Merry Christmas from The Youngs

My favorite part of the end of the year, ranked in order behind, you know, the whole birth of Jesus our Lord and Savior (Amen!), the playing (on repeat!) of Amy Grant’s indelible classic (and creatively named) A Christmas Album, and (how could I forget!) the cookies, oh the cookies, is the various “Best of” lists that pop up as the new year approaches.

Music, movies, photos...every topic you can think of receives its very own “Best of” list. (Seriously…I just saw one for ‘the weirdest gifts asked for by kids from mall Santas this year’. Uh? How about a dry cleaning gift card, which the kid can then give back to the mall Santa? Wash those suits, fellas!)

So allow me to add one more to the stack: here is the Young Family’s Best Ten Moments from 2014.

1. 2014 proved to be the year of the road trip. We tested the trusty old van’s mettle with drives to Pennsylvania in January, Nashville in May, and Minneapolis in August. So, pretty much ten hours in every direction but North. Sorry Canada, but that ain’t happenin’!

2. Kim and Doug continued their globetrotting ways, adding “Konnichi wa” and ”Buon giorno” to their vocabularies. (Consider this your yearly linguistics/geography quiz.)

3. Their Tuscany trip, with dear friends the Lisulls, was in honor of a special occasion: enhanced AARP benefits! Cheap movie tickets! Blue hair specials!

4. To commemorate this special year (ahem, 60!), Kim was surprised by an epic gathering of family and friends in September. Doug, you sneaky fellow!

5. To return the birthday favor, for Doug’s turn the family gathered in Chicago for food, fun with friends, and laughs at a Second City improv comedy show.

6. Doug and Cam had the opportunity to attend the Final Four in Dallas in early April, even lucking into courtside seats. As Dickie V would attest, “It was awesome, baby!”

7. Two weeks in early August were tranquilly spent on the shores of Lake Huron, in Tawas, MI, interrupted only by a quick jaunt down to see Manchester United play Real Madrid in The Big House.

8. It wasn’t all fun and games in 2014: Cam continues to enjoy Steelcase, while Mac and Liz trudge through the Minnesotan snow to get to Boston Scientific and Ph.D year #3 at U of Minnesota, respectively. Jon and Doug are pushing Behler-Young to new heights, and Kim is the rock behind it all, using her age-acquired wisdom to dole out ample “suggestions” and ”advice”.

9. Speaking of Mac and Liz, they’re creating a splendid life for themselves in MN, spending much of their free time working on remodeling their new house, when they’re not shoveling snow or scraping ice off of windshields.

10. The whole family remains in good health and good spirits, with Cam devoting two days per week to intense physical therapy, and Doug and Kim each climbing out of bed when it’s still dark out to do exercise-related things on a semi-regular basis. Even Jon has been spotted speed-walking here and there. Chalking that up as a win!

We wish you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season, and a #blessed 2015!