Christmas card for 2011: House renovation

I am repurposing the Christmas card messages I've written since 2001. From old Christmas cards to new blog posts. One a day. Merry Christmas.

We renovated the back of the house this year, and that is our excuse for sending you this holiday greeting a few weeks after, well, the holidays. It’s January 7, and I decided now is the time to write my Xmas message, before the renovation is done. Before we are in that gaga stage of “Ooh-ooh—our new kitchen is gorgeous. We love our new bedroom!” I’ll let Tom do the ooh-ooh stuff. 

Doing dishes in the bathroom

I am doing the deep, soul-searching stuff. I’m writing while we are still doing dishes in the bathroom. Since August. I am writing while I still go next door to boil eggs. While we eat Lean Cuisine on the couch, but we don’t watch TV while eating said Lean Cuisine (or anytime), because a big carton containing a dishwasher is in front of the TV. I'm writing while we have to make ice cubes in plastic trays and wrestle with them to extract a few [expletive deleted] cubes. Did I mention that we have been living like this since August?

Oh, wait. Another thing. I discovered, just yesterday, when the construction crew took all their stuff from the back yard, that four of my azalea bushes were cut to the ground. I had planted them myself. They are gone. I am in mourning. Azaleas, unlike, say, rose bushes or forsythias, do not grow back after pruning.If our Xmas letter were longer I would be able to go into how my plants are like pets to me. But never mind. They are gone.

In a week, the countertops will be installed, the sink and stove will be hooked up (not to each other), and ice cubes will, once again, be magically made for us. This fact brings me to the deep, soul-searching stuff. I realize that many people  do not have refrigerators that make ice cubes. Many do not have refrigerators. Many do not have electricity. I am a jerk for whining, and I apologize.

The Christmas message I wrote above, in January 2012, was never sent out. Instead, in April 2012 we created a different Christmas card. This was my April message: 

Yes, this is our Christmas card for last year--2011. We loved the cards and letters that many of you sent in 2011, and we didn’t want to miss sending our love and greetings to all of you.

Rachel, holding Onno, and Tina

We had the most wonderful trip to Germany in September 2011, to see our family and friends, and especially our new "grandson," Onno. Rachel went with us, and everything was perfect. Tom and I took a week away from the family and had great excursions in Dresden and Prague.

Many of you know that I have a German “daughter,” Tina, who lived with Rachel and me for a year when the girls were in high school, and then Rachel lived in Germany with Tina’s family the following year. Through the years, with numerous visits to Germany and host­ing friends and family members here, we are all part of one big extended family.

A big event for us last year, and the main reason this card didn’t get made before Christmas, was the remodeling of our house, which was expanded three feet in the back. We moved everything out of the kitchen and the guest bedroom at the end of August and moved back in on January 18. We think the pic­tures below are the best way to tell the story.

Love to all.

Before

During

After--our beautiful new kitchen