Merry Christmas from Sammie Claus and Cash Kringle: The DeVito Family's Annual Christmas Letter

December 2012

It’s Sammie Ann Beutke DeVito, the feline daughter of David and Allyson, writing again this year.

I was delayed in writing this year’s Christmas letter because my brother Cash and I have been preparing for the end of the world. As you might have heard, an ancient Mayan calendar predicts the world will end on Friday, December 21, 2012. We’ve been stockpiling cat food and kitty litter. We’re on a first-name basis now with the PetSmart employees. 

We were impressed with the variety of Christmas and holiday stamps this year. Someone has to keep the post office in business, and we do our part with this letter mailed to more than 100 family and friends. We like the online version though because we can add all the photos.

 We’re hoping to be around in 2013, but if the world does end, we’ve had a pretty good 2012, even though we slept through most of it. 

My dad is now in his second of four years of dental school at the University of Kentucky. During the spring semester, they dissected a human cadaver who they named Betsy Ross. Don’t ask. Even though he’s going to be a dentist, they still make him take classes about all parts of the human body. He has learned more than he ever wanted to know about diarrhea and worms.  

Sometimes our dad and his classmates take a break from classes to eat cake. Even dentists love sweets as long as you brush and floss regularly. UK's College of Dentistry celebrated 50 years this year.

They recently discussed a case about a woman who had maggots living in her gums because of the poor condition of her teeth. I could show you a photo, but you're probably grossed out already just after reading about it (And before you ask, no, she wasn’t from Kentucky). Also, did you know there is a Hepatitis A, B, C, D, E and G. What about Hep F? Guess they don't want you to feel bad about having hepatitis and it being an F.

Doesn't our dad look like a dentist with his scrubs and surgical gown on. Paging Dr. DeVito, Paging Dr. DeVito!

He is seeing patients now in the clinic, which he enjoys a lot more than his classes. The spring and fall 2013 semesters are supposed to be the most difficult part of dental school, which means he’ll have even less time to hang out with us and handle our litter box. That should be interesting. He will take his board exams this summer. 

This was one of our dad's Christmas presents last year from Aunt Laura and Uncle Chris. He practiced with it to prepare him to work on real teeth.

It’s also now impossible to watch TV without our dad commenting on people’s teeth and mouths. Trust me, he’ll tell if you have a diastema, a class 3 bite or a pronounced sternocleidomastoid. Cash has all three!

During an American Student Dental Association meeting in February, our dad won a gift basket from Hooter's complete with gift certificates, a calendar, men's and women's shirts, playing cards, plastic cups, an orange rubber duckie, lanyard, chip clips, a fashionable trucker hat and an "anatomically correct" beer/soda can holder. We're wondering how this relates to dentistry. :)

My mom has taught five classes each semester between Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky. 

Eastern Kentucky University's campus during the winter.

She said listening to Christmas music was the only thing that got her through grading their final exams, papers and projects.

The University of Kentucky's campus

During the fall semester, one of her students was confused about Generation X. This student in her early 20s claimed she is part of Generation X. When my mom tried to explain that she is actually part of Generation X, and the student is a Millennial, the student responded, “Um no, you’re a baby boomer.” Goodness gracious! There is hope for this generation though because not everyone knows who reality TV personality Honey Boo Boo is. During a class discussion one of my mom’s students said it’s an old cartoon that featured a cousin of Winnie the Pooh.

Our mom's part-time faculty office at the University of Kentucky now has signage, so all of her students can find her!

Kentucky and other states were hit hard with some severe weather and tornadoes in early March. The meteorologists weren’t sure where the storms would strike, so we all huddled in the laundry room, sang Kumbaya (Cash’s favorite song) and waited it out. We were lucky that the storms passed us, but not our neighbors in West Liberty, Kentucky where there was a lot of destruction. Our veterinarian collected pet supplies to deliver there, so our parents donated some food, litter and some of our toys. 

www.lexingtonhospitalforcats.com

A few days after the bad storms, it snowed five inches in Lexington, our only real snow of the winter season. 

As the saying goes, “If you don’t like the weather in Kentucky, just wait until tomorrow because it will change.”

Speaking of mother nature, we experienced our first earthquake this year. That’s right, I said earthquake. We were all sitting here on a Saturday afternoon in November when we felt the house move slightly. At first, I just thought Cash had passed a giant you know what, but it was actually a 4.3 magnitude earthquake in southeast Kentucky near the border with Virginia and Tennessee. I wasn’t that impressed, so I went back to sleep. 

My parents drank the blue Kool-Aid and became huge basketball fans when the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team won the national championship game in April. They haven’t been to any games, but they did see head coach John Calipari in Kroger one day, which I understand was a thrilling event. 

Grandma Betty and Grandpa Jean-Paul flew up and spent Easter weekend with us. 

I had to make sure the flag was ready to hang outside.

Cash tried to talk them into buying us a baby chick or bunny, but they bought us a new vacuum cleaner instead. It’s the Dyson animal model designed to suck up pet hair. I was hoping it would suck up all of Cash and not just his hair. 

Our dad shows Grandma Betty and Grandpa Jean-Paul what he does during dental school.

They also drove up to see us for a week in July along with Grandma Bouffard, Aunt Allison and Uncle Matt. 

Grandma Bouffard enjoyed sitting in this rather large chair outside a craftsman's workshop in Berea, Kentucky.

Aunt Allison wasn’t feeling so great because our human cousin, who was about the size of a blueberry at that time, was causing her to have morning, noon and night sickness. Baby Ava Marie Beeman is due at the end of February. We’re sure our canine cousin Toby will be a big help with changing her diapers, especially the ones with turds in them since he enjoyed ours so much last year when he visited. 

Ava definitely isn't the size of a blueberry anymore. :)

Speaking of babies, Aunt Kristen, Uncle Jason and cousin Judson welcomed baby Adley Faith Beutke the night before Thanksgiving. 

She’s a cutie and weighed almost 9 pounds at birth. 

She has lots of hair, and my mom said she should use some hair gel that Uncle Jason used religiously every time he left the house during middle school.  

Adley loves wearing the Minnie Mouse pajamas we sent her for Christmas.

Our mom drove to Florida at the end of May to visit her family. She had lots of fun playing with Judson who calls her Adda. Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Amos tried to teach him to say Ally, but he likes Adda better. He calls our Dad, Daaaaave. He also says Cash and Sammie. What a smart kid! 

Judson loves to play with keys. When our mom took this photo in May, he called them "look looks."

He made up his own names for grandma and grandpa. They are Mimmy and Bapa. 

Because your day isn't complete until you've sat on your grandpa's head. This is probably our favorite photo of Judson in 2012. Mimmy captured it while Judson sat on Bapa's head and pondered the meaning of diapers.

Judson’s favorite book for Mimmy to read to him at her house is the biography of African-American country music singer Charlie Pride. He loves it. 

While our mom was there, they also had a surprise dinner to celebrate the 44^th wedding anniversary of Shamos (the combination of Sharon and Amos. When our mom really wants to get their attention, she calls them Sharamos!)

Our dad flew to Florida in June for a Father’s Day weekend surprise visit to see Grandpa Sam. He didn’t have a clue our dad was there. They then traveled to St. Augustine and visited the many, many, many, many historical museums and sites. 

Grandpa Sam could spend hours in a museum. We think he could actually live in one.

The only thing that made Grandpa Sam happier was the outcome of the presidential election. On presidential election days in Kentucky, all the schools and universities are closed, so my parents had the day off. They voted and then let us wear their “I voted” stickers for the rest of the day, and Cash tried to eat his. I didn’t care for either candidate. Cash likes Obama because he doesn’t know where he was born either, but he also can relate to Mitt Romney because he lives off his parents’ wealth and doesn’t have to work that hard. 

Cash likes to jump inside the grocery bags our parents bring him from the store. He even jumps in before they've finished uploading everything. Guess he's looking for his next free meal.

Well, I better sign off because my parents want to drive us around to look at Christmas lights, but being a Siamese cat, cars and I don’t get along.   

Our dad wore this awesome Christmas shirt to spread holiday cheer around the dental school. Don't you just love how the candy canes make little hearts!

If the world doesn’t end this week, we hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

I like wearing this Santa hat about as much as I like driving around in a car. Can you tell?

Cash is also excited about celebrating Kwanza. 

Please come visit us, and remember to have your pets spayed or neutered! (Did you see that television history was made this year when "The Price is Right" had its first male model...look how far men have come!)

What a cutie! Courtesy: http://www.malecelebnews.com

Love,

Sammie, Cash, David, and Allyson DeVito (dmdevito@gmail.com or allydevito@gmail.com)

P.S. If you’re one of the 10 people who follow UK football, you’ll know that we have a new football coach who used to be one of the coaches at Florida State. I have such conflicting emotions about this hire. On a more positive note, UF is playing Louisville in the Sugar Bowl soon. Guess the Gators will enjoy beating those Cardinals. Hmmm….wonder if our parents will let us have a cardinal for Christmas dinner. Go Gators! Go Wildcats!