Curmudgeon: December 2011

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Letter 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Everything is now right for holiday cheer and writing the Christmas letter. Elizabeth is home from Oregon State. Daniel is home from Heartspring. I’ve had my creamed chipped beef for Christmas Eve breakfast, and I’m ready to go.

Elizabeth, 18 years of age currently, had a big year. She walked across the stage and received her high school diploma. She got to go to Scotland sans parents, and learned that parents aren’t necessarily the worst adults with whom to travel. Scottish vernacular like “muckle nuisance” and “away an bile yer heid ya numpty,ye dinnae ken whit yer talkin aboot” was useful on that trip. She is now an Animal Science major at Oregon State University, and her proud parents are now in possession of a picture of her, arm up to the shoulder inside a cow, rummaging around in the interests of Science. Her pet-sitting clients in Portland are in mourning, and still call at school breaks hoping she will be home and available for an encore. She and Star have branched out from team penning, and have added team sorting to their repertoire.

Daniel, age 17, continues at Heartspring in Wichita. We are still baffled by the photos of him on the ski slopes at the Winter Special Olympics, as we have yet to see a hill in Kansas. He is now officially taller than his father. Standing on my toes for photos is no longer effective. On summer break he travelled with us and Ruth’s brother, David, to the Oregon Coast, so that there was one adult on the trip taller than Dan. His collection of clothing from Boston sports teams, courtesy of his uncles and in particular Uncle Wally, is the envy of some of the Heartspring staff. He very much enjoyed his birthday trip to New England, celebrating his 17^th birthday with his New England relatives. On this year’s walk to see the Christmas lights on Peacock Lane in Portland, he treated those around us in the crowd to a medley of Disney show tunes, and included his solo from the Heartspring Choral Sensations holiday show, “We Wish You A Merry Christmas.”

Pat continues to play upright bass in small jazz ensembles, but the demise of the rock band opened up some extra time for photography. I thought it unseemly that Ruth so gleefully reminded me on the first Tuesday of each month that I qualified for the Senior Discount at Fred Meyers. Sweet revenge came in August, when Ruth qualified as well. At least we are no longer taking the kids to see Santa, as unwitting Santas used to say things to them like, “Isn’t it nice of your grandparents to bring you to see Santa?”

Ruth, age NOS, is making the best of the sometimes Empty Nest, organizing flash mobs of Empty Nest parents for Happy Hour in lieu of dinner. She is glad that the nest isn’t always empty, as some weekends Elizabeth will come home from Corvallis to be with her horse. I worry that some of Ruth’s friends are bad influences, such as trips to Palm Springs with her friend who likes to cruise in the convertible Jaguar with the top down. Trips to the coast with siblings or cousins are much safer, IMHO. Now that her high school parent volunteer duties are over, she has time to go with me on photo expeditions, and is starting to take some photos as well.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas, we hope the holidays find you and yours happy and well.

Pat, Ruth, Elizabeth, Daniel, and Star