Christmas Letter

My wife recently wrote our Christmas letter. You know, that thing you insert into your Christmas card telling how much more exciting your life is than that of your friends. Well, I thought I'd post it, only it doesn't sound so exciting. I've decided that, as I get a little older, "exciting" ain't all it's cracked up to be. With minor edits to give anonymity to my family, here it is:

Greetings from North Carolina!

I've been procrastinating about writing this annual letter because we've had a very uneventful year - which is a blessing. This morning I asked Phil what were some of the big highlights of the year and the only thing he could come up with was: We got a new bird feeder!

Phil did change jobs this year from company A to company B (not much of a change, eh?). They are both small companies, but he's happier at his current place where his favorite former boss is now his boss again. He's still singing in the church choir and is about to start a term as elder.

I continue to volunteer at church and school. This year I kept my sewing machine humming making costumes for the school play (Hounds of Baskerville - I made a great Sherlock Holmes coat and hat!) and the youth choir musical (Seuessical - bird girls, fish, monkeys - you name it!) and am about to start all over again on the Wizard of Oz. I'm beginning to get bored and may have to find a new venture this year.

Son (or "alternative son" as he now calls himself) is now a happy sophomore at Earlham and pleasantly surprising his parents by doing better than they expected. He recently decided to do a double major - adding math to his economics degree. Unfortunately for us, that means he had to drop his plans to do a semester abroad in Vienna where we were already making plans to visit him. He sings in the Earlham chorale and has a steady girlfriend (from Seattle). He spent the entire Thanksgiving break in bed, and a week later ended up in the ER where he was diagnosed with mono. He managed to make it through exams and is now recovering at home (by sleeping days and staying up all night).

Daughter started high school this year and is loving it. She's in band (French horn) and especially likes her Japanese class. She continues to take tap dance, sing whenever she can, and always has a pencil in her hand for drawing. She cut off all her hair this year, so no more tangles!

We did not take any big trips this year. Daughter was sick most of spring break - our usual travel time, but we did manage to get in a short trip to the mountains. We had our annual July trip to the beach where we enjoyed the company of Phil's best friend from high school and his wife. We spent Thanksgiving at the beach for the 14th year in a row - always a great time for Scrabble, long walks and watching the dolphins play right off shore. We also had a beach weekend in October when we celebrated Uncle Frank's 80th birthday!

That's about all the news from our corner. We hope you and your family have a Christmas blessed with joy and peace.

And that's it.

Of course, I'll have to toss in a few pictures just to make it all worthwhile.