Merry Christmas

As I was under the glaring spotlight of a deadline to get our annual Christmas letter done, I thought to myself, "why should I only subject this drivel to the undeserving 50 people on our Christmas card list?" And so, I decided to expand the carnage to the people on the "Off the Mark" mailing list also. I occasionally mention the fact that, according to the counter on the website, about 100 people click on the link and read all or part of it. What I don't mention is the fact that there are 150 people are directly emailed the link to my blog, leaving about 50 who want me to THINK they read it, but really don't want to suffer through it! What you are about to read may be one of the reasons for that defection rate.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you our 2011 Christmas letter. (For those of you on our regular Christmas card list, you have the satisfaction of ignoring it TWICE this year!)

Torii

Merry Christmas everyone! For those of you who were thinking, "I just can't wait until the annual holiday letter from Mark, Kathy and Lindsay arrives," your wait is over. For those of you who are thinking, "HOW DO WE MAKE THEM STOP," please just skip to the asterisk at the bottom of the page...

January got off to a rollicking good start with Mark getting sent off to Tracy, California for some work training. He chose to drive instead of fly...his chance to get an up-close look at parts of the country he had never seen. Unfortunately, he ended up in the hospital fighting an infection for the four days preceding his departure. It took more than a little sweet-talking for him to get sprung from his hospital bed in time to make the trip. Heavily medicated, he made the trip and loved every minute of it...as Kathy and Lindsay were back in Minnesota shoveling snow.
The women got a bit of a payback however, as at the end of the month they made a trip to TwinsFest in Blaine with Todd and Nicole Denney. Lindsay even got to hang with mascot TC for a bit...
In March, Lindsay started part time at Miller Legal Strategic Planning Center (where Kathy works) while finishing up her final semester at MnWest in Pipestone. Later this year (September) she was hired full time. She still works there and is living in Tyler while she searches for employment in other areas.
During her spring break in March, she was able to thaw out her feet for a short time with a trip to Sanibel Island in Florida.

Relay for Life 2011

Mark and Kathy spent the second weekend of March in an equally hot spot...the 20th-plus annual Wilmes Family Board Game Weekend. We gave Mark's brother Clay a one-year respite from hosting and the event was held at the Tyler Senior Center.
The biggest news of March, however, had to be the new arrival to our home—a beautiful two-year-old kitty named Torii. We have loved every minute of her time with us...and as far as you can tell with a cat, the feelings are mutual.
Mark spent a lot of time this year at the Lake Benton Opera House. He performed in the "Broadway Meets Lake Benton" show in March and directed a comedy called, "'Til Beth Do Us Part" in April. Not quite having enough of a theater experience, we all made the trip to Chanhassen at the end of April to see "Jesus Christ Superstar."
On May 12th, Lindsay graduated from MnWest with an AAS degree as an Administrative Assistant. Her and Mark were honored to sing at the graduation ceremony, performing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Armed with her new degree, to go with her previous degree in graphics, she hopes to take on a tough job market and score a career.
In June, Kathy and her sister Karen spent the weekend at the Sculpture Walk, as well as visits to Indian Island and Morgan Creek wineries in the Mankato area.
The first weekend of July ended up a memorable one, as horrific straight-line and tornadic winds hit Tyler and took with it many beautiful trees and damaged scores of homes and businesses. We had two trees uprooted in our back yard and two more snapped off, as well as thousands of dollars of damage to our house. Somehow everybody in our little town survived, and with the help of countless hours of work from volunteers from surrounding towns, we are getting back to normal.

Cast of "The Dixie Swim Club"

On July 9th, Kathy's dad, Lowell married Doris Kjellsen in Badger, South Dakota. The whole family moved to South Dakota for the weekend and had a great time.
Much of July for Kathy was spent as co-captain of her Relay for Life team, CUREious George. This year we combined with another Tyler team, CancerMals. It was a fun and rewarding experience. Mark spent much of the summer back at the Opera House directing the musical, "Camelot."
Lindsay's 10-year high school class reunion was held on Aebleskiver Days in Tyler. She also got to see many Jensen family members from Iowa, Colorado and Arizona at a family reunion.
It was trip time again in August, as Kathy and Lindsay spent a few days at the Wilmes Women Weekend...this year in Door County, Wisconsin. Lindsay also spent some time roughing it in the Apostle Islands with her cousins and some friends. In September it was another winery. This time Kathy and Lindsay made a trip with our sister-in-law, Linda, to enjoy a "grape stomp" by Jordan, MN.
On October 1, Lindsay was back at Chanhassen with some high school friends to see "Hairspray."


Merry Christmas from Mark, Lindsay, Kathy and Torii

Kathy and Mark were both at the Opera House in October. Kathy starred with four other women in "The Dixie Swim Club." Mark directed, and after two weeks at the Opera House, the show moved to Pipestone for one weekend.
Lindsay was back in the air again in October, off to see her friend Jessie in Little Rock, AR. Kathy made a weekend trip to the Twin Cities with co-captain Carrie Johnson for a Relay for Life Summit.
November saw Kathy and Mark on a return trip to Chanhassen to see "Hairspray." The first weekend in December both Mark and Kathy performed in the Opera House Christmas Show. Mark directed this show also.
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Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Mark, Kathy and Lindsay...