I bought myself a christmas card mobile this year, and I adore it. It’s designed well, it looks pretty, and it lets me see the people I love (especially those who live far away) with a mere glance upward. Some of those cards come with a letter, catching friends and family up on the accomplishments, the vacations, the births and birthdays of family. I used to write one of those myself. These days I opt for a (much easier) photo card, but if I were to revisit the annual letter, I might come at it from a new angle: the stuff that made the year memorable, whether happy or sad, funny or awful, flattering or completely embarrassing. To give an accurate account, a real update on the lives of the Havener family.
Here’s a rough draft:
2013 started out pretty sad. I was depressed. Just bummed in general, and it took a while to shake it. Februrary was pretty darn awful, as seems to always happen. But spring brought some much-needed sun and that helped.
We went to Florida for vacation which rocked – white sand beaches, lots of ice cream, swimming and making sand castles and family bonding. Lily had a fit that lasted 45 minutes our last day there, which sucked, but other than that it was pretty great.
The summer was full of kids going to camps, time at the pool, everyone driving everyone else crazy, looking for a house, and our best family friends moving away. That was supremely hard. But August brought a trip to San Francisco and a new house, so that helped.
The fall was all about negotiating over the new house, selling our house, planning to move, making Halloween costumes, packing, moving and being a pretty sub-par mom through it all.
Moving was AWFUL. But we love our new house and are so thankful we’re here.
To round out the year we had a trip to Nebraska for Thanksgiving; celebrated Luke’s birthday with a lego cake that Mae poked holes all over just before the party; got to see my brother, sister-in-law and cutie pie nieces; had a sewage back-up in the basement; cleaned that up for a week, had lots of good family time for Christmas (and hosted in our new house!), had a dinner party for Marc’s 40th, saw the friends who moved for New Year’s, and took three-hour naps the day after it all ended to recuperate.
It was crazy, fun, hard, exciting and full of life lived together. It wasn’t perfect, but I’ll take it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May your days be merry and bright and without raw sewage in the basement.
Love,
The Haveners