Things I Don’t Want to See in Your Christmas Letter

We’re being slowly flooded with Christmas epistles…from family and friends…and the boasters abound. Why is it that Christmas is used as an excuse to send out boastful letters? I don’t get it. Christmas is completely about humility―I mean, God came to earth and was born as an ordinary man in a common place―that’s about as humble as you can get.
So here’s what I don’t want to read or see in Christmas letters…I’m sure many of you will agree with me...and maybe I'll even add more things when more letters come. :-)

1. That your teenage daughter went to Japan with her “friend” Joe. (That actually makes me kinda sick. :-D)

2. That you managed to find a house in one of the fashionable parts of town. (We’re all real impressed.)

3. “I’m being tutored in Biblical Greek!” (At sixteen?! I like Greek but good grief!)

4. About your son or daughter’s new girl/boy friend. (Here today, gone tomorrow…tell me when they get engaged.)

5. Detailed lists of each child’s personal activities, hobbies, aspirations, and college perspectives. (Thank you…but we’re not looking to hire them for upper management.)

6. How you spent the past year in the car driving kids to various activities. (That’s actually rather sad…)

7. Brand-names. (We’re all so happy that you can afford a Lexus, Mac, or Coach bag and told us so.)

8. A list of places you went, what you did, and how great, great, great it was. (Never fails to be nauseating.)

9. Lots of posed pictures, edited on Photoshop, and strategically placed around the 2-3 page letter. (This isn’t a bloody catalogue cover…just tuck in one nice picture for us to put on the fridge!)

10. And in the last paragraph, tell us about your high-blood pressure problem or palpitating heart issue or breathing concern…and how the doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong. (We all know what’s wrong and how we know has something to do with how out of breath we felt just by reading about your life.)

I like hearing from people but why can’t they be honest and real? You’re supposed to be sending letters to people who care about you…so tell us what really happened and skip the bragging. Being blessed does not give you an excuse to boast.

P.S. Mom read this before you send out our Christmas greetings. :-)

:-)

If Santa Really Existed...

He'd have given me this misfit toy by now....

*sigh* I say this every year when we watch Rudolph. :-)

P.S. This elephant is impossible to find... I can't figure out why no one makes stuffed toys of the classic Rudolph characters. *sob*

:-)

The Forest and the Trees

The interview is over… (it went well but that’s the first time I’ve ever been asked to summarize Descartes Meditations in 3-4 sentences) three of my exams are done and only one short paper to go… so I can now resume more frequent posts! (Aren’t you happy? :-D) It’s amazing what you have the time and patience to do when your semester is nearly over. The air seems fresher…the sun shines brighter…just kidding, school isn’t that bad and I mostly like it…but a break is always good. :-) You do see things that you barely noticed during the semester…. Like I just realized that I should tidy up my trunk which could/should be a place to sit but can’t since I leave things on top of it. Since fall break ended (the last time I actually noticed my room) the top of my trunk’s been a hopeless sea of French verb note cards, old to-do lists, bookmarks, drawing pencils, pens (of varying ink levels…some don’t work at all), books, Altoids tins―in short, there are places in my room which look like a refuse tip. I’m also realizing that hey, it’s December and my birthday is in three days (yay!), my cousin’s wedding is only a week away, and Christmas is only 14 days away. (Not all my shopping’s done…eek!) I think somehow I missed the fact that December began over 10 days ago. :-D

:-)

Strange Tastes

I’m in the middle of finals work (talk about nightmares for final exams you have taken!) and thus, my creative ability has been significantly diminished of late. I have a phone interview with the college that I really want to go to tomorrow night. I’m sure it’ll be fine…. *gulp* (Pray for me…please.) Anyway, as I drove home from Ick today and was trying not to think about finals, I remembered something I did back in the day which amuses me now. When I was three or four, Mom had a small Christmas tree on a card table (I think to keep the presents off the floor and away from little fingers) and I think there was a tablecloth over the table too. In any case, I remember taking a fresh package of cream cheese out of the fridge, getting a knife, and crawling under the card table to eat it. I know I got the foil package open and ate some of it with the knife…but I don’t remember how much I managed to eat before Mom looked under the table and found me. :-D As if that isn’t all… I used to eat frozen raw bacon from the butcher shop too. (I guess it is cured or smoked…but still….) My sister and I actually got away with that a few times before Mom caught us. My brother is also known to have tried to eat a stick of butter in a similar way to my cream cheese episode…. My poor mother… :-) (Don’t worry we weren’t habitually rotten. :-D) Ah, childhood. It’s a wonder anyone survives it.

:-)