The Christmas Letter

Thought I would take pictures this past weekend to post…well, somehow the weekend was gone in a blink of an eye; again! Not quite finished Christmas shopping, but I managed to get in 2 Christmas movies; Holiday Inn and Four Christmases; it just doesn’t seem like Christmas if I don’t get my fill of Christmas movies, I now have upwards of 35 movies in my collection to date!! I would love to have the time to watch them all in the month of December; Doug is a great sport, except on Sundays (football)! I wrapped a few gifts, have misplaced one that I purchased for my granddaughter this past fall; Doug was even scratching his head wondering what happened to it. Too much time wasted trying to find it; I was sure it was in my “store;” my stash of gifts! We are actually wondering if we didn’t already give it to her! I, hopefully, will finish decorating the tree tonight and then on to baking cookies. I think I just may get everything done before Christmas with a day or two to spare!!

I will take some pictures of my favorite Christmas decorated rooms, I love, love, love to decorate and I just can’t stop myself once the decorations come down from the attic. Each year I tell myself I won’t go all out and sure enough I do!

Last week I got our Christmas cards and “Christmas letter” out in the mail. I have heard the “Christmas letter” referred to as the “Christmas brag letter” on many occasions, especially on radio shows! I love to get these letters from friends and family and hear what’s been going on in their families. However, we do receive one of these letters that makes you want to gag when you are done reading it, I didn’t know that one family could be so blessed with such perfect children, such wonderful careers, traveling throughout the world, saving starving children, just to name of few of their 2-3 page letter of accomplishments for the current year. I like to keep mine to 1 page and just a brief update to those we don’t keep in contact with on a regular basis. Since I broached this subject I feel it is only fair to include a copy of my letter this year! What are your thoughts on the “Christmas letter?”

December 2009

Merry Christmas!

Another year gone by, hopefully you have all survived it; let’s hope that 2010 truly is the year of recovery as we keep hearing it will be! What we once thought was our retirement plan has certainly changed, we see many more years of work ahead of us now! Doug’s company has been very slow and now that he is out of the shop and is the Assistant Service Manager/Service Writer we have certainly felt it. I have 5 furlough days with mid ear cuts coming in January/February, unsure what impact that will have! We keep saying at least we have jobs, although Doug has never worked so many hours for so little return. My sister and I started a business this past summer; …Simply Stated. We design and illustrate greeting cards! It is something we have talked about for many years and finally decided it was now or never! Our Christmas cards are a sample of our Personally YOUrs one-of-a-kind cards designed and illustrated just for us! Doug sold his Harley this past Spring and we acquired this 1997 Chicago Schwinn Twinn from friends whose daughter was going to take it to the dump and they thought I would like it for yard art! It was a faded orange (pink!) when we got it; I fell in love with it and we decided we could actually ride it since it was in such great shape! Doug got it all tuned up, new tires, new chain, etc. Being the loving wife that I am I ordered black leather embossed flame seats with red trim and handle bar grips with red streamers and suggested we paint it black! I figured Doug would get harassed less from the guys and would actually ride it with me! He’d much rather take the ’55 out for a spin but he does humor me once in a while with a bike ride.

Brad and Jody are doing well; it is amazing to watch their family grow! Layla turned 2 on November 2nd, Jake graduated from high school this past June, and he is attending Cuesta College. It is great having grandkids, Layla calls us Grammy and Poppy; she melts our hearts over and over again!

Jeff and Jennifer are still living in Billings, MT; Jennifer graduates in August 2010. They are unsure if they’ll move back right away; they are beginning to like it more and more and Jeff has a great job! They'll be home for Christmas this year!

We celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary this past August. Yikes, where did all those years go; we are still those teenagers who fell in love! Doug does have the most beautiful shiny gray hair though (George Clooney eat your heart out); I hope to be so lucky – I love my hair stylist!
We hope this letter finds you in great health, great spirits and great company this Christmas season. May you reflect upon the true meaning of Christmas and spread Christmas cheer to all and have a very Happy New Year!

Sue and Doug