We sent out our Christmas letters today. That's a big improvement over last year, which technically was this year because we didn't get them sent until sometime in February. You know, now that I think about it, you people should be damn happy that you got two Christmas letters from us this year!
I've always been a little resistent to the idea of a Christmas letter, if only because they so often take such a stereotypical form ("We've had some sadness and some gladness this year..." Oy.). But there are obvious advantages, and so what if it's often little more than a fruitcake in written form*? There's intrinsic value in traditions, even mundane ones.
But the Christmas letter tradition has a practical value too. Oddly enough, in addition to - or perhaps instead of - keeping everyone else up-to-date on us, it does a pretty good job of helping us keep track of you. When it comes time to get that sucker out, we realize there are people who have new addresses, new jobs, etc., and it gives us a good excuse to give you a call or shoot you an e-mail.
And besides, what better way to celebrate the little** narcissist in all of us than through a compilation of the notable events of the previous year that we get to edit entirely ourselves?
There's the rub - editing. Over the years, we've moved away from most of our family and friends, so we find it harder and harder to keep up on a regular basis with everyone we would like to, so we try to fit more and more into the one time each year (give or take) that we sit down and try to tell everyone what the heck happened to us since the last time we wrote. But we've still only got two pages to fit it all in. E-mail has helped, but there are still limits.
So that's what this post is for - to shatter the limits of time and space!
(Okay, maybe it's just supplementing the Christmas letter with pictures that we couldn't include in our little two-page missive, but shattering the limits of time and space sounds much cooler, so I'm going with that.)
Here are a couple of pictures from our trip to Vernon, BC to visit Colin and Caroleigh (January):
Snowshoein'
Cross country skiin'
And a few from our trek down to Galveston to do the triathlon with Beth, Victoria, and Kevin (March/April):
Tori and Kevin find that into each life, a little rain must fall - and into theirs, a monsoon should hit just as they start the run.
Kevin: That rain almost killed me today!
Ted: I could die tomorrow!?!
POST-RACE BEER!!!
Rocky mountain high, Jean in Estes Park, CO (May):
And, just for the heck of it, here's a beaver we saw in downtown Spokane (May):
I ask you, is this any way to celebrate your retirement? (June/July)
This is more like it:
In and around Anacortes / Whidbey Island (August):
Bill, walking with little Will, who Maren assures us is camera-shy
Camera-shy, my eye.
'Round Spokane, just before the big move (September):
Sunrise in Arches National Park (September):
Brian (November):
Thanksgiving day, Stormy, the most ironically named child in history, holds one of the twins, while Amanda and the other twin look on (look, if you want me to tell which is which, don't have twins - but I'm pretty sure Stormy's holding Logan, and that's Charlie with Amanda):
Also Thanksgiving day, Deanna and Jean's Grandma Janet, at the baby shower that piggy-backed Thanksgiving dinner:
Jean, preparing for Christmases future, revels in our successful crib assembly (December):
Finally, here's one of Jean's Grandpa Bob, who passed away this year at the age of 93. I took this one two years ago, but it's how I like to remember him:
* Fruitcakes are made to look more enjoyable and interesting than they really are. Christmas letters are made to look like last year was GREAT and boy don't you wish you were us because our year really RAWKED! even though you spent most of it slogging through a job you kinda like and you started going to bed early because there's not much on that you like anymore and the kids are gonna be up early anyway, and why don't we cook nice dinners anymore; it's always the same damn thing - spaghetti, chicken, pork chops - and would it kill you to use a little spice once in a while?... Wait. I've said too much. Carry on.
** Not actual size.
No comments:
Post a Comment