2015: it wasn’t boring. In fact, it was so not boring that Ian and Anna didn’t have enough time in the year to write their annual awkward third-person Christmas letter. They kindly ask you to light a balsam-scented candle and eat sugar cookies while you read this, in hopes you won’t notice it’s kind of really late.
2015 started with snow. The week after a belated family Christmas celebration on the Cape, a thick blanket of snow landed on Massachusetts. For the next month, blizzards hit Boston every Monday like clockwork. By mid-March, the city had set a new all-time snow record with 110.6 inches. It was glorious (because Ian and Anna had no shoveling responsibilities) and stifling (because walls of snow get old after a few weeks). Between blizzards, Ian and Anna still managed to fly to Kansas to celebrate Grandma Marilyn’s 85th birthday (ask her about flopper stoppers and the fudgesicle she still owes her sister).
By May, most of the snow was gone and Bostonians could turn their sights toward warmer weather. But Ian and Anna’s dreams of spending all summer on their bicycles were crushed, quite literally, when Ian was hit while biking home from church. They are both so thankful his injuries were minimal (Anna still ugly cries whenever she hears Like I'm Gonna Lose You by Meghan Trainor). They would tell you the whole crazy story, but don’t want to jeopardize a possible $10 million payout. Just kidding! Or are they?
Shortly after Ian’s bike accident, 2015 kicked into overdrive. After years of saving (#thanksramennoodles), Ian and Anna finally were ready to start looking for their first home. They went to a few open houses with their realtor on a Saturday, and by Tuesday they had an accepted offer on a home just a mile away from their office. The timing was confirmation God wanted them to “double down in Watertown” (Ian’s new catchphrase) and invest in their community.
In the midst of navigating the homebuying process, Ian and Anna were also preparing for their fifth trip to the Dominican Republic (their first year leading the trip solo). Their week serving alongside the Vargas family was amazing, and everyone on the team made it there and back with no major medical events, which they consider a huge win.
As soon as they landed back in Boston, they began frantically packing their beloved Brookline apartment and hauling all their worldly possessions out to the ‘burbs (mostly using ZipCar). So far, their foray into home ownership has involved lots of paint, an education on steam radiators, and
Ian and Anna are incredibly grateful they were able to spend the holidays in Kansas with family and friends (but not nearly as many of you as they would have liked), and hope your holidays were equally wonderful. Happy 2016!
Want more? Read past Christmas letters here. 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2009 | 2008