Mishpocha
noun, Yiddish
Family. Mishpocha is deeply rooted in Jewish culture and tradition and goes beyond the nuclear family to include extended relatives and even those who feel like family through bonds of love and community.
Yes, I realize the irony of starting my Christmas letter with a Yiddish word. But the theme of this year’s Johnson Christmas letter is “Word of the Year.” I wanted to find interesting vocabulary to summarize our 2024 individually and as a family unit. Mishpocha seemed to fit the spirit of this letter: a seasonal reflection from our family to our family, even those who only “feel like family through bonds of love and community“. Whether you are blood relatives, connected through marriage, friends we’ve met along the way, or you just happened to stumble onto this Christmas letter by mistake…you are all our mishpocha now! Oh vey!
Aliyah
Aliyah is in her 2nd year at Iowa State, studying Architecture. It’s technically her first year of the official Architecture program as last year was primarily an introduction to design principals and theories. Aliyah referred to herself as an “Arts and Crafts” major during her freshman year. She focused on drawing fundamentals and learning how to properly glue colored construction paper together. It wasn’t all fun and games that first year as she also took challenging courses in her curriculum, like Comedy College. Students of this class only passed if they got at least 1 laugh from the crowd during their stand-up comedy routine final. Yes, this is a real class. Unsurprisingly, Aliyah absolutely loves the school, campus, and Ames in general. So much so that she spent the summer on campus working as a Cyclone Aid (student tour guide, etc.) She has participated in several student speaking panels to prospective ISU students and parents and will continue in a similar role next summer.
Aliyah’s word of the year…
Nascent
adjective
In the earliest stages of development. Aliyah is just scratching the surface in her field of study. And learning how to be an adult. She changed her first tire in 2024.
Annabelle
Annabelle is a Senior at Lincoln High School. Music (flute, choir, piano) has been the dominant activity during Annabelle’s time in high school, and in fact is on her way to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as I type this letter. (Or at least as I type this paragraph. It took me until way after Thanksgiving to finish this masterpiece.) She also went to Los Angeles for a choir trip. Such wild adventures for a South Dakota girl! When she is not busy with marching band activities, she is hanging out with marching band friends. And when not busy with marching band activities or social obligations, she is participating in regular band, hanging out with regular band friends. Which are the same people, of course. The excessive band-ing resulted in Annabelle’s 2nd South Dakota All State Band selection as a Junior. She was also selected to be a Senior leader of Lincoln’s award-winning marching band. Annabelle has a full and challenging school schedule as she prepares for college in the fall. No decisions yet, but she hopes to attend an awesome, somewhat local university with band opportunities. She wants to study Sociology so she can research why people are so weird.
Annabelle’s word of the year…
Intrepid
adjective
Very brave and willing to risk being in dangerous situations. Annabelle stretched out of her comfort zone this year and is ready to tackle the next scary phase of life (college and getting her own Netflix account! Just kidding, we’re going to continue sharing a single account. Don’t tell Netflix.)
Brooks
Brooks is a Sophomore at Lincoln High School. He has a busy social calendar and is able to meet most of those social obligations by driving himself. Brooks got his driver’s license this past year and acquired a sweet 2010 Ford Fusion with only moderate hail damage. The primary role of his new ride is to transport himself to and from the golf course. According to the helpful mobile app “18 birdies”, and what should have been a simple math problem for me to solve, Brooks played at least 1,359 holes of golf during the calendar year of 2024. He improved his game tremendously and enjoyed beating his father on most of our outings together. In the least surprising decision of the year, Brooks decided against fall cross country this year and instead joined the Lincoln High golf team. Brooks found employment this summer at…wait for it… Minnehaha Country Club (golf) where he ran food orders out to patrons at the pool, while longing to be out on their golf course.
Brooks’s word of the year…
Driven
verb
being under compulsion, as to succeed or excel. Because Brooks is motivated, but also because he has driven himself to the golf course and has driven a golf ball over 1,000 times this year.
Hiedi
Hiedi is now in her 3rd year teaching 2nd grade at Sioux Falls Lutheran School. It is her 7th year teaching at SFLS overall. Hiedi loves the SFLS community and is proud and amazed to watch the school grow and expand every year. They are currently constructing a large 2-story high school edition. Hiedi has enjoyed mastering her new habit of going to bed at 8:30 PM so she can wake up at 5:00 AM to exercise, drink coffee and take care of her pets. She simultaneously threatens to get rid of said pets AND threatens to expand her pet collection with a miniature Goldendoodle to be named later. Hiedi was inducted into the Canton (SD) Community Hall of Fame in October. Yep, she’s still a big deal. Hiedi makes sure her family makes it to church service on Sunday mornings and occasionally rewards them with a trip to the bagel or coffee shop.
Hiedi’s word of the year…
Centered
adjective
mentally, physically and spiritually well-balanced. Unless she doesn’t get proper sleep or adequate coffee. And sometimes randomly on a Tuesday.
Scott
Scott continues work as a data something-or-other at POET (biofuels) in Sioux Falls. 20+ years there and I still can’t really explain what I do very well. My biggest accomplishment this year was publishing my first book, Essays Out of Left Field: Life Lessons from a Midwestern Dad Who Talks About Sports Too Much. If this is news to you, then you must have ignored my constant self-promotion throughout the past year. The number of books I sold in 2024 is approaching the number of holes Brooks golfed. I might be able to catch him, as November and December weather doesn’t look very promising for more golf. Technically, I published the book in late 2023, but it was after my annual Christmas letter was published. So, I will claim it as a 2024 accomplishment. I turned 50 this year and celebrated by playing 50 (actually 59) holes of golf that day.
Scott’s word of the year…
Incipient
adjective
beginning to exist or appear; in an initial stage. Referring both to my new AARP membership and burgeoning literary career.
Family adventures and news
Our 2024 free time was spent touring schools for Annabelle. This included trips to Creighton (Omaha), Carlton and St Olaf (Northfield, MN), U of Wisconsin (Madison), Iowa State (hey, that student tour guide looks familiar) and the University of Iowa. College visits make for fun mini vacations. Johnson Family vacation took us to Lake Rathbun in central Iowa, where Brooks enjoyed 45 of his total 1,359 holes of golf.
Animals
Zoyla the dog (9 years old). Her word of the year is:
spirited: full of energy, enthusiasm, and determination. Mostly the determination part.
Maizy the dog (8 years old.) Her word of the year is:
salubrious: favorable to or promoting health or well-being. Maizy would make a great therapy dog.
Tino the cat (7 years old). Tino’s word of the year is:
obstreperous: resisting control or restraint in a difficult manner; unruly. Self-explanatory. (Will trade for Goldendoodle.)
Trixie the cat (6 years old). Trixie’s word of the year is:
gormandize: to eat gluttonously or ravenously. Sorry Trixie, it’s not your fault. We are the enablers.
To you, our extended family… our mishpocha… we hope you consider our adventures, your adventures. Our success as your successes. Our student loans, YOUR student loans. Mi casa es su casa. Although only metaphorically, because we don’t actually have a guest bedroom and you could sleep on our couch, but it is REALLY full of cat hair. Some additional unique vocabulary blessings for your upcoming 2025:
- jocundity: a mood characterized by high spirits and amusement and often accompanied by laughter
- concord: harmony, peaceful coexistence
- Eudaemonia: a state of being lucky
- dactylomegaly: abnormally large fingers or toes. (Bonus word with no relevance, other than it’s fun.)
The Johnsons
Scott, Hiedi, Aliyah, Annabelle, Brooks and a menagerie of idiosyncratic familial quadrupeds (a bunch of weird cats and dogs)
Scott Johnson is a Midwestern humorist, author of Essays Out of Left Field, and the mind behind scottjohnsonauthor.com. He’s also a husband, dad of three, and Data Systems Administrator (whatever that is). Scott is on a mission to find and read all the funny books. He shares his thoughts on those books, author life, and other delightful randomness with his readers on his website.
Awesome. Love to learn about each and every one of you.
Merry Christmas to your crew!