2008

Nollag Shona! (That’s Happy Christmas in Gaelic!)

Happy Hanukah!

Season’s Greetings of Light and Love!

If we told you that it just doesn’t feel like Christmas down here in Texas, you might ask, “What the heck are you doing in Texas?!” That would be an astute question, one we often ask ourselves, actually. But, nonetheless, we find ourselves in the Lone Star State, doing our part to turn this red state blue (no offense to our more conservative friends).

I don’t mean to start off a holiday letter talking about politics, but when we look back on this year, we realize how much politics and the global situation has affected our lives. In 2008, we participated in our first Democratic Caucus in Denver. It was so moving to sit in a circle of people from all walks of life in the middle of an elementary school gymnasium, listening to their stories and ideas. It made me aware of how privileged we are in this country to freely participate in the political process. During our precinct caucus, I was elected to serve as a delegate at the County level; however, we moved to Texas before the national convention. Still, each of these moments, along with hearing President-elect Obama speak at the University of Denver, made us feel apart of something larger than ourselves.

While working for change on a political level, Billy and I were trying to figure out our own lives as well. I kept working as the Clinical Director at Byrne Urban Scholars, and was also teaching at DU, sending out CVs and flying to several different universities for interviews. While I had hoped to stay in Denver to teach, I realized that I was ready to take the leap into academia and was willing to move in order to do so. Thankfully, Billy, the kids and my mom were game, so I took a job as an Assistant Professor at Texas State University School of Social Work. Before starting my fall semester, however, I was invited to present a 2-day workshop on wilderness therapy with adolescents in Taiwan. I spent over a week there, and got to explore Taipei, one of the most beautiful cities on the planet, as well as go river-trekking (hiking UP the river and water falls!) with Outward Bound Taiwan! Now, I have a semester under my belt in academia, and I absolutely love it. I think I’m doing a good job, other than when I had to excuse myself from class when my new nose ring started bleeding! (Yes, I got my nose pierced when I went to a conference out in Portland, OR (see photo)—that city will make you do crazy things!) From then on, I started signing my emails, Dr. Nose Ring, instead of Dr. Norton. That should help with tenure.



Billy continued his teaching at RMSEL, and led his last Copper Canyon trip in March. His students were furious with me when they found out we were leaving Denver because of my job, and even though 21 high school students helped us load up our moving truck, looking back I wonder if they weren’t actually trying to sabotage the whole thing! Now, Billy is teaching sophomore English at Jack C. Hays High School one mile from our house in Kyle, Texas. The school is a big Texas public high school—think Friday Night Lights! It’s not the ideal system for this progressive educator, but he continues to touch the lives of many young people and wields his Frisbee deftly wherever he can! For Christmas, Gadie bought Billy a pair of boots at the Goodwill, no doubt, trying to help him fit in here in Texas. In true Billy fashion, he lovingly mocked this gift, saying something about hell freezing over.



For those of you who have been lucky enough to help us move, you know that we always have more stuff than we think we do--and probably more stuff than we need. And so moving has been a chance to let go of some of our material items, including our first home. Selling a house in the midst of the housing bust was not fun, and we are still left reeling from it a bit, but are trying to use the experience as a chance to simplify and clarify our values around money and property. Oh, joy.

How have Mahalia, Will, Gadie and Cha Cha weathered the transition? They spent their last days in Denver, swimming at the pool, hiking at the reservoir, marching their bikes in the neighborhood 4th of July parade (see photo!).



Mahalia finished Kindergarten and entered 1st grade at our new neighborhood elementary school. She has to say the Pledge of Allegiance every day twice—once to America and once to Texas. I am not making this up. I told her that was “ridiculous,” and she got very upset with me. Hopefully, she didn’t pass that on to her teacher. Despite these strange Texas ways, we really like the school and her teacher, and it’s very close to our house. Billy walks her two blocks to school every day, lugging her big pink Barbie backpack and Tinkerbelle lunchbox! Don’t worry; she still loves bugs and dirt! As a matter of fact, for Christmas Daddy got her a field guide to good and bad garden bugs of Texas—let me tell you, there’s a lot of creatures that bite here! Mahalia continues to do her gymnastics and was recently moved up to the intermediate class. She’s the kid that can climb that rope that hangs from the ceiling three times in a row. (I was never that kid.) She is also quite the budding artist, so we started a blog of her art which you can view at www.mahaliasol.blogspot.com.

Will is 4 now, and goes to pre-school at Wonderland School (yes, we just chose it for the name!). He has amazing gross motor skills, especially when it comes to whacking stuff. He now shows promise hitting a t-ball, shooting hoops, golfing, and just got a tennis racket for Christmas! Basically, he just really likes hitting things. He is also obsessed with light sabers, swords and pirates and superheroes in general. This fascination with good and evil, right and wrong does not always translate into good behavior. I have found myself asking ridiculous questions like, “Would Superman throw a tantrum about that?!” For better or worse, parenting is total improv. Will recently had his Christmas concert and sang with gusto. Gadie dressed him up for his photo shoot (see photo).



Gadie (my mom) is LOVING Texas. She transferred to our local Home Depot, where she continues her job as a kitchen designer. She has reconnected with some old friends here, and is getting back into riding horses. She recently signed up for a Cowgirl Weekend, which involves a cowgirl contest complete with barrel racing, calf-roping, etc. I made sure her health insurance is up to date. Gadie still helps with the kids and generally makes all of our lives easier! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—everyone needs a Gadie!

Cha Cha doesn't like the fact that she now has to contend with red ants in the yard, fleas and ticks and HOT weather; however, she loves Texas rivers, and even got to enjoy a flurry of snow the other night!

Life has been full of transition, and sometimes of sadness this year. We lost several people who are dear to us, including my Uncle Charlie, and the pastor of our former church in Denver. These losses make life harder, but also remind us of how sweet and fragile it all is.

So you can see, dear reader, that we have much to be thankful for, and in the midst of the hard times, life is still good. We find home in each other, in the Texas Hill Country, and in our friendships with all of you. No matter where you find yourself this holiday season, please do two things: (1) read “The Tale of Despereaux” (we just finished reading it together as a family); and (2) practice seeking the Light in yourself and others. Because as Roscuro, the misguided rat in the story, said “the meaning of life is light.”

2007

Happy New Year! We just returned from spending two weeks with our family in NY for Christmas. We love NYC at Christmastime, and we enjoyed visiting the Museum of Natural History, eating hot dogs and pretzels in Central Park, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and most of all, spending time with family and friends!

Last year at this time, we were blanketed with tons of snow out here in Denver! The snow brought everyone in the neighborhood together and made for some epic snowball fights! It also provided lots of mountain fun, and afforded Mahalia a chance to hit the slopes for the first time!

Winter was a busy time in the Norton household…Billy traveled back down for his second trip to Copper Canyon in Mexico with his RMSEL students. I made time for my job as a case manager for the Byrne Foundation (now named Byrne Urban Scholars), and continued to teach as an adjunct faculty member at DU. I also spent more time in Prescott, Arizona, serving as a Graduate Advisor for Prescott College. Billy and I also spent several days in Eldorado Canyon getting recertified as Wilderness First Responders.

Mainly, I was running around like a crazy person trying to finish my PhD, which I did! I graduated on Mother’s Day weekend in Chicago from Loyola University. The whole family road-tripped there, and had a wonderful reunion with friends and family. At one point in my doc program, Mahalia and Will said, “Mommy, will you ever be done with school?!”

After having a crazy winter and spring, summer couldn’t have come at a better time. Billy, the kids and I took the most amazing road trip to Montana and Idaho (Are you noticing a travel theme here? Thank God, for portable DVD players and Disney movies!). In July, Billy instructed an OB course for Expeditionary Learning teachers from all over the country. He paddled down the Missouri River, through the “breaks,” retracing pieces of Lewis and Clark’s trip. In August, I was invited to go to Croatia to assist Outward Bound Croatia in getting their program with high risk youth up and running. It was a life-changing experience, and a wonderful way to celebrate my 10 year anniversary working for OB. It made me realize how small and precious our world is. I fell in love with Croatia and it’s people, and learned the best curses in the world, which for the sake of not going straight to hell, will NOT be mentioned in this holiday letter.

Mahalia and Will are growing up so fast (did I just say that?!) and it is amazing to watch them learn, laugh and make their way in this world. Mahalia is in kindergarten, learning to read and write. A lover of details, she loves homework and can tell you exactly who is on green, yellow or red light in her class. She absolutely loves art--drawing, painting, you name it, and says she wants to be an artist when she grows up. This has led to discussions regarding the difference between a hobby and a career, to which she replied, “No, I want to do art for my JOB!”(I think my parents may have had the same talk with me about social work!) When she’s not drawing princesses, she is busy with soccer, gymnastics, and the church choir. She recently played an angel (bit part, if I’ve ever seen one!) in the church Christmas pageant. She hardly sang, but she still made her Gadie proud!

Will is in preschool, and whenever I ask him what he did in school on a given day, he breaks into a huge grin and says, “I PLAYED.” We should all be so lucky! He is still our “uncarved block” in many ways, but now he is so verbal and his mouth can’t keep up with his brain (I don’t know where he gets that!). He loves his big sister and his dog (Cha Cha), and he is never without a ball in his hands. He is starting a Little Nuggets Jr. Hoopsters basketball league in January, which should be highly entertaining. Look, if he’s going to play in the NBA, he’s gotta start early! I think he’s ready…don’t worry, though he’s wearing Carolina gear, he is fiercely loyal to the Jayhawks!

Billy and I have done our best to raise good, Colorado children thus far. We expose them to mountain hikes and walks through the tall prairie grass at the nearby reservoir. We’ve taken them to the stock show, skiing, to Rockies baseball games, and to the annual Rockygrass bluegrass festival.

After our summer of adventures, fall was highlighted by the birth of our nephew, Sammy, bringing all of so much joy. Billy and I also did our first triathlon, and had a ball. This fall has been the first time we’ve contemplated leaving these parts, as I am looking for tenure-track jobs in social work all over the country. Don’t really want to leave all of this behind, but we’ll see what happens…

As I reflect on our year, I am reminded of how blessed our lives have been. It’s felt chaotic and stressful at times managing work, school and a family, but through it all, we continue to enjoy life’s crazy adventures. While there have been many things we are grateful for this year, we have also had several friends and family members experience personal difficulties or tragedy. It has been a wake-up call to the fragility of life, and, yet, we have been so inspired by the courage and faith of so many of you (YOU know who you are!).

In these uncertain times, when war continues to rage on, and a presidential election looms on the horizon, many people feel the need to pick between optimism and pessimism. However, we aspire to be like Cornell West, who said, “I’m a blues man. The categories of optimism and pessimism don’t exist. I’m a prisoner of hope.” What a thing to be held captive by!

May this New Year be a time filled with joy, peace, and most of all HOPE.

Love, Christine, Billy, Mahalia, Will (Gadie & Cha Cha too!)

2006

Happy Holidays Everyone! Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Happy New Year to all of you!

I still remember when 2006 began…Billy and I woke up in the wee morning hours, hung over from New Year’s Eve, and walked down the still dark, cold streets of Dublin, Ireland to a 7:30am mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. As we stumbled to church, drunken Irishmen stumbled home from the bars. What were we thinking?!

After spending a week in Ireland, Billy and I headed back home to Colorado via New York and Indiana to see family. January was filled with Billy’s travels with his students from RMSEL down to the Rio Grande and Copper Canyon in Mexico. He brought home more rocks, and new recipes for homemade refried beans and enchiladas.

While plugging away at my dissertation and teaching, I continued my work with the Byrne Foundation, working to try and undo some of the educational inequalities in the Denver inner-city area. We experienced a historic time in Denver with large scale immigration rights protests, many of which were attended by my clients and families. While not an easy issue, we were amazed to be surrounded by people taking to the streets for a cause they believe in.

The spring and summer brought out the full enjoyment of living in Colorado: skiing, skiing and more skiing! My dad came out and we got a cabin at Vail and Billy’s sisters and their husbands came out for a sibling ski weekend at Breckenridge, where I somehow found myself singing John Cougar’s “Little Pink Houses” backed up by an 80s metal live karaoke band. Yeah, bet you’re sad you missed that one.

As summer rolled around, I did some more training for Outward Bound, this time up in Montana, and Billy, the kids and I made our annual trip up to the Northwoods of Minnesota. We also attended a western themed costume wedding of some Outward Bound friends up in Walden, Colorado. Think gentleman and floozy. The red boa made all the difference. We took in some good bluegrass at the Rockygrass Festival in Lyons, Colorado where we heard another good OB friend, Robert Greer, and his band Town Mountain, open the festival. We sat in the creek, drank cold Skinny Dip (New Belgium Brewery’s delicious summer ale) and heard a very young at heart Earl Scruggs tear it up on the banjo. May we all live that fully until we die!

This summer we added a new member to our family, Muchacha, a black lab puppy. Needless to say, Mahalia picked her out and named her. While she used to knock Dubs over and chew on his neck, the roles are now reversed. She is a terror on the leash and destroys anything she can get her teeth on, but since she chews up my mom’s cigarettes and bit the head off of Mahalia’s Barbie, we don’t think she’s all bad, and may even be highly intelligent.

November brought more travels… to a Northwood’s wedding on the shores of Lake Superior for some more Outward Bound friends, and to Indiana for a Thanksgiving family reunion to celebrate the 90th birthdays of both of my grandparents. Both were amazing times of celebrating love, friends and family!

Surprisingly, December also brought travels to New York City, a gift from my sister and brother in-laws! New York at Christmastime is the best, and we got to spend more quality time with family, which is always special.

The kids have obviously been along on many of these adventures, and take to travel and new experiences with gusto. Mahalia is in pre-school, totally into princesses and barbies and all things girly, yet still a lover of bugs and dirt and all things outdoors. She takes gymnastics and spent endless hours at our community pool this summer. She is so funny and verbal, and keeps us on our toes for sure! Dubs is two now and is so expressive himself. Their love-hate relationship is fueled by her flair for the dramatic and his antagonistic tendencies…a brilliant combo! He loves dressing up in Mahalia’s Tinkerbelle dress and trying to commandeer her dolls. He is also obsessed with balls, and currently sleeps with a regulation sized football, basketball and volleyball in his crib with him. So you can see, both of our kids are balanced in all the right ways! He is in pre-school one day a week, and is learning the difference between red and blue (though rather unsuccessfully).

As I write this letter, the streets in our neighborhood are quiet, and the Christmas tree lights fill our house with such peace. I can hardly believe that we are a world at war, and that so many people are suffering right now. For some reason, I count my blessings even more this year. Life seems so precious and fragile, relationships come and go, but in the end, I truly believe that every act of kindness is also an act of hope. Somehow it symbolizes that we, as a human community, haven’t quite given up on each other. I hope you are reminded of that this holiday season, as you drive through your neighborhoods and see the decorative lights, when you hear a carol that makes your heart leap, or when you receive a card from a loved one far away. These are the miracles of the season…yes, even the cheesy, over-indulgent holiday letters of those blathering on about the insignificant aspects of their lives!

All of our love to you and yours in this season of emergent Light…

Billy, Christine, Mahalia and Will

P.S. For all those of you who have been keeping track, YES, it was Billy’s turn to write the holiday letter, but he’s upstairs grading papers, so you’re stuck with the velveeta. Hasta el ano que viene.

2005

Happy Holidays everyone! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Happy New Year to all! As we do each year, it’s time to send our family and friends the annual “holiday letter,” both dreaded and anticipated in the Norton household, we opt to take turns. This year, it is my turn (Christine), so expect more sap, less sarcasm and an orderly flow!

2005 started off with adjusting to two little monkeys, instead of one. “Dubs,” as we have grown to call him (nothing like giving your infant a fraternity beer drinking name!) entered our lives just before Christmas, and made his presence known through late night feedings for most of the winter.

During this time, Billy decided to head off to Mexico with his school (don’t worry-he came back). Working for an ELOB (Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound) school, he took several different trips this year: the Rio Grande, Great Sand Dunes National Park, backpacking in Utah. While I missed him when he was gone, he’d always return with a smile on his face, rocks in his pockets, stories of new birds he saw, and tales of his eccentric students. As you can tell, he continues to love the niche he has found in this progressive, experiential learning community, and I am constantly amazed at the hours of planning, grading, and personal contact with students that he puts in.

Billy spent more time in the wilderness this year instructing a parent-child course for Outward Bound up in Northern Minnesota. This was his 5th year working for OB, as a wilderness instructor, and he was honored for this commitment. While he wasn’t grading papers or lesson planning this year, Billy was taking our kids to the reservoir to feed the birds, walk through the reeds and soak in the sun. I got him out on the slopes a few times, but I still think he prefers his games of ultimate Frisbee or a long, solo run. One thing’s for sure, he has taken to Colorado and the West in general, full of its trails and peaks and outdoor adventures.

I feel the same way, though there’s never enough time to explore it all. I was happy to get out and do a backpacking trip this summer with some of the kids I work with. It was the first time Billy and I got to work together with kids that aren’t are own. We had a great time, and at the end of the trip, we were even happier to go home to our own kids!

My year has been filled with a lot of professional challenges and opportunities, as well as the personal joys and despair of parenting! Billy teases me because I literally have four part-time jobs now. I am still a case manager/counselor for the Byrne Foundation (www.byrnefoundation.org), which gives me direct contact with challenging teenagers WHICH I LOVE! I taught Social Work again at DU, and I also teach for Naropa University in Boulder and am a graduate advisor for Prescott College in Arizona. I advise several students in the adventure-based psychotherapy program, and they fly me down four times a year for weekend colloquiums. I traveled there in February, August and November and have fallen in love with the place and my students! In the midst of my forays into academia, I have presented at several conferences and trainings on the topic of wilderness therapy and adolescent development and continue to work on my dissertation.

Billy, my mom and the kids keep me sane (though they also drive me insane too!), and hikes, skiing, tubing down Boulder Creek, HOT yoga, book club, ESPRESSO, and good friends and family all help a lot too! I think I do all the work I do because I truly love it ALL. I am being prayerful about God’s plan and purpose in it all, and try and stay mindful. A la Thich Nhat Hanh.

Let me tell you, our children have that mindfulness thing down to an art. Mahalia (who is 3 now!) can be IN THE MOMENT more than anyone I know. The joys and sorrows of such small things cause the greatest reaction in her. To say that she is a little “me” is not fair to her, because Kahlil Gibran was right. She came through me, but she is not from me, and every day I have to remind myself that she belongs to God. This helps me let go…ok, try to let go. For those of you who have met Mahalia, you know that she is effervescent, verbal, stubborn, in the limelight, funny, kind and incredibly sensitive. She loves to dance, watch cartoons, and make snow angels. She talks to plants and digs for grubs in the old stump out back in one moment, and puts on make-up in front of the bathroom mirror the next. She is learning to read and count and is FINALLY potty trained. (That was not fun…can you say anal retentive?!) Anyhoo, I digress. This kid is FUN, and it's such a kick to watch her grow and wonder (yes, that’s the perfect word!) what she’ll grow up to be/do. I already know WHO she’ll be, because she’s 100% herself already, if that makes sense.

Dubs, who is 1, is a funny little soul as well. He has lots of mismatched teeth, and looks like a fat, happy jackolantern. He’s VERY expressive, and has four words thus far. Mama was his first word, followed by ball, up and dada. Some guys could get through life on those words alone, but I think he’ll add a few in the years to come. Dubs likes to crawl and laugh and play with his sister. She gives him raspberries on his tummy and he pulls her hair and tries to bite her (he actually does this to all of us and is really akin to having a puppy at this point). The sibling love/hate relationship begins early on! Watching them interact is such a joyful experience and a constant miracle. Sometimes we’re even smart enough not to take it all for granted.

Gadie, my mom, still lives with us, and is the best nanny and friend to our children you could ask for! They learn so much from her, and we don’t know what we’d do without her. She is a kitchen designer at Home Depot, and has also become a mentor for a youth in the program I work for…I actually signed up all of us, so we all mentor kids in the Denver community which has been a really cool experience. There’s so much going on in the world today that it feels empowering to do something local. Sigh.

As we send this letter out to you all, we hope you will receive with it our love and many blessings. We would love to have visitors and have the space for it! Call, email, and get in touch!

And consider the words of Walt Whitman this holy-day season:

“Every hour of light and dark is a miracle. Every cubic inch
of space is a miracle. Every square yard of the surface of the
earth is spread with the same, every foot of the interior swarms
with the same.”

Miracles are all around you. Look.

XXOO

Billy, Christine, Mahalia and Will Norton

2004

If I were one of my less descriptive students I would simply say, “This year we did a lot of stuff.” And it’s true, we did. And, if you look at the picture, you can see the best thing we did all year. Baby Will as born Dec 14, a week later than anticipated, but right on time for Christmas. In addition to creating another William Norton (the sixth in a row, for those keeping count), we both quit our jobs, packed up our stuff (no point in going into what that was; suffice it to say it was a lot of stuff), and left Chicago for Denver. I am teaching in an Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound School, a public school that embraces the philosophies and practices of Outward Bound. Christine taught a graduate social work class at D.U. and works part time for a youth foundation.

I read the first draft of the letter to Christine, and she brought it to my attention that this letter is not chronological, nor does it have enough “feelings” in it. In an effort to change that, I will tell you that Christine and I had several significant milestones and wonderful trips:

January through April, we were deep into our search for jobs and homes. We visited N.Y. and L. A. to see my family, and came out to Denver in April to interview for jobs. The job hunt was successful, but we were not able to find our house until July.

In May, Christine visited the Salesmanship Club Youth Camp just before it shut its doors. Salesmanship is the place where she cut her teeth working with naughty youth; in fact, she nearly had several of her teeth knocked out while working there, but that is a story for another time. She was sad to see it close, but was able to reconnect with many wonderful old friends. Many tears were shed.

In June, she completed her fourth and final year at St Ignatius, and the freshmen she came in with graduated. There was a sense of fulfillment and completion, watching kids she had worked with so closely graduate from one of the top schools in the city.

In July, we both went up to Voyageur Outward Bound in Ely. We were a bit too pregnant to work any courses, at least Christine was. I participated in a Canoe Marathon to raise money for the school. More significantly, Christine completed her coursework and comprehensive exams for her doctorate in social work and is now “all but dissertation.” We also found a house, which was fortunate, because we were planning on moving August 1st with or without a house.

We left Chicago in August, not without some challenge. As we were packing our 25 ft. truck, we realized we had about 35 feet of stuff to pack. We managed to hunt down a truck in Indiana, and were able to escape Chicago leaving only a “Hokey Pokey Elmo” doll. We don’t miss the jobs much, or the soot from Elston Street, or even the Elmo doll (sorry Deb), but we miss our friends and the comfort of living in a city we knew inside and out. We also traded Stanley’s, our local market, for a Wal-Mart, hardly an upgrade. Fortunately, Pat, or Gadie as she is known to Mahalia, moved with us. We all live together and Pat and Christine take turns with the kids. We don’t know what we’d do without her.

We are still getting to know our way around Denver. We haven’t spent much time in the mountains yet, but we’re glad to know they’re there. We bought a house with a yard; the bunnies, coyotes, and prairie dogs we’ve seen are a pleasant change from the rats we shared our old alley with. Yes, we live on a cul de sac, yes we now own a lawn mower, and yes, I even mowed the lawn once. We are happy with our new home. Mahalia is enamored with her new pink room, and she and I have done a lot of exploring at the state park near the house. We have also tried looking around for a church where we could feel at home. We went to three churches in three weeks, ending with the Unitarian Universalist church, where Mahalia puked in the day care room; needless to say, we are still searching. As we do so, the days get longer and we continue to feel blessed in every aspect of our lives. We wish the same for all of you.

Merry Christmas.

2003

Season’s Greetings

Well, it’s that time again to update everyone on the going’s on of the Norton family…we hope that you and yours are safe and well and avoiding that nasty flu bug. We have had quite an amazing year filled with work, play, travels, but most importantly watching our little monkey, I mean daughter, grow! She is fourteen months old now, with lots of strawberry red hair, pierced ears, walking and talking, laughing and crying, and in general being the world’s cutest baby. I know, you’re hoping this isn’t going to be one of those annoying holiday letters where the parents dote on their children, but c’mon, it’s our first! Her repertoire of words is extensive now, including ball, bug, boy, book, bird (yeah, we only have the letter “B” Lamaze book!), but she also says momma, dada, gaga, nene, and our favorite: panda. 

This year started off with a bit of a scare. My mom, who is Mahalia’s nanny, and lives above us in our apt. building, had to have emergency surgery. We all pulled together, and lots of family and friends pitched in to help watch Mahalia while my mom recovered. God is good and mom healed quickly…but I learned, it truly does take a village to raise a child. Having my mom sick made me realize even more how important she is to us. It has been such a gift to have her here in Chicago with us, seeing her interact with Mahalia, helping us in any way she can, and teaching Mahalia her first curse word!

Billy continued his work this year teaching high school in the Chicago Public system for a small school called Best Practice. He has taught freshmen English and reading and often comes home to regale us with entertaining quotes from his students’ papers. Not mocking mind you, simply pointing out some of the more creative spelling and grammar of today’s youth. I went back to work after my maternity leave part-time, still at the Jesuit high school doing social work. The part-time work has enabled me to keep plugging away at my PhD program in clinical social work, which at times seems like a colossal waste of time, and at other times seems like it will open a lot of doors for me in the future.

Our year was filled with travel… to Wisconsin for the xx ski ½ marathon, Indiana, New York, and DC to visit friends and family. When we were in NY in May, we gathered with family and friends for a Christian dedication, a ceremony in which we presented Mahalia to God and publicly named her godparents. We also did a dedication ceremony with my family earlier in the year, and felt that both gave us the opportunity to consider the more spiritual aspects of our lives together as a family.

In the summer, Billy and I both got back in the field briefly working for Outward Bound again, and in total, we were at base camp in the amazing Northwoods of Minnesota for a month. Afterwards, we decided we’d do something really crazy, so we flew from MN to Denver, rented a car and drove from Denver to LA and back over the course of three weeks. We bought this HUGE tent from Costco and stuck Mahalia in her pack-n-play in one “wing” of the tent. We weathered rain, lightning, heat, cold, visited 8 National Parks, but also treated ourselves to some cheap and air-conditioned hotel rooms, and a lovely B&B in Taos. We fell in love with the desert southwest and hold the trip as one of our most special memories. Mahalia handled traveling really well, sleeping in the car and in the tent pretty well. She mostly loved playing in the dirt, with rocks and sticks and flowers, and sitting in the Virgin River in Zion NP. The apple does not fall far from the tree.

As you can see, while summer in Chicago is certainly better than winter in Chicago, we choose to get the hell outta dodge and get some peace and perspective. We have certainly needed that this year, as we have been going NON-STOP. We went to two great weddings in September, had family visits in October for Mahalia’s one year party and Billy’s second marathon (!!), and then traveled to Vancouver and New York in November. Billy and I presented at a conference for experiential/outdoor education and therapy. We got to talk about the work we do for Outward Bound, and were really honored to do this and meet a lot of great people. Vancouver is also my new favorite city, and if George Bush gets elected again, I am thinking about becoming Canadian (although Mahalia would end up talking funny). Sorry to get political, but we are planning on being more active in this upcoming election season, and hope to see some positive political change in our blessed nation.

We have been attending a wonderful, socially active church and trying to be more prayerful and centered about our lives, which often means SLOWING DOWN, a tough task with a 1+ year old. Still, we have found this year of adventure to have put us deeply in touch with our gratitude…for family and friends, for God’s beautiful earth, for meaningful work and good health which enables us to do that work. We are constantly aware of and amazed by the amount of suffering in the world, and we hope to both enjoy the world and help save it!  Thank all of you for the gift you are in our lives…and yes, as I’m sure you figured out by now, Christine wrote this year’s holiday letter…far too sappy, far too long, and far too small of font to be from Billy.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Happy New Year.

We love you, Billy, Christine and Mahalia

2002

Yes, that’s right…it’s that time of year again when the Norton’s regale you with tales of the year’s adventures. This time, however, the letter is from the Norton Family! That’s right…on October 9, 2002, Mahalia Sol Norton (named after Gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson) made her arrival to this lovely planet! Didn’t know I was even pregnant? Well, I have ghastly pictures from an Outward Bound belly painting party to prove it! 

It’s funny to write about the year in retrospect because we must’ve gotten pregnant right around New Year’s Eve, which we spent at a roof top party in NYC (that‘s not where we got pregnant). Unaware, we then went downhill skiing in Wisconsin two weeks later with my dad. It was on a gray day in January when I finally did the little home pregnancy kit, smiling mischievously at Billy as he walked through the door, returning from a day of work in which one of his students threw a chair at another…”We’re having a baby!” I declared. Well, that was the start of a special year…

Billy continued his work as a high school English teacher at Best Practice HS on the West side of Chicago. It’s a small public school affiliated with National Louis University. This year, however, he’s teaching freshmen, as opposed to last year’s juniors, and they are keeping him busy. He is always grading papers, preparing lessons, or meeting with kids after school. He can often be heard lamenting, “These essays are horrrrible!” I have continued working as a school social worker at St. Ignatius College Prep, but have been on maternity leave most of this semester. We got cable TV just for this occasion, and I am now addicted to the cooking channel.

Last winter, I had been planning on skiing the Birkie, my usual xc ski marathon in Wisconsin, but had the excuse of being pregnant to get out of it.  Still, we got a break from the city and rented a cabin with a bunch of fellow skiers/Outward Bound staff. It was a beautiful, snowy time, and made us long for some winter camping! We filled that wish by taking a group of students from St. Ignatius on a winter camping, xc skiing, and dog sledding trip through Voyageur Outward Bound’s winter program in Ely, MN. Billy actually camped out with the group, while I just did a day trip of dog sledding out to meet them. I think the whole thing can be summed up by the story of Billy finding ground chicken meat in the pocket of his parka…no wonder the dogs liked him so much!

In April, my mom moved here to Chicago from Indiana to come and help get the baby’s room ready and eventually to help with the baby. God was so good, and we actually had a studio apartment open up in our building! So we’re neighbors, and it couldn’t be better! She has been such a big help, not to mention great company and we feel blessed to have her love and support.

In May, Billy and I took a weekend excursion to Asheville, North Carolina. We ran into some Outward Bound friends there and enjoyed the misty, green Smoky Mountains. We visited Table Rock Mountain, stayed in an old log cabin on the outskirts of town, and ate biscuits and grits two days in a row! We considered this our anniversary trip which we usually take in September, knowing that in September we’d be too pregnant to do much of anything. 

On June 1st, Billy’s sister Tara got married, so we headed to New York to be bridesmaids. Yep, both of us. It was payback for Billy’s sisters being our best men. It was a wonderful time with family, and we were so blessed to add Uncle Matt to the family! We spent most of June here in Chicago, enjoying the warmer weather. Billy finished up work, while I continued taking classes for my PhD program in Clinical Social Work. Then, we headed up to the Voyageur Outward Bound School where Billy instructed an 8 day Parent/Child course, followed by a 28 day youth-at-risk course. I directed that course from Homeplace, our basecamp, and essentially got to be Billy’s boss…yeah, that was a real stretch. We both learned so much in our work up there, and of course, enjoyed the beauty of the Northwoods once again.

When we returned to Chicago in late August, we had several weddings to attend, including my dad’s. He got remarried to a wonderful woman named Elizabeth, giving Mahalia 5 grandparents, and 4 great grandparents! I went back to work for several weeks, but took my maternity leave early, thinking the baby would come sooner than later because she was so big. Wrong! She was two weeks late, which meant a month of walking, waiting, cleaning, organizing, and driving Billy nuts!

When the day finally arrived, however, we went through 18 hours of labor, 10 of which were so stressful that Mahalia was whisked away to ICU for 36 hours immediately upon being born. She wasn’t breathing, was incredibly stressed, limp and pale. It was a very scary time, and I honestly feel like we witnessed a miracle. She got strong so fast, thanks to prayers from people all around the world, and she took to breastfeeding like a champion. Since her birth, life has been a series of wonderful visits from family and friends, gift packages being sent in the mail, warm emails and phone calls, and so much love. The first month was a rough transition and recovery for all of us, but now she is smiling, laughing, cooing, oh, yes, and pooping like it’s her job!

We are blessed to have a healthy daughter and are blessed to say our families are doing well also. They have been such a support to us, as have all of you, and we continue to see God’s love in our lives through all of your kindness and friendship. The world is a big, crazy place to bring a child into, but we try to live each day intentionally so that Mahalia will grow up wanting to both enjoy the world, as well as save it. We are praying for peace in these troubled times, and also that you and yours are filled with JOY now and always.

With love, Billy, Christine and Mahalia

2001

Well, the fears of my wife are about to be realized. The responsibility for cranking out this year's Christmas letter has been placed in my hands. This was not a sudden decision, but the result of a chain of events which began in September when Christine became not just the principal breadwinner for our family, but the only bread winner. For a while, there was a good excuse; I was completing my Student Teaching, and the State of Illinois asks for a three month unpaid internship before they feel they can really turn someone loose on a class full of kids. However, the student teaching gig ended more than a week ago, and my new job does not begin until the second week in January, so my responsibilities around the house have increased (my sisters once told me that I’d make someone a wonderful wife someday). All sorts of things have been arranged, folded, re-arranged, re-paired (or at least tinkered with), or stuffed under the bed, never to be seen again. In the course of taking on household tasks, I also inherited the job of composing the Christmas Letter. Here goes. I‘ll try to keep it brief…

School and travel seem to be the two themes which dominate our lives (I’m sure once kids come around the meanings of these two words will change dramatically for us). We figured that with the exception of the 98-99 school year, at least one of us has been attending school since 1974. Lots o’ school. I have spent this year completing all of my requirements for earning a Masters in Education and am done with school for the foreseeable future. Don’t worry; Christine began a doctoral program in Social Work so the cycle will continue for at least another year and a half (not including dissertation). She’s been plenty busy but through her organizational prowess and solid work ethic she completes most of her assignment several days before the deadline, whereas I cannot recall if I ever began a paper more than a few days before a deadline. Christine is still at St. Ignatius College Prep, and is considering becoming a Jesuit Priest. She was overheard at a staff meeting, saying, “If they just make one or two little policy changes, I’m a shoe-in.” The Society of Jesus was unavailable for comment on this issue.

In the meantime, we’ve been traveling for reasons sad, joyous and Outward Bound related (which can be either, depending on the day). We were in the D.C. area in March to lay Christine’s Grandma Browning to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. We were back East in May to see family and friends in NY, then we headed out to California for the wedding of one of Christine’s high school friends. We made it to four weddings this year, and missed as many while we were up at Outward Bound. Each wedding was special, but those are the topics of other Christmas letters written by other good folks. One trip worth mentioning though, is our drive to Denver for our cousin Heather White’s wedding. We intended to fly out of Chicago on Sept 13, but for obvious reasons air travel was not really a viable option. Members of the family drove in from all over the country in a show of support and affection, and the closeness and joy we felt in the face of disaster was truly powerful. Not only that, but they had these kick-ass shrimp hors d’oveurs which made the whole drive worth it.

That was actually our second drive west of the year. For the second time in as many years, I quit my job when summer rolled around so that we could travel and work for Voyageur Outward Bound School. We began the summer with a trip to Grand Teton Natl. Park in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We spent several days hiking camping and preparing for our ascent of the Grand Teton. We went up with a guide from Exum Mountain Guides; he was an amazing man, we had a great trip, and the weather cleared just as we reached the summit. We also took a day trip down the snake river in inflatable Kayaks called duckies. We were paddling for less than 5 minutes before we flipped, and we learned that with the sufficient level of fear, you can be totally soaked but still have cotton-mouth. We recovered well, and a pitcher of beer proved to be the perfect cure for dry-mouth.

We once again worked the Ascent Program for Outward Bound, the month-long youth at risk (naughty kids) course. Christine had all girls, I had all boys; it was as challenging and uplifting as ever. Leaving the Northwoods for the wilds of Chicago was tough, but the city has been good to us this fall. We will be seeing each of our families over Christmas, and when we return we‘ll begin taking copious notes for next year’s letter. We hope this letter finds you in good health and good spirits.