Christmas Letters

I started our annual Christmas letter back in October.

The first draft was really rough. And I don't mean that in "An editor needs to get ahold of this" kind of way. I mean it in a "I'm afraid I will reduce people to a smoldering pile of combusted tears and anguish upon reading this."

So, I went back to the drawing board.

The next iteration was better. But it was corny and seemed forced. That was November.

December ran through our house like a streaker on a football field. I was all "DID WE JUST LOSE AN ENTIRE MONTH WHILE I WAS STANDING AROUND IN A STUPOR OF SUGAR, CAFFEINE, AND WAY TOO MANY PARTIES?" The final draft started to take shape on December 22nd, just in time for the boys to start their first official week off school.

And that, as they say, was all she wrote.

I picked back up where I left off at the beginning on 2011, vowing to get this thing in the mail by MLK Day. Now with a snow-day in my future, I fear this may end up being a Valentine's card.

Somehow, all the news that is fit to print from our house to yours, just doesn't seem all that important this year. In an unclassic "glass half-empty" way, I realize that sharing all the cool things that happened to us is so irrelevant to the real meaning of our lives. In my mind, committing all this to paper and sending it to everyone just seems like a chore. And never, in all the years I've been an adult, has it been this way.

I more care that the kid's picture makes it to everyone's house and, hopefully, to their fridge door*. The fact that they've changed so much seems to make more of a difference to me than all the stuff we did.

But, still, even with these doubts, I love to get the newsy-letters sent by friends, co-workers, and college buddies. I love to hear that life is moving forward and they are surviving the roller coaster ride. Sometimes, these letters have prompted me to make a phone call or send an email and reconnect with someone I haven't spoken to or seen in years.

So I think I'll get that letter done. And in the mail. Even if it takes a Herculean effort to accomplish it. Because, if receiving a personalized envelope amongst the bills in January can be of ANY benefit, it will be worth it.

Expect to receive yours sometime before the end of '11.



*Unless you are like us and can't get ANYTHING to stick on the front of the steel-looking door that is a complete magnetic fraud.