Family

Schieber Family Christmas Letter 2012

Ho-Ho-Ho-ly cow its almost Christmas. It has been a big year for some members of the family. Last fall’s big announcement, Christen’s engagement, yielded a wedding in June. It was enjoyable seeing many of you in Caledonia for the event. In the end we were grateful for the generous turnout. I’d tell you to look forward to the next one but Michelle probably wouldn’t appreciate the added pressure. I take this opportunity to announce that if anyone has rare footage of this guy dancing in the late hours of the night, I am offering a monetary reward for the surrender of all copies, digital and otherwise.

Once the tables were cleared, the presents unwrapped, and the bills paid, life slowed down for a little while, allowing for more time to be spent in the garden. You might say the Schieber property has earned status as a tomato farm judging by the bumper crop this year. Mom had so many she couldn’t give them all away fast enough—even after filling every mason jar available with salsa, tomato sauce, and tomato juice. As beneficiary of this abundance, you can bet I’ll be buying her more jars next year. 

After 14 years of doing taxes she finally decided it was time to learn how to do them right and obtained her official Registered Tax Return Preparer status after passing a test administered by the IRS. If you benefit from her services each year, be careful that she doesn’t try to charge you more on account of this new title!

 In what has become a traditional fall outing, this year she joined her sisters and sister-in-law on the Hammell side to visit historic Scheck’s Mill near Caledonia, a local Amish Farm Tour, and dinner. In the meantime, she has been planning a family trip to back to the homeland (Ireland) this August in lieu of Christmas and birthday present shopping. Calling it the “homeland” might be a little generous, but careful genealogical research and ancestral DNA testing suggest my sisters and I are at least 3/8ths Irish, which should be good enough to allow us a chance to kiss the Blarney Stone.

 Dad finally finished that entertainment center described in last year’s letter, which allowed him time to build a few coat racks to give as gifts. Mid-winter he made a trip to Des Moines for a George Strait concert that we both attended. It was like traveling through a George Strait time machine hearing 32 songs of old and modern hits. This fall he attended the MN Viking home opener with Michelle. 

Together mom and dad enjoyed their cruise to Hawaii last fall, that is, after mom got over being seasick for the first day or two. A symptom of not enough spinach? They also ventured travel on the high seas twice this summer when they came to visit me at camp (but just so we are clear, there was no sea-sickness associated with my steady hand on the helm).

 As they get older it becomes more difficult to keep track of the family statistics but here’s how they stand for the year 2012; births: six great nephews and one great niece; weddings: one nephew and one niece, leaving 5 unmarried nieces/nephews on the Schieber side and 13 on the Hammell side out of a combined 46 total (not counting Michelle and I).

 Passing one of life’s great checkpoints (marriage) wasn’t enough for Christen and Cody this summer. They rounded the summer out with the purchase of a home in Shelby, WI (Southside LaCrosse). Because of the expenses associated with new home ownership, Christen had to transfer to a job in the Menards human resource department so they could take advantage of the employee discount on home improvement supplies. Thus far she has discovered homeownership is generally a less expensive enterprise if your husband doesn’t melt your vinyl house siding with the new gas grill. They live immediately behind the local Wal-mart so feel free to park in their drive-way and use the back entrance to the store whenever you are in the neighborhood.

 Cody started a new job, too, transferring from Torrance Castings to Chart Chemical and Energy. In addition to a few hours of overtime each week in the electrical department he has a part time job as property manager for Christen Marie Enterprises, LLC, a company specializing in home improvement at 4106 Markle Rd. Mom and dad also invested a significant amount of time helping them get settled in between the painting, hauling, and organizing involved.

 Michelle juggled a pair of summer jobs in Caledonia, balancing her time between babysitting Sarah Herman’s newborn, William, and working as a flex-teller at Bank of the West. Within days of starting her position at Bank of the West she came down with the whooping cough (I didn’t know that still existed either), necessitating that all bank employees take preventive medications. Needless to say, she didn’t get “employee of the week” that week.

 This Christmas Eve marks her 21st year and the highly anticipated . . . decrease in car insurance! You can join her in celebration by buying her a drink, I mean, paying for a month’s premiums.

 This year she attended the 2012 national CEO conference in Chicago and continues down the track for an economics degree as a junior. Already she weighs the different options for completing a masters degree in economics/finance and will likely begin visiting prospective schools this spring. Still out of breath from her own participation last spring, she’s chosen to be the manager of the Luther track and field team this season.

 Last year I made note of my position as a junior editor of the Drake Journal of Agricultural Law. This year, my involvement continues, but as Editor-in-Chief, instead. Most might consider this a relatively meaningless post, but it breaks up the otherwise monotonous third year class schedule and stands as one of the most significant law school experiences a student can have. The graduation count-down stands at 165 days at press time, however, that is a relatively meaningless milestone since you don’t become a real lawyer until passing the bar exam at the end of July. After that I will be homeless, and likely eager to trade the promise of free legal work for the basic necessities of life.

 It was my final summer as Camp Director at Camp UniStar, bidding farewell to a six-year run of camp/dude ranch summer jobs that have had a significant part in shaping the person I have become—teaching practical and leadership skills, but also serving the more critical component of self-discovery. One highlight of this past summer on Star Island include a blow-down storm and the subsequent 70 hour power outage and sprint to keep the generators powering the fridge, freezer, and septic system pumps. We cooked for 90 people on a two burner propane stove and a pair of charcoal grills for the full three days while waiting for utility crews to clear trails and resurrect power poles. I kept my cool throughout this survivor-like marathon but finally broke out in a pretty big sweat at hour 52 when I lifted the cover and discovered the septic system was quickly approaching capacity. Let’s just say I “washed my hands” of that one and didn’t waste anytime calling the local plumbing contractor for technical support!

 “What’s next?” is the big question on the minds of many friends and relatives, but don’t feel alone, I ask myself the same question. All options are on the table. Let me know if there is an opening near you!   

As I wrap up this year’s letter, I find myself thankful for the twists and turns of the past year and greatly anticipating the changes the year to come will bring in my own life, and that of my family’s. If nothing else this year, we hope you discover that same optimism upon reflection of where you’ve been and where you might be headed. You can find an Irish blessing for just about every occasion, including, of course, Christmas. So this holiday season, “may peace and plenty be the first to lift the latch on your door, and happiness be guided to your home by the candle of Christmas.”

 Nollaig faoi shéan is faoi shonas duit!

 (A prosperous and Happy Christmas to you!)

 The Schiebers



Schieber Family Christmas Letter 2011

Time for another Schieber Christmas letter and this year’s update is so exciting I’ll cut straight to the big news: Christen got a job as assistant manager at Kitchen Collection in the Valley View Mall in LaCrosse, WI. I speak for us all when I say we are incredibly proud. The position includes scheduling other employees, dealing with merchandise, and essentially running the store in the manager’s absence, which is quite frequent. Oh, and she’s getting married June 9th, 2012 which, of course, is the actual big news. She has the ring on her finger to prove it. This is bittersweet news. We’re happy for her for obvious reasons but the fact that he’s a Packer fan significantly dilutes my enthusiasm. His name is Cody Schuld, from Chaseburg, WI, and he is employed at Torrance Casting Inc. working as an electrician. The proposal came on the shores of Lake Michigan on a Friday evening during a weekend fishing trip to Port Washington, WI.

She stayed active this past summer playing volleyball in a league at the Alpine Inn. Their record was too poor to republish here, but they did have one notable victory: beating every single other team in the beer pitcher race. From that I suspect we can all surmise why they didn’t win any volleyball games. She also pulled a trick out of the “poor college student’s” playbook, selling plasma every month to help pay those bills.

Speaking of Packer fans, this past year witnessed the passing Grandma Ruth Schieber after 94 years of life. She didn’t quite make it to the 100 mark as she had planned, but we can all agree she was stubborn enough to get pretty darn close. We always liked to tease Grandma about anything that might get her blood pressure up (and it didn’t take much). I’m going to miss that. Her legacy lives on, however, in those of us with a bit of that stubbornness ourselves (the good kind), the need for a short afternoon nap, a general attitude of persistence, and an insatiable appetite for cookies, even the store-bought kind.

Mom and dad were active in the arts and crafts department this year. After ten years of cross-stitch work, mostly while watching made-for-TV movies on the Lifetime movie Channel, mom finished her own Christmas stocking to compliment the rest of the family’s. She reasons that since she made them it’s up to the rest of us to fill them this year. Fair enough. Ask to see them sometime and you’ll understand why it took ten years and an estimated 200-300 hours each.

Dad built a nice coat rack and now proceeds to work on one of his biggest wood projects to date, an entertainment center, the primary incentive being a future upgrade to a flat screen TV to fit the new shelf. He also started helping Cathy Nelson take care of her property in the months since Steve passed away from cancer.

Together they purchased complimentary Trek road bikes last spring. Between the bikes, routine evening walks, and other travel, they’ve logged quite a few miles this year. “Other travel” includes a trip to visit the Amana Colonies in IA for a weekend where they saw a couple of plays, toured local wineries, a brewery, furniture factory, and a woolen mill. Not tired of IA yet, they came back in October to visit me for a weekend. We shopped the busy and thriving Des Moines Farmer’s Market and toured the Living History Farms. To cap off the year they crossed Hawaii off their bucket list with a cruise in late November, visiting the islands of Hawaii, Oahu, Kawaii, and Maui at the time this letter went to press.

Michelle still likes Luther. As a sophomore, this is about the time a person must decide on a major and the next most likely candidate is economics. This doesn’t surprise me. She’s always been pretty good at counting her waitressing tips and charting different methods to spend the money. At least that was before. Now she has taken a break from working to focus strictly on school and decided spending less money and working fewer hours isn’t that bad of a trade-off.

This December she leaves her second decade of life in the dust as she turns 20. She’s not the only one saying “good riddance.”

Last spring she brought home her first wild turkey, hit it on highway 44 while traveling 61 mph, turned the car around, scraped it off the pavement and threw it in the trunk. No, that’s not true. She shot it. We wouldn’t have believed it either but she immediately brought home the still warm body to show us as proof. Not satisfied yet, she took to the woods again this fall and successfully shot a buck. I suspected it fell over in surprise, though I am told they did find evidence of a bullet. Actually, Christen went deer hunting, too, but all she caught was a nap. Michelle has her sites set on an elk next year and has already put her name in for a moose permit for 2013. Where did this hunting enthusiasm come from you ask? His name is Nick.

In comparison to all of the above the events of my past year are but a footnote. In short, I spent another summer as director of Camp Unistar, and now that Christmas is approaching, I am unbelievably halfway done with Law School. I was accepted onto the Drake Journal of Agricultural law, which gives me the excuse to write a research paper. My topic examines the Tester Amendment of the Food Safety Modernization Act and the effect it might have on the small farmer’s ability to compete in the marketplace. RSVP now for a copy of this limited-edition page-turner.

I found a side-job to take my mind off the anguish of homework. 13 years, 245 lessons, 6 recitals, 7 weddings, 3 funerals, 2 open mic nights, 12 sets of strings, over 2,500 practice hours and $6,000 later I’ve finally started the meter rolling in the opposite direction. Making money off my violin rather than spending it, that is. Through a mutual friend I was introduced to a local guitar player with similar taste in music. To date we’ve had a few practices and played one bar, with the promise of more in the spring. No plans to move to Nashville yet, but its always good to have options. More practically speaking, the near future holds the promise of more homework, a USDA internship, a spring break service trip to Belize, and one final summer at camp, unless I an talk them into hiring “in-house legal counsel” post graduation. Then I may not ever have to get a “real” job.

This time of year we always look forward to enjoying the stack of Christmas cards and updates filling the basket. Hopefully this adds another good one to your pile. Join me for a toast that you and your family will find good health and ample economic opportunity in the next year, peace and reflection this Christmas season, enough coal in your Christmas stocking to keep the house warm for the winter, and that the Mayan calendar was wrong and we’ll all be here to do it again next year.

Cheers, and Merry Christmas,

The Schiebers