This Christmas Letter was sent to me by my friend Becky Chasse. I love this stuff.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Once again, I’ll rely on Claire’s “quips” she’s said throughout the year to fill you in on what’s been happening with our family.
“Mom, did you used to ride in a covered wagon when you were a kid?” Mark and I both turned 40, not 140 this year. We ran away to Canada for Mark’s celebration. (Vancouver was fabulous; had a pretty good time in Whistler and Victoria.) And for mine, we celebrated in Portland with a very nice dinner party.
“I’m bored with this house. I’ve lived here my whole life!” We bought a house about a mile away within walking distance of Claire’s school. (It’s a relief Claire is excited about moving, too.) We’re hoping for a miracle of our own on 34th street: that our new house will stay cleaner and the Portland housing market won’t tank before we put this house on the market in February.
“We were pretending to play Little House on the Prairie, but instead of living on the prairie, we lived in Hawaii instead.” Claire likes to play pretend a lot with friends and little tiny figurines like Playmobile people. But art by far is her favorite activity.
“The kids have to give the teacher money so they can go out to recess”. Claire started kindergarten in the fall and likes it very much. She’s got a couple of close friends and likes her teacher, art class, and “writing” in her journal using kid writing. The schools are always desperate for funding, but we don’t think they have started charging the kids for recess yet.
“I know a secret special way to live for a long time… breathe through your ears. I can do it, just watch!” Apparently, she has inherited our science abilities.
“I’m an angel compared to Beegu. I haven’t been in a time out since he got here!” Beegu is a 5-month-old Boston Terrier puppy we got in September. Claire is much better behaved then he is. But he is adorable and goofy and is generally worth the effort. He reminds us of a mini-sized, extraterrestrial version of our old bulldog, Spunky. We know we’re alone in liking the name, but we think Claire picked the perfect name. Beegu is the alien title character for one of her favorite books.
“Did you know some people don’t even believe in Rudolph?” “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” is a favorite because is the only Christmas song we know completely by heart.
“The older you get, the less magic fairy dust you have.” Mark and I are trying to keep some magic fairy dust. I’ve been volunteering in Claire’s library. I love being around Claire’s class, all of the books, and the kind librarian. Next year I’ll have more fairy dust if I can limit the amount of hours I put in at my part-time job. Mark has been trying to fit in some more creative endeavors this year. He’s been learning piano and has been writing a lot of fiction. One short story was entitled “Fairy Dust” (inspired by the above Claire quip) was especially touching.
WISHING YOU ALL A HOLIDAY SEASON FILLED WITH LOTS OF MAGIC FAIRY DUST!
Becky, thanks for giving me more matterial. I love hearing your stories so I know I am not the only one going through this......alone. Amen, I am not alone. Keep sending material.
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1 comment:
Hello, my name is Shelley. I think I went to Jr High with Becky and I would love to contact her. My maiden name is Poffenbarger and I have recently been in contact with a few other Jr. High buddies and we were wondering about Becky. The Becky I am looking for would be around 40, went to High School in Milton Freewater...but went to Jr. High in Redmond at Obsidion. Her maiden name was Crisp. If this is the same Becky that wrote your Cristmas letter could you pass my email on to her for me? I'd love to hear from her. shelley@ncbb.net Thanks! If it isn't her sorry for the imposition.
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