Our Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas to you and your families. We hope that everyone is as grateful and full of love this Christmas as we are. We are coming up on the 4 month anniversary of Chris' accident and things are going exceptionally well. Warning...Christian is back at the wheel and driving!! ha ha! His goal was to be driving by the new year and he has been driving for about a week. We see progress in Christian's body constantly. It has been one hell of a year and we are ready to start a new, but we are very thoughtful on how blessed that we have been. This is a year that we will never forget. We've been at the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. We have learned many things. Most of all we learned that there is love all around us. Our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and complete strangers have made all of the difference. We love all of you and wish you a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We wanted to share with you our 2010 Christmas letter...

We Believe in Miracles

One of the many blessings of this time of year is the chance it gives us to connect with you, our friends and family.

This time last year we were in sunny, beautiful Maui on our honeymoon. It was the most fabulous trip. We enjoyed all that the island has to offer. Our days were full of scuba trips, snorkeling, kitesurfing, and a whole lot of relaxing. The highlight of our trip was an experience of a lifetime; we had the rare opportunity to swim with dolphins. It was the most amazing encounter. We had 60 dolphins swimming around us in the middle of the ocean, wild and free. It was surreal to be so close to such gentle, mindful and unrestricted animals. It was amazing.

Springtime brought camping and biking in Southern Utah. We rode many of our favorite trails and attempted some new ones. We camped with great friends in the best camping spots that nature has to offer. We ate wonderfully as Christian cooked on “JESSI’S” new Camp Chef that he surprised her with for her birthday!! A little joke in our family…there is still some training to do.

Summer weekends were full of fishing, more biking, and a Reed family vacation to sunny California. California was fabulous and spending time with our family was wonderfully entertaining, as always. Fly-fishing is one of our favorite weekend activities. Christian rows Jessi and Aspen down the river watching and waiting for a giant trout to rise. Chris is the best guide. With his help, Jes caught the biggest trout ever to swim the river! Due to technical difficulties there are no pictures to share. I know what you’re all thinking…tis the season to believe. ☺

We live a pretty adventurous and carefree life. As many of you know, that adventurous spirit brought us to where we are today. Christian’s accident in August brought many things into perspective. Life is fragile, we are not invincible, but also that we will not change how we live our lives. We have a love for life and adventure, that is who we are and who we will always be. This is another one of our adventures and we will come through it, maybe with a few more scars, but through it together. We have had more blessings and miracles this year then we thought were possible. Christian is progressing steadily every day and we are very grateful. He hopes to be on skis by spring. With some luck and practice, maybe this year Jessi can keep up.

We realize that we could not have made it through the year without you, our friends and family. Your thoughts and prayers have kept us hopeful on the gloomiest of days. We love each and every one of you dearly. We are especially thankful for all of you this year. We are thankful for each other and our strength and courage to get through this somewhat gracefully. We are thankful for Christian’s doctors, nursing staff, flight crew, and therapists. Their knowledge and encouragement saved Christian’s life and has made this experience much more bearable.

Our home and our hearts are full of love and gratitude. We wish the same to you this Christmas season. Thank you for your love, support and friendship. Merry Christmas and Happy 2011!

All our love-

Christian and Jessi