8 years now, helping out wherever she’s needed, and a lot of the ladies there buy goody baskets from her this time of year, which means (you guessed it) even MORE baking. She tried to talk me into a second oven when we remodeled a few years back and I just laughed. Now I’m starting to get her point.

What a season for the Iowa Hawkeyes! 9 straight wins to start the season, including wins at Penn State, Wisconsin, that heart-stopper in East Lansing, and a berth in a January bowl game. They are not the most talented Iowa team ever, but they fought through injuries, ground out 10 wins, and earned everything they got. What an EASY team to root for! I must say that a win in January would be a great way to not only kick off 2010, but also to take the sting out of what promises to be a pretty bad season of Iowa basketball this winter.

Mom and Dad came up from Oelwein for Thanksgiving and spent 3 nights. We’ve done that for 6 years now, and Connie likes to put out a big spread, and it‘s so fun to have folks up. As for our Christmas plans, it looks like 5 nights on the road: 3 in Oelwein, then off to Webster on Christmas Day for 2 nights with Connie’s side of the family. It is such a treat to have a few days off around Christmas to really enjoy friends and family, and it’s a shame we can’t get together more often.

Well, I‘m out of paper, so I‘d better wrap 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.

8 Tips for President Obama

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I am a committed conservative (fiscal and social) who is rooting like hell for President Barack Obama. We don’t have 4 years to waste, so to President Obama in his first week in office, I offer 8 tips for leading our nation to a better place. First, here are 4 things he can do that will almost ensure that President Obama will be a very unsuccessful 1-term President:

(DON’T) Pursue investigations of Bush & Cheney. I can’t think of one thing that would be more damaging to an Obama presidency than spending one moment contemplating the lawfulness of the Bush administration in its prosecution of the war on terror. Throughout his campaign, Obama’s message and tone was optimistic and forward-looking, and not once did he even hint that he would support an investigation. Even as unpopular as Bush was exiting office, an investigation would be political suicide.

(DON’T) Close Gitmo. I almost left this one off the list because he signed the order to close on Day #2 in office, but he still has nearly a year to reverse the order. There is no place in the world to put these 245 prisoners that will make Americans more safe than where they are today. And bringing them onto U.S. soil and try them in our criminal justice system is the worst possible option.

(DON’T) Issue tax rebates to people who pay no taxes. By any reasonable definition, such a practice is “redistribution of wealth”, something our tax code has enabled for generations. Checks for the non-tax-payers out there is welfare, no more, no less, and putting into action the “spread the wealth around” comment that brought fame to Joe the Plumber, will spell doom for President Obama.

(DON’T) Roll back the Bush tax cuts (or let them expire in 2011). After running as a “tax cutter”, increasing the tax rates on the majority of Americans is tantamount to the “Read my lips: No new taxes” campaign statement that sunk Bush #41. Saying one thing and doing another almost never works, and screwing tax-paying Americans will cost him in November 2012.

Here are 4 things that will help him earn a second term:

Capture or kill Bin Laden. This one is a no-brainer. While we can debate the long-term impact it would have on Al Qaeda, or the war on terror in general, nailing Osama Bin Laden would be jet fuel for President Obama’s re-election campaign.

Enforce the law, which is what the Executive Branch of the government is supposed to do. Hire an Attorney General who will go after Immelt, Madoff, O’Neal and all the other corporate crooks who have not yet been introduced to the world. Nothing will restore Americans’ trust in government more than nailing to the cross people who are even less worthy of our trust.

Back off nationalized health care. Tom Daschle is going to go after this hard, just like Bill and Hill did 16 years ago, but as financially over-leveraged as our nation is, there could possibly be no worse time in our history to pursue such a program. Didn’t make sense 16 years ago, makes even less sense now.

Drop this Fairness Doctrine nonsense. Like the 43 guys before him, Barack Obama took an oath (twice!) and pledged to uphold the Constitution of the United States. I don’t you can do that and pursue the idea that government has any role in the programming of talk radio stations. Being President of the U.S. means respecting and protecting the freedoms and rights of all Americans, even Rush Limbaugh, Hugh Hewitt and others you don’t agree with.