Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas! My fondest wish is that this letter finds you happy and healthy, loved and laughing, peaceful and prosperous. Unfortunately, I can’t claim that those blissful states describe my family; fortunately, I can say there are glimpses of heaven. Admittedly, those times are rare, but they do occur. For those moments, I’m indeed grateful. And, I have to confess, although the unorthodox events in our family life can be painful and frustrating, they’re also—strangely—amusing and “character-building.”

As usual, we’ve enjoyed the together events like vacations home to Utah. The highlight was definitely Greg’s niece’s wedding, but other perks were our annual jaunt to the Kamas pool (that technology hasn’t yet made it to California) and the never-long-enough visits with family and friends. Other than that, our year really does revolve around the Harry Potter premier with our dearest Tracy friends who are practically family now. After July 2011, things are looking bleak!

Hans, nearly 11, is in his last year of elementary school. Gasp. My baby’s growing up! I was never one of those moms who cried (unless they were tears of joy) when her children went to Kindergarten. But I just might cry on Hans’ last day of fifth grade. Often prickly, sometimes charming, always creative, Hans is an enigma to me. His computer skills are phenomenal; honed by his daily fan-fiction writing—Sonic and Phineas & Ferb are faves. He has lots of followers and is currently writing a novel. Hans’ other passion is still Legos. Anytime he closets himself in his room for hours, Greg and I know we’ll soon be summoned to view a new diorama. Incredible! His color of choice is black, his length of hair is long, and his overall look is “emo.” Or so I’m told. Hans tolerates—with varying degrees of grace—the lesser of life’s activities: taking showers, going to school, playing drums, attending Scouts. Swimming, luckily, is still a bonding experience with his dad.

Ralph, almost 13, has yet to experience the awkwardness of middle school. Oddly enough, I’m hoping it appears soon. Better now than in high school, eh? With a golden boy demeanor, life is pretty smooth sailing for him. Teachers, leaders, girls, guys, parents, grandparents, team mates, classmates, and family friends alike seem to enjoy Ralph’s company. None of his competitors, though, on the soccer field do. We marvel that he’s never had a yellow card. He’s aggressive, but clean. School and trumpet and Scouting are fun, but soccer is a passion. Alarms were set at ungodly hours this summer so Ralph and Greg could wake for world cup soccer games—even while on vacation!!! When his beloved (because they’re orange like his team is orange) Dutch team lost, he was crushed. There was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth! At church, turning 12 meant he’d be able to pass the sacrament to our congregation. That he does so with such reverence is both humbling and thrilling to me.

Rhiannon, 15 and a sophomore, lives to sing. She turned down a position she earned at the rival high school to sing at Kimball and has never regretted it. This fall, she spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights rehearsing her role as Wendy in the school’s Peter Pan musical, Thursdays traveling to Modesto and singing with the Townsend Opera Players (as their youngest member), Fridays performing a few songs with her former P.E. teacher’s (from 4th and 5th grade) rock band, and Sundays practicing with the church choir. And this spring, she’ll perform—along with her chorus role in the Gallo Center’s Romeo and Juliet—as her high school’s only participant in the regional honor choir. At first glance, Rhiannon seems synonymous with sing, sing, sing. Except that she’s also obsessed with boys, boys, boys. Since she’s one day shy of 9 months too young to date, that whole boy thing is a frustration to us all. It’s also a source of great amusement. A couple weeks ago, she asked me if any of my friends had any “hot” sons. So if your sons fall into that category, let’s introduce them—in another decade!!!

Liesl, a 17-year-old senior, can hardly wait to enter the adult world of “after high school.” She has no idea what a culture shock that will be. She’s a brilliant young woman who doesn’t yet have any real inkling of what or who she wants to be—aside from Cutty (a hospital administrator) in Fox’s House series. She loves trivia, cool websites, friends, parties, cooking, friends, TV/computers, decorating, friends, clothes, movies, friends, swimming, music, and friends—especially guy friends since they come with no drama attached. So our house, on bio night (and many others), is filled with her bright male friends. A self-professed music geek and techno nerd, Liesl—in her role as choir TA—has impressed her school’s book keeper so much the book keeper is begging Liesl to let her write a letter of recommendation for her. Strong-willed, independent, social, highly organized, computer savvy, Liesl will be an asset to some company, somewhere, sometime.

Greg (as you can tell, we go in age order and my sweetie NEVER lets me forget that I’m “older”) is a happy man. He has his trusty sidekick, Champ; his USNA football wins over Notre Dame and Army; his cool job where he’s paid to blow things up; his 20-year-reunion trip to Annapolis; and his Wii online soccer. What more could he ask for (besides dinner on the table--ever)? Unfortunately, he’s had no overseas trips this year; fortunately (for me—I’m writing this!), he’s had no overseas trips this year. He did go “over 20” this year in his naval career and so is officially retired as a Commander. He’s also the Webelos leader in Scouts and teaches those same 10-year-old boys in Sunday School where he’s continually amused by Hans’ long locks/black shirt combo and the others’ missionary (#2 on top; #1 on sides) haircuts and white shirts. Believe you me, Greg instigates every havoc-wreaking episode during sharing time—like pulling all the popsicle sticks (used to fairly apportion turn-taking) and replacing them all with Hans’ and his classmates’ names. Sigh.

Me? I’m thrilled because a seed I planted at the local library last year paid off on Thursday. Even though I’m too busy with my family and school librarian position to substitute at the city library anymore, I asked my old boss to let me know when they were disposing of an encyclopedia set. The call came Tuesday and my school now gets to trade up 20 years (!) from a 1986 version to a 2006 one—for free!!! In my 3 years at an elementary school for 1000 K-5 students (90 percent qualify for free or reduced lunch), I’ve had a budget of zero. Free is SWEET! So are the hugs I get all over town from “my kids.” My other kids, the four at home, keep me busy doing what your kids keep you busy doing: driving, cleaning, chatting, lecturing, driving, chuckling, clothes-washing, paper-editing, driving, mentoring, loving, cheering, teeth-grinding, waiting, driving, praying, crying, laughing, driving. As you can imagine, the parenting break Greg and I relished in Annapolis was all-too-brief. Happily, it was a triple reunion and included get-togethers with our Annapolis church friends, Greg’s naval academy classmates and their wives (who I cherish), and our Pasadena (submarine) buddies. Sadly, there wasn’t time to include so many other friends. Next time . . .

Loving you, missing you, and wishing you the merriest of Christmases, the happiest of New Years. Tschüss!