Robison Christmas Letter 2016

Merry Christmas!

Love, Daniel, Shannon and Bruce Robison

P.S.

Just a quick update on the family.

Those of you to have been #blessed enough to have received our Christmas letter last year might remember how I (Daniel) had been excited to have started a new job in 2015. Well, times change, kid and we can’t all sell doors for the rest of our lives. One day I’m talking to Bob in Nebraska convincing him that his interior doors are certainly NOT warrantied to be used as exterior tornado grade cellar doors when Shannon mentions to me, in an off handed remark, that an IT position at Peoples Bank has opened up. It was a tough decision, but in the end the work was more enjoyable to me, the pay and benefits were better and the commute was five minutes instead of eight. So there you have it I’m now a professional password resetter. Shannon and I have all our eggs in one basket working for the same company.

Shannon, in the meantime, continues to excel at her position as a credit review specialist. I cannot begin to describe how smart she is. This is a fact that has been brought to my attention while she explains the “simple” aspects of her job and all I can do is pray that she doesn’t ask me if I understood what she’s talking about. But what’s really the best is seeing her excel even more as a mother. Our clothing budget has quadrupled in the last year and a half, largely due to the Bruce. It’s not all Shannon’s fault, we just enjoy buying the kid stuff. The interaction between Mom and son is absolutely the best. I am the first to see him after daycare. What this means is that I get to watch the elation in his face when Shannon says hi to him in the evening. Bruce is as lucky to be Shannon’s son as I am to be her husband.

Oh yes, specifics about the boy. When last I wrote he was a six month old infant that never slept. That went on for another six months. After a solid year of waking up every 2-3 hours  (one of the few non-exaggeration in this letter) I put my foot down, bought a video monitor and we tried the cry it out method for an agonizing week and a half. The three of us now enjoy sleeping through the night. Bruce has the best smile, the best personality. It’s pointless for me to describe how he makes us feel, but if you know what I’m talking about, you know what I’m talking about. He’s a tough little guy. Dealing with acid reflux, asthma, chronic ear infections and fevers, he’s finally on the upswing. He is always cheerful, loves to sword fight and will often refuse to eat anything but Caramel Superman Cereal (perhaps we should have named him Clark Kent Robison instead of Bruce Wayne).

Life lately has been a momentum that both terrifies and exhilarates me. This year we’ve seen new careers, new milestone, a new home. Oh yes, we’ve moved! We’re no longer in the condo, we purchased a house across town! Even if we had none of this, however, we would still be blessed beyond anything the Robison family could ever hope to deserve. We thank God for his many blessings, but most of all we thank him for his Son, Jesus Christ, who was sent to earth as a helpless infant to one day grow to be the only one capable of rescuing us from ourselves. It has and will continue to give us hope. We love you.

Robison Family Christmas Haikus!

Bruce finally sleeps!

But now this is the problem,

he coughs and then pukes.

Some assembly?

Daniel has been up all night,

building this toy stove!

Shannon, come here!

I need your Christmas list now...

This list is empty.

The Robison Christmas Card 2015

Alright, Christmas letter. It’s like after 4 ½ years of marriage we’re

finally, officially a family. We have a condo, steady jobs and even produced offspring. However all of that is superfluous nonsense to a family that has an annual Christmas letter. So here we are, The Robison clan (Washington chapter) is finally throwing our collective hats into the holly-decked ring.

I (Daniel) started a new job at Lynden Door. I am now now the primary customer service representative for the mid-west. This is a truly interesting development as I frequently forget that Nebraska is a state. Shannon and I also dealt with the coming reality that our worlds were going to change due to the fact that Shannon’s weight gain was attributed not to her unusual craving for broccoli and red meat, but because she had a bun in the oven. While she diligently fought off morning sickness she continued to nail her job at the bank. When she got back from maternity leave they offered her a promotion. I’m half tempted to quit my job and let her support me while I pursue my rap career.

We knew that the child would most likely be born via C-section, what we didn’t bank on was it happening 6 weeks early. So our little guy, Bruce Wayne Robison, was born May 20th 2015. Everything after that date has been a soft focused blend of time and events. We have decided it’s just easier to be recluses. So if you feel like we’ve been ignoring you please understand that isn’t the case, we simply dedicated our entire being to our new infantile dictator. He’s very particular about his soy and dairy free preferences.

In all seriousness we are beyond blessed at the bountiful, undeserved blessings that the God has given us. For the first time in a few years I was able to see my entire side of the family at the wedding of my sister. Then a second time, a month later at the wedding of my brother. The Dutch Visser side of our family continues to be an enormous source of blessings and encouragement. Little Bruce has lit up our world (in a good way, not like an arsonist). He is determined to walk, which is difficult because he has yet to master sitting.

It’s at this time we remember what Christmas is about. The God of the universe loved humanity to the point of sending his only son to offer a message of hope to the world. That baby went on to be the only one that was capable of paying the cost of our sin so that we have the opportunity to spend eternity with him. Shannon and I separately made the decision to follow the one whose birth we celebrate this time of year. Since then we have never been short on hope. Our prayer is that you, if you have not already, would be able to experience that same hope.

Merry Christmas!

The Robison Family