3rd Annual Christmas Letter, 2009

The first real snow of the year is on the ground so what better time to write the old Christmas Letter. In preparation for writing this year's letter I reviewed some of the previous years' letters. That is one nice thing about the old blog, you can just go back and look at last year's letter anytime, not that i don't keep everyone else's letters too. Anyway 2009 was a little different for the Helfen's. Actually is started out kind of hectic as I was unemployed for about 2 days when the Triple C ranch closed its doors and I went back to the Big O. I wasn't planning on staying there, but things started working out and it ended up being a really good fit for me, so I guess it was kind of a blessing in disguise . . . deep deep cover disguise. Anyway after the initial rough phase of the year things started coming our way. I got Sophie a really nice Sony Camera for her Birthday, actually it was after her birthday because we had to do a lot of shopping for a camera that met all of her needs. Which are a lot for someone who is as particular about her pictures as Sophie is. Sampson played T-ball again for the Pirates and did really well holding down the hot corner for most of the year. It was neat to see how much he had improved since last year. His team even pulled off a legit double play. Football was a little rough this year as the Buckeyes came up short in the playoffs even after scoring more points than the other team, but in the third place game he did score 2 TD's so that was pretty awesome. Now he is playing basketball for the 1st time and doing really well, he even scored in the first game. Peach had a pretty rough year too, like old Dad. She started out getting stitches in February after doing a face plant on a popcorn tin, then she managed to break her arm right before her first ever dance recital. She did really well though, she just didn't get to do her Acro stuff, but we waved and made a big fuss for her and she smiled really big while she was sitting there with the other girls. After the recital, she got flowers and a dancer Barbie. She was very excited. Also me and Sampson won the fishing Derby, which was awesome. We had been trying ever since he could hold a fishing rod, ok even before he could, but this year we won, finally.

After the kids' birthday party in July we headed to Pennsylvania for our vacation. We headed to Lancaster for Dutch Wonderland and a stay at the Howard Johnson and their indoor water park. We detoured through Gettysburg on the way and back, which I thought was really interesting, but Sophie and Sampson didn't enjoy it very much. Peach liked it pretty well I think though. We all enjoyed Dutch Wonderland though. They had a combo amusement park and a water park there and we spent the whole day. We did the sky ride and the roller coasters (the little one once with everyone, I had to ride the big one myself), and the big water slides. It was a very fun trip and slightly educational. The indoor water park was fun too, as it was right in the hotel, then at lunch we went to Chuck E. Cheese and for dinner we went to Friendly's which was neat because they had a balloon guy and he made animals for the kids.

Sophie and the kids also got to go to the Columbus Zoo with her Aunt and her boys this year. That was a long day for them, Dad didn't get to go cause they went in the middle of the week, but Peach is still talking about the trip. Sophie got a lot of neat pics too.

The end of the year seems to be picking up for the Helfen household too. Work is going pretty well, the company stock is up about 1000%, but I don't want to take all the credit for that. I mean I'd like to think I helped. I won Fantasy baseball this year too, so if you see Stevie remind him about that. Also I played a bunch of different online games and met some really neat people. Well here is hoping this finds you happy and healthy, and wishing you a great 2010.

Love,

The Helfens

Kirk, Sophie, Sampson and Peach