Holly and Jonah’s Christmas Card
Greetings and happy holidays!
Welcome to our first joint yearly update! Rather than go through the pain of drafting and sending out Christmas letters every year, we thought it would be nice to set up this website to house our yearly updates and serve as an archive for us. Hopefully this makes it easy for all of our loved ones (you!) to keep up with our adventures from year to year. This year has been an eventful year for us, and we can’t wait to share all about it with you!
As for joint ventures, Jonah and Holly moved into their first apartment in October, which is located in Verona, WI. They really love their new place and can see themselves living there for many years to come.
October was a very busy month, as they also returned to Eau Claire to play with the Blugold Alumni Band for Homecoming, which they enjoyed immensely.
In November, they expanded their little family with the additions of two kittens, Ash and Lilith, who keep Jonah and Holly on their toes.
Jonah has had an extremely exciting year! After working at Sylvan and substitute teaching in Eau Claire, Jonah started as a software developer at Epic in September. Along with working hard at Epic, Jonah has also just finished his first semester of an online Data Science Masters program at UW-Eau Claire, so he has plenty on his plate this year! He has settled into life in Madison well and has made many new friends already. Outside of work, Jonah has been keeping busy solving Rubik’s cubes, enjoying the new Pokémon games, improving his Super Smash Bros. skills, and more recently, getting into playing competitive Tetris. He has also gotten back into building LEGO sets, which he has been enjoying!
Jonah with friends at the rotary lights
Ash taking a nap on Jonah’s chest
Jonah at his new favorite restaurant in Madison
Jonah’s most recent LEGO set, ready for display in his office
Likewise, Holly has also had a busy year full of milestones. In May 2022, Holly graduated from UW-Eau Claire summa cum laude with a Bachelor’s of Science in English, Critical Studies with a minor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (what a mouthful!). She started as a Movie/TV Features Writer for Screen Rant in June, which she loves so far. This summer, Holly began a music blog, which has been a great source of fun for her. In November, Holly also had the opportunity to visit her dad, stepmom, and stepsister in Texas for Thanksgiving, which was a wonderful trip! This winter, Holly has dusted off her curling shoes and broom after five years to play in a curling league with her mom, stepdad, and stepsister. Holly has also continued crocheting a lot this year and has aspirations to begin selling some of her creations in the new year, so stay tuned for that!
Holly on her graduation day
Holly curling with her family
Holly taking a nap with the kittens
Holly working on an article for Screen Rant
Ash has had a very busy 2022! He, along with Lilith, were taken into Dane County Humane Society as strays at just a month old, and in November, he and Lilith went to their forever home with Jonah and Holly! Ash is a pretty chill dude and enjoys napping on the couch, looking out the window, and playing with Lilith. Currently, Ash’s favorite pastimes are screaming for cuddles with Mama and for canned food. His favorite toys this year have been mice, springs, crinkle balls, and wands.
Ash being rudely interrupted during play time
Ash sleeping in a way that can’t possibly be comfortable
Ash intently watching Papa play video games on the TV
Ash, discovering what the recycling bin is, just prior to discovering that he can’t climb out of the recycling bin
Not even a trip to the vet can wake Ash up
Lilith has also been keeping busy this year. It didn’t take Lilith long to adjust to her new home, and she has become quite the active little girl; she loves exploring and wrestling with Ash (whether he wants to or not). Some of Lilith’s favorite pastimes this year have been trying to eat human food, climbing up Mama and Papa when she wants cuddles, waking up Mama in the wee hours of the night, and climbing the Christmas tree. Her favorite toys this year have been mice, pom-pom balls, crinkle balls, and wands.
The only time Lilith is allowed on the coffee table is when she’s posing for photos
Lilith being a parrot on Holly’s shoulder
Lilith discovering her new favorite plaything
All tucked in after a long day of batting at Mama’s yarn while she tries to crochet
Out cold on her favorite blankie
Thank you for reading the first of our yearly updates, and most importantly, thank you for playing your part in making 2022 a memorable one! We love you all and can’t wait to catch up with you when we can.
Love,
Jonah, Holly, Ash, and Lilith
