Christmas with the Chriss' 2018

The Family in 2018

This year has seen many changes in our quirky family. Since I haven't published a Christmas site in a couple of years, we should cover from then. But then you would get bored! Just kidding. Like most families we have fun time and sad times. After Tammy moved out to Indiana, Makayla quickly decided to do the same. Honestly, she made up her mind last christmas when the twins were here for the holidays. Makayla loves being around her entire family. Tammy and I went out to Colorado Springs to move Makayla her daughter, Abby, her dog. Makayla even got a job working for DFAS (where Tammy and I work). Then again we did it in May to move Jessica to Indiana. Same trip. I drove the Uhaul and Jessica and Tammy rode comfortably in Jessica's car. Jessica had a surprise going away party, put on by her best friend Joscelynn. Well since she kept Jessica safe being away from her family, we'll claim as an honorary daughter. Welcome to the family Joscelynn!

This year has brought bad times to us. The worst was losing my father, the girl's Papa. We took several trips to Pennsylvania to see how he's doing. Tammy, Makayla and myself made the first trip at Easter time. The second trip was with Tammy, Jessica, Katie and Trinity. Trinity saw her "papa-great" for the first time. Him being such a great father was an amazing grandfather. He loved his family. He loved his live. The last trip was the hardest. Everyone was able to make it out to say goodbye or "until next time" [dad, papa, papa-great]. For me losing my father is hard. But seeing him suffer as I did in the final days was the hardest. I think about him every day and wish to talk to him again. I eulogized him at the funeral. See it in the video below. You can also see the entire service here

Tammy has seen changes this last year. Last October, she was offered a superivorsory position with the DFAS Recon & Tech (special military pay cases) Team. This past September, she became the supervisor of the DFAS Tax team. Supervising/managing people with different personalities and work ethics (not to her standards) on this current team has been challenging and has brought her out of her comfort zone. Tammy is currently participating in a Coaching Program that she was nominated for and is paid for by DFAS. It's a pretty cool program that is designed and personalized to help you meet your professional and personal goals during your career. Outside of work, Tammy enjoys spending time with our girls and, of course, Trinity.....oh yeah...and ME! Makayla and Tammy spent a Saturday with Habitat for Humanity bulding a deck for an elderly lady. She also signed up for an online Korean cooking class a few months back. Learning to cook many dishes that she enjoyed eating with her mother has brought her a lot of joy. This is just another reminder that life is short and to get in the kitchen and learn how to cook some of those special dishes to share with your family!!

Finally it was a great surprise to have my mom, Wade, nephew Connor visite us here in Indiana. It's been a long time since they've seen to girls and to finally meet Trinity. It was a good visite. Maw maw Net and Pawpaw Wade spent the week with us, going to places like the Zoo and the Children's Museum. And since it was around the twin's birthday, they went with us to the Escape Room. That was fun and we escaped just in the nick of time with only 8 seconds to spare. Whew that was close!

Now since our life revolves around Trinity chack out these gems of ours!