Sorry I have been so late adding my chapter to this family letter. The holidays keep even the old folks busy. I was laying in bed this morning and thought "today is the day" I will write to you. So I got up and made my way to the computer.
Deb, thanks so much for wanting us to stay in touch. It is so easy to let relationships slide. I know that we all love each other!!
Dad and I are doing fine.
DAD: designed a Christmas Card with pictures of all of us
completed over 4,000 indexing names since October (extractions)
clears the dishwasher
workouts continue 3-4 days a week. He has now added lifting weights to his routine
keeps Grandma in tow (that's me)
keeps up to date on the news
ME: writing short letters, folding, addressing and sending Christmas cards
buying and wrapping presents
teaching a few students
puttering around the house (I even cleaned four garbage cans last Monday..yea for me!!.)
decorating the house for the holidays
R.S. activities
completing my book, DVD, CD
I love Christmas. I have been out shopping and running errands the past two days and it is fun to have an excuse to go into beautifully decorated stores. We even went to a floral shop last night. Poinsettias every where. (Not my favorite flower, but still a red splash of Christmas.)
My favorite things about Christmas are the lights, the music and family.
Lights: My Dad, as a member of the Lion's Club in Paradise, would help hang a string of soft blue lights across the street corners each holiday season. The hazy glow of those lights mixed with the white snow was idyllic. I have loved blue Christmas lights since that time. I remember walking home from a friend's house at dark... the blue glow resonating with me and the cold freezing my face.
Music: I recently came to understand the reason I love the old Christmas tunes. It is because the music takes me mentally and emotionally back to my youth in Paradise. Daddy had an old record player and a few Christmas records. Every Christmas I would listen to Burl Ives sing "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" or Bing Crosby sing "I'll Be Home for Christmas" or "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas". Music was such a big part of the holidays for me. Now when I hear those songs the old emotions come flooding back... memories from 60 years ago.
Family: As a girl I was lucky. My Dad was a successful farmer and we had wonderful Christmases. Christmas, 1957, was different. My Mom had died in May and we were clearly missing the heart of our home. I still wanted Santa to visit, but he left few things that year: a Lone Ranger board game and a blue bathrobe. My memory is not very good, but the disappointment I felt that year resonated for a long time. I loved my Daddy and he and I worked through the loneliness.
Our gifts to you this year come from the heart and we are hopeful that they will be something that will endure.
When I was 13 years old, my Grandma Dunn (the only grandparent I ever knew) gave me a Christmas present which I still treasure. It was a book of her poetry. It's hardbound cover is powder blue and the title is "Life Begins at Sixty-Five". Through her poetry she tells about the people, places and things that meant a lot to her. I knew my Grandma when she was older and had health issues. She had also lost my mother (cancer), a son (WWII) and another son to alcoholism. Her husband had died years earlier. She had had a hard life and did not have much to be happy about. But through her poetry I see her wit, her faith and her strength. I love her and her example.
Have a wonderful holiday, family. Please remember that you are loved and valued. You are 80 percent of our lives. If our prayers have strength, then you are well and happy.
Love,
Dad and Mom
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