Christmas Letter 2003

Dear Friends & Family,

I assure you, friends that you are not on our naughty list. The list of those not receiving a Christmas letter from us last year is long and prestigious and includes all of our friends and family. Indeed, there was no 2002 Christmas letter, but as the preamble to this year’s letter attests, it was not for lack of effort. Okay, it was—but let us move on shall we?

Pine Bluff, Arkansas is an otherworldly memory for us now, though oddly enough we find ourselves missing the charming little mosquito infested swamp from time to time. We have relocated to Puyallup, Washington, about half an hour from Lacey, the town we left to go to Arkansas three years ago. Puyallup is strategically located so as to be as close to Mount Rainier as possible without making the commute to work unbearable. I am a resident in the combined Army/UW Emergency Medicine residency program here and as such spend about half my time in Seattle and the other half at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma. It is good to be back in training, though we do miss the free time I had with the family in Arkansas.

Rachel left behind the weighty responsibility of running our Church’s children’s program in Pine Bluff only to take on the same job just a few months after we got here (i.e., the “Primary President”—you Protestant types might call the position “Head of Children’s Ministry,” while those of you lacking a theological bent might refer to it as “insane.”) The job here was a bit trickier as it involved responsibility for the religious pedagogy of about 100 kids, as opposed to the 20 or so that attended in Pine Bluff. In any event, Luke was born August 28th and our Bishop, no doubt overcome with pity at the thought of a pregnant woman with four kids and mostly-absent husband being saddled with such a duty, released her—though she was promptly asked to head up the Webelos den.

For those of you that have lost track, the birth of Luke Laurin Westhoff this year was indeed number five. Luke is practically perfect in every way of course, though being a boy with brown hair he is an unprecedented repeat--heretofore each of our offspring brought either a new hair color or gender to our home: red, blonde, brown, girl...we were sure Luke would come out with a curly black coif. In any event, Chase is quite tickled to have another brunette around. Other than that, Luke is still in that "adorable blob" stage of life, look for details in next year's letter about his emerging personality.

Emma lives up to all of the stereotypes of a red-headed girl (i.e. whirlwind). A precocious talker before she turned two, she gets out of trouble just as easily as she gets into it: "I'm sorry Daddy, I'll never do it again." She's even been known to send herself to her room before we figure out what she is in trouble for. Far from being a tomboy, Emma loves to assert her girlness. Even surrounded by toy guns and swords, she is archetypal girly-girl, a lover of all things pink and frilly. I have already given into the fact that she will ever have her dad wrapped around her little finger. It is up to her mother to see that Emma is not spoiled completely rotten.

Chase will be five next month, starting kindergarten next fall. Chase is, in his own word "shy." He reminds me very much of the pathologic introversion that I remember having in my younger years. This year I intend to teach him how to ski, I'm considering forking over the cash to have him take lessons but I wonder how he'll take to a strange instructor as he completely decompensates when he has a substitute Sunday school teacher. Lately he has developed a knack for spelling little words like "box," and "fox" (and extra "sox"--all part of the Dr. Seuss canon of three letter words). He would be delighted if any of you were to call and ask him to spell something for you.

Zachary started first grade this year. At the beginning of the year he took a reading test which ranked him as roughly the equivalent of a third grader at the end of the school year. This led to an emotional break down on the part of Dunn who tearfully exclaimed "Zach's a better reader than me!!!" That of course is not true--yet anyway, as Dunn is himself an excellent reader. I think it was just disconcerting for Dunn to watch Zach go from illiterate to prodigy in under a year. Zach's appetite for the written word is exceeded only by his appetite for dessert. If there ever comes a time when he does not ask for second or third helpings I will take him directly to the hospital.

Dunnington is getting old. He will turn ten next March. It amazes me that he has already reached the halfway point of his time at home with us. Already I am starting to look forward with trepidation to his leaving. In the mean time anyway, we intend to have some adventures. This year we got Dunn a passport in preparation for a trip he and I are planning to Japan this spring. A friend of mine from med school is stationed there with the Air Force and will be graciously hosting us for a week or two.

Rachel and I celebrated our ten year anniversary this year with a trip to San Diego. Every year we've been married has been better than the one before it, and we are constantly commenting to each other how wonderfully we've been blessed this past decade. As for the future, we will spend another year and a half in Washington finishing residency and then hope to swing an assignment at Ft. Leonard Wood Missouri, where my Mom and Dad are currently stationed. While it is not my favorite part of the world, we cannot pass up the opportunity to live next to Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of years, even if it is in the middle of nowhere, as the urbanites love to say. We do intend to take full advantage of what the Ozarks have to offer--passing the time canoeing, waterskiing, camping, hiking, and perhaps even killing defenseless animals with firearms (sorry Aunt Betty).

Merry Christmas to all!

For those of you haunted by the Spirit of Christmas Past, feel free to amuse yourselves with our Christmas letters from 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2001.