Christmas Day Letter 2010
Dear Family and Friends,
Once again, we approach Christmas like a stunt driver approaching a parking place, twirling at a high rate of speed before coming to rest in the appointed spot.
Pat is really struggling to observe his rules for Christmas letters this year. The initial rules are simple: no misery, no bragging. This year seems to cry out for additional rules: no disclosures of protected health information or HIPAA violations, no soliciting for money, and the like. Here we go.
Dan got home for winter break on December 21. On December 22, he picked out the Christmas tree and directed the tree guy to put it on the top of our car. When Ruth got home from work that day she pointed to the tree and said, “What is that?” Dan replied, “It’s my tree.” He is very particular about the tree, and continues to look at it to see if the ornaments are in just the right spots.
Daniel (age 16) continues in school at Heartspring, in Wichita, Kansas. We pulled him from school to visit his grandparents in Virginia for Thanksgiving, so he missed the bowling team’s overnight trip to Kansas City, but hopes to go on a snowshoeing trip in January. Pat is a little jealous, as the best school trips when he was a kid were to Dixie Caverns and the Frito-Lay factory. Dan also knows how to live when he is home on break. During prior summer breaks he swam in Marie’s pool, which was subsequently sold to Brandon Roy. Ruth likes to tell people that Dan has swam in Brandon Roy’s pool. Dan is now taller than Ruth and Elizabeth, and Pat is starting to stand on his toes during photographs just to maintain an edge.
Elizabeth (age 17.5) is a high school senior. She continues to be one of the tech stalwarts for the Lincoln HS drama program. She will be the tech person travelling with the cast to their performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland in August 2011. She has her instructional permit, but will not drive if her mother is in the car. After a recent expression of maternal alarm during paternal driving, she declared that it would now be at least 3 more years before she would dare to drive while the maternal unit was in the vehicle. She has now taken possession of her prized Christmas gift, a device her Uncle Clay refers to as a “Crackberry,” and is merrily seeing how fast she can burn through her data transfer allotment for the month.
Pat was amazed at how much time was made available when his rock band disbanded. Ruth was not quite as surprised. Pat put much of this time into photography, an art form that does not require collaborators. He joined the local camera club, but made the tactical blunder of missing a meeting. On his return he found that he had been elected president, with all the privileges and responsibilities appertaining thereto. This primarily involves unlocking the building for meetings. His Christmas gifts seem to be all photographic toys, for some reason.
Ruth shocked Pat this year by requesting tickets to an Amanda Palmer performance. Ruth and Pat were not sure whether anyone else in the hall was their age or not. Pat is not sure whether Ruth’s admiration for Amanda Palmer flows from scatological language that reminds her of her Boston roots, or from the fact that Amanda’s main squeeze, Neil Gaiman, has long enjoyed Ruth’s admiration. Ruth thinks Pat could also be a wealthy rock star of writing, if he would only put out the effort. It certainly isn’t for lack of encouragement.
Allie has become a dowager dog, more and more set in her ways. Star, the horse, continues to be the bane of cows across Oregon, as she and Liz head ‘em up and cut ‘em out.
Here is hoping that Christmas 2010 finds you and yours happy and well.
Ruth, Pat, Lizzie, Daniel, Allie, and Star
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