Xmas Letter

Happy holidays from our family to yours. We usually write a letter to our family and friends updating them on the events of the year. (Yes, we know that we should be keeping up with people more regularly, but we just don't manage it ... ) For the past several years, we have written really clever and unusual letters, an antidote, as it were, to the usual Christmas letter drivel. This year it is a little harder to find an upbeat, clever way to describe our year.

Would it suffice to say that we are happy and love each other dearly? Michael isn't working at the moment, so I can't brag about the typical standard-of-living items like cruises or ski trips.

Trip aside: I did win a free cruise to the Grand Bahamas just after my surgery in May, which was terribly exciting at the time, but we haven't been able to use it because it isn't truly "free" and we don't want to spend the money right now. And we don't actually ski, so that's a red herring. But you get the idea.

The lack of money has caused us to focus more attention on our life at home. Michael has been here on a daily basis, something that I will miss so much when he does go back to work. We used to work together (when we edited the HOBIE Hotline magazine) and really liked it. We are compatible co-workers. Our talents synchronize well and we accomplish a lot. Finding a way to earn money working together at home is a goal of ours, unrealized for several reasons.

First, we have to find a viable idea. There are several good ideas that we have had, but getting capital to finance them is a problem. So second is financing. I guess that's it. Find the right idea and get money to start it going. Why can't we do it? Easier said than done, I guess. We are working on an idea right now that could be it ... time will tell.

Back to Christmas and the holidays. We are making creative - and nice - Christmas gifts for the family. That's been fun. The two of us, each busy with our own work, companionable ... perhaps that is a gift in itself.

In the odd way that optimism works, I find myself cheerful despite circumstances. We are blessed to have unemployment compensation. We are blessed to have a moderate lifestyle so that we are not stretched as thin as we might be. We are blessed that the things we love to do have already been paid for this year, i.e. our subscriptions to the Alley Theatre and the Houston Ballet, our membership in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Houston Zoo. We are blessed that books are free at the library and that we have our own well-stocked library accumulated over the years. We are blessed that our friends and family are healthy and happy, too. We are blessed that we will celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary on the Winter Solstice. It is a season of blessings and I am happy.

Ciao!