Some of my Christmas cards went out without a Christmas letter for the first time in years. The rest aren't done yet!
Thanks to the wonders of Facebook, digital photography and the mind of a writer, the Christmas letter has been rescued.
Here are highlights of our year, month by month.
In January, a big group of my coworkers retired, just ahead of the mail processing plant's closure. The group included eight who worked on daylight shift with me.
It doesn't seem possible that 12 years have flown by since Kyle was born.
Kyle's in 7th grade and plays trombone in band. He also loves creating video games.
This was the end of an era for me. In this picture, I'm in my office on the last day in the transportation job I've done for 20 years.
But life goes on and life is good! I work now as a window clerk and get to see lots of people every day.
This picture of them holding hands is so sweet that it had to make it into the Christmas letter.
The rest of the year, Brenda's in California living the good life of sleeping late and scuba diving as time permits.
So we celebrated their birthdays on Easter with the Easter Bunny birthday cake.
Alexis attends three-day preschool. She loves her friends, teacher and the director of the preschool.
Alexis requested a pink animal zebra cake and her mom Lauren made her one. Very cute!
I'd only visited the National Basilica once before. During this trip, I went to Mass at this beautiful church. I know I wasn't dressed for the occasion, but I was meeting Kenny and Stephanie to do tourist stuff afterwards.
The Mass was beautiful and I got a woman to take my photo inside the National Basilica.
No matter how many times I visit Washington, there's always something new to see.
This time, we watched a huge pillow fight that we found when looking for events.
Jack graduated from Central Virginia Community College in May and we're really proud of how hard he worked!
Early in May, we celebrated Steven's birthday. May was filled with celebrations but there's one very important celebration I missed.
My Mom's 88th birthday was celebrated without me. Even though I had pre-approved vacation time, our management team took away my vacation and that of coworkers. Such is life.
You never know where you'll find Thor or what he'll be fighting.
In June, we celebrated our younger grandson's birthday with a party held at Riverside Park.
There's a really great Sprayground at the park. Andrew wanted a superhero birthday so he and his friends all dressed in their superhero costumes for the party.
Jack took us around the building where he worked and we also visited nearby Annapolis.
Here I am with my son, the rocket scientist! Jack is currently working a paid internship with a local company that will most likely lead to a full-time job.
Mom's sitting in her favorite spot on the front porch in this picture with her favorite petunias in the picture.
The three siblings who live in Kansas are numbers 2, 3 and 7 out of the 8 kids in our family.
I'm number 5. If you're not sure why that makes us the primes, ask a math teacher. This photo is Mom and her primes.
We celebrated Kenny's 60th birthday in August. The kids and I got together and bought Kenny a bike for his birthday.
Andrew loves his new school and especially loves writing and math.
Unlike his Grandma, Andrew writes mostly about superheroes.
Brian and Bryce live about an hour from us and plan to be married in October 2014.
Two of our granddogs live with Brian and Bryce. Lily and Tebow came along on the visit but weren't in this picture.
Although I'm not much of a runner, I'm a member of the Lynchburg Road Runners Club.
I was overjoyed to attend a club meet and greet with two running legends, Kathrine Switzer and her husband, Roger Robinson the weekend of the 10 Miler. Switzer broke the gender barrier when she became the first woman to compete in the Boston Marathon in 1967. What an honor to be in the picture with Kathrine and Roger!
We both love the beach a lot. We've been to many of the East Coast beaches, but this was our first trip together to the Outer Banks. We'd each been separately but never together.
I wasn't able to enjoy my favorite sport at the beach. A work injury earlier in the summer kept me from riding a float on the waves. Instead, I had to be content with walking on the beach.
I'm still trying to get healed. I've been going to physical therapy for a month, but not making much progress. My orthopedic doctor will have to figure out where to go from here.
You'd think an ace photographer like me would have noticed the sun wasn't in an optimal location for this photo but you'd be wrong.
But this is one of our Christmas card photos anyway.
I made one tray for Alexis' Thanksgiving party at preschool. Stephanie made another tray for our family's Thanksgiving celebration.
On Thanksgiving, we also celebrated Jenny's husband BJ's birthday.
We didn't finish decorating on my birthday but we got some of the ornaments on the tree.
Jack's girlfriend Raichel also has a December birthday so we shared the spotlight.
Alexis was very interested in the cake and had to get a closer look.
I have been able to take some awesome pictures with my camera including great daybreak photos out the window of my writing room.
On Christmas Day, we will celebrate Brian's quarter-century birthday.
The day after Christmas, I won't be out bargain shopping. Instead, Kenny and I will be flying to Kansas to visit my parents and siblings and celebrate a late Christmas with them.
We'll return home in time for New Year's Eve. We often have a family party early in the evening and watch the grandkids so the kids can stay up late.
Time with friends also marked 2013. Friends are one of life's great gifts. I've been blessed to be a part of a wonderful group of women. Among the group are two of the friends I've known the longest.
Our group enjoys many social gatherings, including Bunco nights once a month.
Our friends Linda and Jack returned to Virginia and Linda promptly joined the group.
Several friends moved away during 2013. Our group said farewell to JoAnn and her mom and to Judy. I will miss these friends, but know that they will enjoy being closer to family members.
Kenny and I also said good-bye to our good friends, Doris and Dewayne. We've known them for a long time and will miss spending New Year's Day with them this year, but know that they'll enjoy spending the day with their son and his family.
Our church family said farewell to Father Richard this year and welcomed Monsignor Michael. We've been blessed by being in the presence of both of these men of God.
Kenny's company and the greater Lynchburg community lost a giant of a man in December when the company's owner, Sonny Merryman passed away. Sonny was a driven man who never forgot his simple roots. Sonny's fingerprints can be seen throughout the state in the many places he contributed to the betterment of others, including the Merryman Center at Virginia Tech.
Just a week before Christmas, one of my coworkers, Paul Farley, died from a heart attack. Paul was a great guy who was always ready to help others in need and he'll be missed.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Blogging Grandma Sandy, Kenny and the Bottoms-Wallace family.
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