The Thingvall FAMILY Christmas Letter

Hey, what do you know? I've got a family of my own now! That's the big news from me—uh, us— this year. I have my parents and siblings, but this year Jen and I have started our lives together as a family.

January was spent planning for the wedding. True, we weren't engaged yet, but Jen and I are both planners. I was programming at RealEyes Media in Denver, and Jen was continuing to work at JSAT while building her psychotherapy practice in Boulder, which is going quite well. I'm enjoying programming a wide variety of projects and Jen is loving helping people. And that should be enough text to cover for January, which honestly, I can't remember that well. Mainly wedding planning, I think.

Which brings us to February! February was a memorable month, mainly because that was when Jen and I celebrated one year of dating by getting engaged on Valentine's Day. We did a sort of "best of" day, culminating in a tearfully joyful proposal. She said yes (I would hope so, since we'd been wedding planning since September or so) and we were engaged!

In March, I gave my notice to the Tower of Odd Smells, the apartment complex where I had been living. I was excited to get out of there, and looking forward to moving into Jen's condo when we got married. This excitement was heightened by the fact that one morning there was water trickling out of the wall into my bedroom. I could not get out of there soon enough. Of course, wedding planning was still in effect.

April? I think that was more of the same: wedding planning, work, despising my apartment, and loving Jen. My parents came into town to start work down at Chatfield State Park. They were there for the summer in order to be close for the wedding, and I enjoyed going down to see them and get a respite from the bustle and stench of downtown and my apartment. Jen had to do some travel for her JSAT job, so it was good to have my folks for company, too.

May involved more wedding planning, but first: a trip to Mexico! My company takes a cool trip each year and brings along spouses, so Jen and I got to go together down to the Yucatan peninsula with my coworkers. We had an awesome time lounging, swimming, reading, and the like. We even visited the Mayan ruins at Tulum and swam in underground pools called cenotes. It was a blast! It was good to have this interim vacation to decompress from all the planning and business at work. Of course, we were there in the beginning of the H1N1 scare, but honestly were further away from cases of the illness than if we had stayed in Colorado. Other than a harrowing run for the concourse, the trip was a breeze!

June, which I believe usually follows May, was the wonderful month that I left the Tower of Odd Smells. Jen and I got our engagement photos taken by Jen's friend Kerri. I scored a couple of parking tickets just before leaving my apartment. I had my first experience presenting at a programming conference. And I had another bike stolen. Yeah, I was ready to go. June also was when Jen quit her job at JSAT and went full time into psychotherapy. Actually, that's not quite true. She was already full time in psychotherapy. Ending her 7 years at JSAT just gave her a heck of a lot more time ... which was immediately consumed by wedding planning.

So all those wedding plans came to fruition in July when Jen, the love of my life, became my wife, and I became her husband. We were married on the 4th of July, and we were so blessed by God's provision not only of the amazing venue for the wedding, all the friends and family who attended, the fantastic people who helped out, and the great weather, but especially by God's gift of our love for each other. Thanks again to all of you who came and especially to those of you who helped! It was wonderful.We went to Jamaica for our honeymoon and had a great time swimming, reading, snorkeling, and relaxing. Unfortunately, in an indirect way, I ended up getting a blood clot in my right leg and both lungs from the flight home from Jamaica. Thankfully it was caught in time and God preserved my life. That opened the door to some new medical experiences for me, which I am in no hurry to experience again.

Being deprived of wedding planning and extra jobs as a form of entertainment, Jen and I started looking for a house in August. Yes, we were settling into the joy of life together, but we also found that the condo was not quite big enough to be comfortable. Also, we hoped to take advantage of the first time home buyer's tax credit (which we later found I was ineligible for as soon as Jen and I got married). We found a house fairly quickly and made an offer very quickly, which turned out to be wise, as another offer came on the heels of ours. Fortunately ours was victorious and we started into the storm of paperwork that proceeds a house buying.

In September we closed on the house and moved in the next day. We had things unpacked ridiculously fast, because in addition to being planners we hate being in transition. We had our home! The rest of the month was spent tweaking the house and relaxing. We finally had nothing to plan for.

October brought falling leaves and some unusually heavy snows, introducing me to two new tasks for home owners: raking and shoveling. The novelty hasn't completely worn off, but I'm sure it will soon. I also started reading newspapers for the blind through the Audio Information Network of Colorado. Jen did a whole series of presentations, and did it while sick, because she is a trooper. We also managed to get a housewarming party in there somehow.

November brought us into Thanksgiving and the beginning of our first holiday season together. We decorated our place together, got our tree together, and started baking together. I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with my new branch of the family.

And that brings us to December. We've got the shopping done, sweets made, parties attended, and now we can enjoy the advent of the Lord's birth and celebrate with family and friends. We hope that you are also enjoying this season, and that God is blessing you and your family. We have felt His love so much this year and are so grateful for all that He has done for us. We wish love and joy for you and yours this Christmas!

Love,

Nils & Jen

P.S. If you'd like to see more pictures, I've got a bunch of nice ones in my gallery and on Picasa. If you'd like more juicy details, read my blog.