Posting our Christmas letter!
NOTE: This letter turned out to be long, so if you feel like you want to turn it into a paper airplane instead, I understand;)
Merry Christmas to all our friends and family. We hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!
Our Christmas letter has definitely been sporadic, but this year I vowed to start Christmas shopping early and finish before Thanksgiving. I’m happy to say I met that goal except for one present and now have time to write you all a letter! If you don’t get a letter next year, you’ll know why;)
This year has been an exciting, weird, and sad time for so many people, and we are no different. It has brought much joy and happiness and some of our deepest sorrows. We give thanks to God for the happy and sad, and remind ourselves of his perfect plan, the Author of the universe and all things in existence.
Matt is a work horse, cranking away at our homebuilding business, Remington Homes (remingtonhomesdfw.com) as well as our other businesses. He worked for Lockheed Martin but “retired” about four years ago so we could focus on growing our businesses. Even though it’s far from a retired lifestyle and brings a lot of stress, it gives us more freedom. Because the homebuilding market is so unpredictable, we were a little concerned for business when COVID hit, but it’s grown to the point that we’ve hired another employee, which we’re blessed and happy about. He’s currently working on his CFI (certified flight instructor) and serves in the stake presidency. With all his responsibilities, I love that he makes a lot time for the kids and I. We definitely feel his love and he does an amazing job juggling all his responsibilities.
I am now in my third year homeschooling our five children. It bring its challenges, but every year gets exponentially better as I pray and ideas and impressions about how to school come. It’s amazing what you can do with God’s help!
I’ve enjoyed learning french and have made friends with a few ladies in France. I’ve become especially good friends with one and we’ve talked about exchanging kids next summer. Brett and Mazey are excited for this opportunity, but we’ll see with COVID.
I turned forty this year and was not excited about seeing a few more wrinkles emerge ( or should I say deepen), but our lives are fulfilling and happy, and I wouldn’t trade it for my younger years.
I love taking acting lessons and enjoyed being in a few films. My favorite was participating in a movie, “The 12 Mighty Orphans” starring Martin Sheen and Luke Wilson. It takes place in the 1920’s so it was fun getting my hair done up and dressed for the time period! It is yet to be released, so watch for it!
Mazey turned eighteen this year and I’m freaking out a little! She applied to about five different universities and has been accepted to a few so far. She plans to defer so she can serve a church mission first. She loves people and always serves others. She has been a rock and strength in our family, and we are soaking up all the time we can with her before she leaves.
Brett turned sixteen this year and looks like he’s twenty. He’s almost six foot and has a heart of gold. As his chore, and because it is more demanding, he accepted the challenge to earn money as the family cook. We think it’s a great idea, as it helps the kids learn cooking skills before they leave home and they earn money doing it. He is amazing at it and I told him he needs to be on Iron Chef. Mazey was the cook before him and was amazing at it too, but with her more demanding schedule this year, she decided to focus more on her studies.
Brett loves acting and we’ve been taking the same acting class together. He also appeared in the 12 Mighty Orphans which was fun doing together.
In January we planned to hold Brett’s Court of Honor for receiving his eagle scout, but I realized I had scheduled it on Super Bowl Sunday. We tried to figure out another date, working around six other court of honors, and then COVID hit. Later, the miscarriage happened, so we are finally having it next week in December. Way to go Brett!
Alden turned fourteen in October and has grown three inches in the last two months. He is the life of the family and brings a lot of joy to us. He’s got a loving heart and wants to be a pilot later in life. He just finished watching the White Collar series with Matt and I think we’ll need to find a support group for them to help with their withdrawals.
Harrison is our typical nine- year-old Pokemon-loving son. In kindergarten before we started homeschooling, he received the award “Most likely to be President of the United States.” He likes to be in charge and we call him the CEO of our family. Sometimes I wonder if he likes to argue just for the sake of arguing, but maybe he can make a living at it one day being President. I’d vote for him.
Olivia is our unicorn and mermaid-loving five-year-old. she is the definition of charity and is filled with more love than anyone except Jesus. Three of us received a treasure hunt activity and gift from her today, which usually includes a note and candy, but always in a gift bag. She is definitely a gift giver, and this is a normal every day occurrence.
Mazey was preparing a talk on charity last night and asked me what ideas I had. I told her Olivia is the epitome of charity and to ask her. She did, and Mazey included it in her talk today. (Olivia said charity is to give a present, be with someone, go somewhere with someone, invite them to your house, to kiss, paint, and eat together;)
In June we found out we were pregnant with our sixth. We went in with our family September 24 to see the baby on our first ultrasound to find the baby had died. We were shocked. We had always had healthy and uneventful pregnancies with our others. I had a missed miscarriage, which means the baby died but my body didn’t get the memo, and my uterus continued to grow. I finally miscarried October 8. It was traumatic to say the least, trying to figure out how to navigate this event, but we felt comforted to find out how many other people have gone through the same thing as us and felt an outpouring of love. Even though it’s difficult to know we won’t be able to hold and play with them or see them with their kids, we know we will see them again.
to finish on an upbeat, Matt and I woke up a few weeks ago and I mentioned how we had still not planned anything for our 20th anniversary (November 18). We were planning to go to England and France, but England required a two week quarantine and France was closed to everyone outside of Europe. I wondered if Hawaii was opened, so I looked and they were. We looked at tickets and they were a crazy low price so Matt said to book them. I obeyed because that’s what good wives do. We were to leave the NEXT DAY, but we like spur of the moment adventures, so we scrambled to get a COVID test and were able to get it back the same day (thank you Walgreens). We enjoyed ten days of hiking, horseback riding, snorkeling, film location touring, swimming, etc. We were warned not to swim in the ocean because of Portuguese man-of-war, but we were not going to go to Hawaii to stay out of the ocean. So we did and both got stung, and it was totally worth it. Also, if you go, try Dole’s pineapple whip. You won’t be disappointed. It was a much needed mental and emotional reset for both of us.
As I write this, I am surrounded by family as we watch football and eat popcorn. I think that is the definition of happiness; sharing your life with those you love and helping each other reach their highest potential (like being couch potatoes and eating food in this case, ha!). As I feel this sense of love and security, I think Christ. Christ shares his life with us. Christ is love. He is sacrifice. He helps us reach our potential. I write in present terms because he is alive today and I know he lives. He can comfort us when we lose a child or feel inadequate. He brings us out of the depths of despair, rejoices when we rejoice, and is patient when we choose to stray. And if and when we choose to return, he is the rock on which we can rely.
Merry Christmas Everyone! Get your Christmas shopping done hehehehe!
Much Love,
Matt, Natalie, Mazey, Brett, Alden, Harrison, and Olivia Rix
P.S. You might want to frame this. I don’t know if and when you’ll receive another Christmas letter;)
