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

Christmas card from 2010: Taking watercolor class

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.

Once again I’m having a year of doing some new things. 

New experience #1: We organized a party of six for a fantastic Alaskan cruise. More important, on the ship our 4-person trivia team won almost ev­ery game (~2 per day). Examples: 

a. What do you do when you nictate?

b. What element is alphabetically the last in the table of contents?

(answers are at the bottom of this card)

New experience #2: I wrote a blog. I just checked, and I had only nine posts (so far) for 2010, but they are high-quality. Next year, I will post more often. Just like I will play piano more often and keep up with New Yorker issues. I keep a little list of potential blog topics, but when I return to it I often have no idea what an item means. Like this one jotted down a few months ago: “Tired, Achy, Cranky? You may just need a glass of water.” I think it was a headline for a magazine article. What was it about? What did I want to write about? I may write about it yet.

New experience #3: I took a watercolor class. And I would like to point out that this is not something I have taken up in retirement, as, obviously, I am not retired. I go to class on Tuesday evenings, and I’m having a ball. I painted the cover of this card, We have a great teacher (12 in the class—a mix of advanced students and 4 of us newbies).  I’m going to register for the next series of classes, too (starts in Feb.).

New experience #4: I'm switching to Mac. I know, I know. To all of you (formerly “us”) PC loyalists it seems like a betrayal, a defection, even perfidy. Why, why, would I switch? A big part of the reason is recently having had my third new motherboard installed on my PC. Count ’em: total of four motherboards, counting the one it came with. Another part of the reason is needing to have periodic “TeamViewer” sessions with Damen, on the other side of the world (yes, he’s in Australia now) to resolve my new list of Windows problems. But the real clincher was when Reya bought a new Mac this year and I was sympathizing with her about the drudgery, extensive time, and possible horrors involved in switching from one computer to another. She said, “Oh, no. I just pushed one button and it said it was taking care of everything.”

My new Mac experience hasn’t actually happened yet. But as soon as we get this damn, er, I mean this loving holiday greeting out in the mail, I’m heading for the Apple Store.

My love to each of you.

Answers to trivia questions:

a. Blink

b. Zirconium

Christmas card for 2009: Canning tomatoes, eating beets

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.

I am pleased to report several “firsts” I had this year. Naturally it was necessary to have some rules for what can be counted as a first.

Rule #1: Places (eg, town or store or museum) do not count as firsts. Thus, I’m not counting Indianapolis, Yosemite, the Boston Museum of Arts, or Nantucket Island. Except countries do count. So I can report the Dominican Republic as a first. Unfortunately, another first was being so sick that I didn’t eat or drink for two of the three days we were there, but I can’t count that (see Rule #3).

Rule #2: Acquiring something for the first time doesn’t count. It would just be silly to count my new wireless keyboard or the fabulous pleated purple skirt I found at Linda’s church garage sale—er, sanctuary sale. However, really, really life-changing acquisitions, like our new, huge, red washer and dryer, are exceptions to Rule #2.

Rule #3: New illnesses or injuries don’t count, as we don’t want to dwell on negative things, do we? Ditto new ways of damaging the car or new categories of speeding and parking violations incurred.

There. Now the report.

Marian’s 2009 firsts

• I canned tomatoes. Two pint jars may not seem like anything to brag about to you, but I was very proud. The tomatoes came from my own plants.
• I ate beets. Very proud of self. I have hated beets my entire life and feel I now have a new lease on a life. Who knows were it could lead. Next year, maybe spinach. 
• I rode the ferry across Lake Michigan. I know, this is verging on not counting, under Rule #1. But I grew up in Michigan, and the ferry from Ludington to Milwaukee is iconic to me. So this was an important first for me and I’m counting it, even though I didn’t take the Ludington ferry. I took the new fast ferry from Muskegon to Milwaukee.
• I started a blog. I’m just feeling my way, so far, but it’s like I can send you a Christmas card as often as I want!  http://nairamchronicles.blogspot.com

I wish all of you the very best for 2010 and send you my love.

PS. Tom made the art for the card. The background is a photo from Yosemite, and that is our cat Peat lying on the path. Also, just in case it is not obvious, the faces of the snowpeople really ARE photos of Tom and me.