{"id":13812,"date":"2015-12-26T00:15:33","date_gmt":"2015-12-26T06:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.flandersfamily.info\/web\/?page_id=13812"},"modified":"2022-12-07T12:21:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T18:21:28","slug":"christmas-2015","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.flandersfamily.info\/web\/about-us\/our-christmas-letters\/christmas-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2015 Flanders Family Christmas Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"

What follows is another yearly installment in our family’s complete history told via the 2015 Flanders Family Christmas Update. To see a full listing, see Our Christmas Letters<\/a>. For tips on writing your own family history in this fashion, follow this link<\/a>. In the meantime, enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

The Flanders Family Update: 2015<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

December 2014 Happenings<\/h3>\n

For a little while last December, we had four kids in braces.<\/strong> Isaac got his on a few days before Joseph got his off. That\u2019s almost as bad as having three in diapers, although those days are (sadly) so far behind us now we can barely recall them\u2026.<\/p>\n

\"Four
Four in Braces!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gabriel turned seven this month. He gives the best back rubs \u2014 and the biggest scares. He loves sneaking up on us unawares and watching us jump out of our skin.<\/strong> Dad doesn\u2019t care for this game and has forbidden Gabbers from making him the target, but Mom enjoys hearing Gabriel\u2019s laughter more than she dislikes being startled, so she allows him one boo a day\u2026. <\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>
Our Sneaky Gabbers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Samuel teamed up with several other medical students to give anatomy and physiology lectures at local elementary schools in Houston this month. He called home the night before his first presentation to practice the speech on his little brothers via FaceTime. Abigail begged to be included and responded with wild enthusiasm when Sam said she could listen in, too.<\/strong> Her level of excitement puzzled the rest of us, until Samuel finished his spiel and started to hang up. \u201cThanks for saying I can go to your class,\u201d Abby told him sweetly. \u201cWhat time are you picking me up?\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Burnout
Burnout Dinner at UT Houston Medical School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Isaac
Isaac and Rachel in Myrtle Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

January 2015 Happenings<\/h3>\n

To make up for the fact that he spent last Christmas on call, Doug took all but four days in January off. <\/strong>We spent most of that time on the East Coast\u2014sort of an extended early American field trip which included visits to Colonial Williamsburg, the US Capitol, and three presidential homes (and provided ample excuse for Mom to pack our Revolutionary War costumes). <\/p>\n

As we worked our way up the coast, \u201cHistoric Blizzard Juno\u201d worked her way down it. We traveled far enough north to get a few flurries, but not so far as to render roadways treacherous, although we did spend four hours in a ditch outside Mt. Vernon<\/strong> waiting for AAA to send a big-enough tow truck to pull our Nissan NV out of the muck and mire (the first one couldn\u2019t handle the job alone). <\/p>\n

\"Myrtle
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"At
At the Capitol Building in Washington, DC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Visiting
Visiting Jefferson’s Monticello (in Colonial garb)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Isaac
Isaac at Monticello<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"2015
We got a few flurries on the road<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"At
At Mount Vernon — where we stayed much longer than planned<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Incidentally, Doug did all the driving this trip\u2014both on road and off. Rebekah had recently acquired her learner\u2019s permit<\/strong> and, technically, could have taken a turn behind the wheel, but Dad thought she needed a little more experience before driving the family van through rain, sleet, or snow. \u201cThat\u2019s like trying to play Chopsticks as a beginning piano student,\u201d he told her dryly. \u201cYou should have a couple of years of lessons under your belt before tackling a difficult piece like that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Rebekah
Rebekah has her Learner’s Permit!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

February 2015 Happenings<\/h3>\n

\"David
David and Bonnie<\/figcaption><\/figure>David asked Bonnie Mills to marry him in February. <\/p>\n

<\/strong>It took about three hours for the happy couple to describe this milestone event at a family engagement party afterwards, so I won\u2019t try to recount the full story here, except to say that the proposal involved a picnic, a custom-designed ring, and a helicopter ride<\/strong> \u2014 and to note that Bonnie accepted.\u263a
\n <\/strong>
\n <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"David
David Pops the Question<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rebekah and Sam worked undercover to capture all the excitement on film. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Although David later claimed his brother darted into the open at one point in the evening (his exact words: \u201cSamuel exposed himself\u201d), Bonnie says she never knew either sibling was anywhere in the vicinity\u2026.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\"Flanders
Flanders Home – Established 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bonnie
Bonnie & David’s Wedding Shower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"2015
Ben Plays a Prank<\/figcaption><\/figure>Benjamin planned a pretty elaborate surprise for his sweetheart this month, too. After propping his bed vertically against the wall, he turned his computer sideways, re-oriented picture frames and table lamps so the room looked normal onscreen, then Skyped his girlfriend at their regularly scheduled time. <\/p>\n

Although it looked as if he were lying on his bed, elbow out and head in hand, he was really standing on his feet leaning against the mattress.<\/strong> Later in the conversation, when he stepped away from the bed and started spinning in circles, it gave the appearance that he was levitating, which totally freaked out his (now ex-) girlfriend. <\/p>\n

She may not have appreciated the prank, but Ben\u2019s siblings \u2014 who were all stifling sniggers off camera \u2014 thought it was hilarious! <\/p>\n

\"Hanging
Hanging Out and Having Fun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 2015 Happenings<\/h3>\n

We returned to Branch Community in March after taking a three-month sabbatical to visit other churches. Doug might have spared Jennifer a lot of grief (and some embarrassingly tearful goodbyes) had he explained that the majority of the churches he was interested in trying were too far away to actually join<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

We attended services at First Baptist of Dallas; The Village in Flower Mound; The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama; National Community Church in Washington, DC; and First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida, to name just a few. <\/p>\n

The last one happens to be Tim Tebow\u2019s home church. We kept our eyes peeled for America\u2019s most eligible bachelor in hopes of setting him up with our daughter Beth, but couldn\u2019t spot him from where we were sitting in the balcony\u2026. <\/p>\n

\"The
The Church at Brook Hills — the entire congregations was taking sermon notes!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Benjamin made the evening news this month after a fellow customer at Einstein Bagels lost the solitaire out of her wedding set, and Ben had the presence of mind to check her food basket (already on its way to the trashcan), where he found the diamond hiding under a napkin. <\/p>\n

The woman was so grateful that she contacted her friends at the local TV station and convinced them to film a reenactment of the whole scene<\/strong>, which they did a few weeks later\u2026. <\/p>\n

\"2015
Ben digs for treasure in a bagel basket.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"IMG_5923\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_5929\"<\/p>\n

Rebekah and Rachel served as Azalea Belles this spring.<\/strong> Thanks to their flexible homeschool schedules, the Chamber of Commerce continued to call on them even after the Trails were over to represent Tyler at local ribbon cuttings and grand opening ceremonies. <\/p>\n

\"2015<\/a>
2015 Azalea Belles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Grand
Grand Opening of Jared’s Diamonds<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They even appeared in a special episode of 19 Kids and Counting<\/a> <\/strong>that was filmed in our fair city (the show was canceled before said episode ever aired, so they were only almost famous). <\/p>\n

\"Taping
Taping 19 Kids and Counting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"With
With Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mom got some good footage of them in their antebellum dresses, though, which she used in a new music video we released for Easter called \u201cAll About God\u2019s Grace<\/a>.\u201d<\/strong> College Humor later requested permission to include our video in an hour-long \u201cMusic Hall of Fame\u201d special. We signed all the necessary papers, but when the show was finally broadcast, we weren\u2019t in it. We took the omission as a compliment. Turns out, the segment for which we\u2019d been slated showcased the \u201cbest of the worst\u201d parodies of Meghan Trainor\u2019s \u201cAll About that Bass\u201d \u2014 and ours was not quite bad enough to make the final cut. Ha!<\/p>\n