Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Christmas Letter


Here is a scan of our Christmas Letter along with the text below it... the real deal will be mailed out soon. Merry Christmas! Ray


December 2007

Holiday Greetings from the Heart of Dixie!

What a year of changes 2007 has been for us. We were sorry to leave Ridgecrest in June, where we had been living for the last two years. It was very nice to be surrounded by our extended families. Our latest child was born in the same town as her Aunt Vivian! Her name is Noni Clare and she was born on June 11, 2007. Summer and Mic helped us to drive our cars across the country from California to Alabama in July. (Mic also helped Ray to spend his money on a Bionicon bike). The kids had a lot of fun hanging out with their Uncle Mic, Aunt D, and cousin Giulia. Mic and Ray got to do quite a bit of mountain biking. (If you're looking for a cool bike, check out Bionicon). We also took in some sights along the way. The more memorable ones? A buffalo farm in Kansas, Moab in Utah, and Graceland in Tennessee.

Since then, we have been exploring Montgomery. It is the capitol of Alabama and a place with a lot of things to do. The zoo is excellent, and we have been visiting several recently born baby animals a lot. There is a fun children's art museum. The city also has a riverfront where they hold free concerts and shows. We took a historical trolley tour of downtown Montgomery and also walked around Old Town Alabama. Those are just a few of the fun things we have done. We took in a ballet show of A Christmas Carol. The kids really liked that a lot.

We have several firsts to celebrate in 2008. Joella will have her First Communion. Noni will have her first birthday. Ray will have his first master's degree (and his second hopefully). We look forward to exploring many of Alabama's sights for the first time and to yet another move courtesy of the Navy. The next move should not be as far, and will be to a place where we will be surrounded by friends. Which is the next best thing if we cannot be near family! Ray's next duty station will be NAS Oceana, VA. This will be our first time living in Virginia! Like I said, a lot of firsts for us next year.

Please check out our slogging blog every once in a while to stay up to date with the Marshall Family. We will try to post pictures and entries at least once a month. Here is the website address: http://sloggingblog.blogspot.com. Feel free to post comments. We WANT to hear from you!

An interesting tidbit for this holiday season: In 1836, Alabama became the first State to recognize Christmas, which finally became a federal holiday in 1870. Good on ya, Alabama!

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