Happy Holiday!

Dear Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas from Tacoma! How does someone write her first Christmas letter as a married woman? I’m sure Emily Post or Jane Austin would have some outdated guidance but I will just wing it.

First we must thank again all those who sent us their best wishes for our wedding in August. We enjoyed ourselves so much despite, Quoc slicing his finger on his razor that morning, my brother’s tux being left behind in Shelton, my cousin’s flight from New York delay, and our friends from California turning around to go get the tux and getting caught in traffic. These are the stories we remember with laughter. This makes it two out of two weddings Nathan just couldn’t get into a tux on time for. =)

We returned from our honeymoon just in time for the next school year. I’m again teaching 8^th grade science at Ballou Jr. High in Puyallup. Quoc also is enjoying his new job at Amazon.com. I know he really enjoys the company’s lax views on office attire, hair grooming, and not to mention the cake and beer during employee birthdays.

As the first sentence in this letter announced we have just recently moved into our new house. Quoc and I are working on getting pictures up onto his website. It is the sweetest little house and upon first inspection we know everyone will think, “Geesh what nerds live here?” Between lots of books and lots of computers and no TV we still hope it will always be a place of warm welcome to everyone.

We have been in the house 2 weeks and survived nicely through the very strong winter wind storm that has just passed. At first in the morning when we awoke to find many shingles in our yard we groaned at the idea that we had just moved in and were already facing our first extensive repairs. My mother’s barely sympathetic laughter and retort of “welcome to being a home owner” was appreciated much more when we learned that the shingles were in fact not from our roof. I’m sure we will have countless adventures (or perhaps better put misadventures) in home ownership, but it feels good that we weathered the first storm very well.

Our cat, Miara, enjoys the new house too. She finds the hardwood floors somewhat frustrating. She slides when she tries to run and there is no carpet for her to eat as there was in our apartment. But she enjoys drinking from the clawfoot tub and perching in the high windows to peer down with envy at the birds.

And that is life for Quoc and Jess. Newly married, new home, old friends and family. Humble and simple but we feel a million times blessed.

Season’s Warmest Wishes,

Jess & Quoc