True to Holiday Form

I’ve been bouncing ideas around in my head for that annual form letter to send ’round to the more distant family and friends. You know the one, where you try to sum up the whole year in a single clever page? Usually goes something like this.

Hey Folks!, We are all Hallmark happy and fuzzy here.  Everything is a Kodak moment and we are all thinner, happier and better employed than ever before.

I don’t write a holiday letter every year.  But, I do actually enjoy getting them.  It is so nice to hear how well those people you knew (better, once) are doing now.  I especially like the ones with lots of photos of the kids.  Christmas cards are nice, they are pretty, you can hang them up so you can play “Look how many people care enough about ME to send a card.” with visiting neighbors.  But I prefer the letters, even a form letter seems pretty intimate compared to the flourish of a signature you only see once a year.  

Currently, the only person we get a card from that contains more than a single handwritten line (All the best in the New Year!) and a signature is from the woman we bought our house from more than 10 years ago.  She normally fills that whole left side of the card with a real hand written note.  She writes about the weather in Florida, what she noticed about our house the last time she came North to visit friends, just random, unimportant stuff.  But strangely I treasure those cards.  So, much effort just to say “Hi” to someone she hardly knows.  I guess that is I why I feel like a form letter is the least I should produce. Not to mention that maybe somebody else might be sappy enough to enjoy it.

I’m a bit more motivated to write it this year because I have real news to share.  But it is bad news.  Do I break the “Happy Hallmark” tradition and just put it all out there?  ”Adoptions in Vietnam have closed.  We are S.O.L and feeling too beat up by the process to continue on to other options.”  Or do I continue the illusion that tradition demands?  Those who know us well, know the situation.  Should I just send a cheery note saying “We are GREAT!  We are doing just GREAT!  No need to worry about us.”  and ease the minds of those who care?  But, that leaves the vague masses uninformed, and leaves me answering the “Are you still going to adopt? and Why not?” questions for a long time to come.  That may not seem like a bad option until you consider that emotionally those questions sound like “Hey, how’s that dead baby doin’?” to me.  

Realistically, I just need to pretend that all is hunky-dory.  That kind of news is just not meant for a Holiday Greeting.  But it sure would be nice just to unload that baggage because I am so tired of lugging it around.

 

What I am thankful for.

“When you are troubled and cannot sleep, just count your blessings instead of sheep.”

As I head into the holiday season, I am once again in the battle to remain positive. So in the spirit of Thanksgiving I am listing my blessings in no particular order.

• My husband, who is beyond compare, who has been by my side through thick and thin, who does dishes, laundry, cooks and knows that when I ask for “rocks for my birthday” I mean landscaping rock and NOT diamonds.
• My son, who healed my heart, makes me laugh and smile daily, and makes me want to be a better person each day.
• A home, my cozy house and garden that has been a nest for my happy family.
• A job that I love to do and an employer who has been tolerant of my families needs.
• An education paid for by grants not loans.
• Parents who taught me the value of hard work, and self-reliance.
• The opportunity to travel and see first hand how others in the world live.  
• The ability to cope with the things that are not blessings.

I know that all these things are cliché and unremarkable.  They are the same blessings that many of us have in common.  As I look over this list, however, the subtraction of anyone of these things would make my life very different, and in most cases much more difficult.  And so, for these things I am thankful.