Since my husband has been writing a family Christmas letter
{this year will be year 13}
In the end, we have decided to
adopt an approach that allows us to highlight many of the wonderful and
exciting aspects of the past year, while only briefly skimming any events that
cause us disdainful or otherwise unpleasant memories. This space saving technique is quite aptly
demonstrated in the following paragraphs, where topics such as Mike’s virtual
love affair with his job at XXXXXXXX are delved into in great detail, while
his hiring at XXXXXXX Systems Inc., and subsequent termination four weeks
later, receive scant attention. As we
previously mentioned, this foray into the world of form letters is quite new to
us, and any comments or suggestions that you may have regarding its
effectiveness can be sent directly to our address.
Each family member gets a paragraph of their yearly highlights. Following the "be real" mentality, Mike didn't hesitate to talk about getting fired in the Christmas letter.
After several weeks of searching,
Mike was able to find work at a small machine design firm, which for four weeks
dutifully served the purpose of preventing him from finding a real job. Enlightenment came in the form of a pink
slip, and Mike was soon on the road toward professional fulfillment as he
accepted a contract engineering position as a mechanical design engineer at XXXXX. Once there, he found the
opportunities bountiful, and is now truly enjoying his work. We are hopeful that the near future will
bring about permanent employment with XXXXX, along with the many
benefits that accompany it.
2001
2001 brought lots of changes for our family. We bought our first house, got settled in our professional positions {Mike with permanent employment and me as a stay at home mom} and were expecting our second baby.
There is always an introduction:
Oh, what a year it has been. We have finally managed to take time out from
the hustle and bustle of the holiday season in order to continue on the
tradition started last year and write our family’s second annual Christmas
letter. (Unbearably long sentences
included at no additional charge, as per tradition.) The past year has provided us with much to be
thankful for, and it is difficult to decide where to begin.
A paragraph highlighting our family:
In March we took a giant leap and bought our first
house. After months of searching, we
finally found a place that we love, and eagerly (i.e. as fast as our legs would
carry us) moved from our apartment.
Rachel was elated at the prospect of adding colors to brighten up the
rooms, and skillfully argued her case over Mike’s objections, himself having
grown up in a house where any wall that wasn’t white was probably just
dirty. They say a man’s home is his
castle, and Mike is now the proud ruler over a Toasty Gray kitchen, an English
Rose family room, and a Khaki den. In
true masculine response, Mike declared the garage to be his own, and with the
help of his father, built a storage loft that he to this day considers to be
his crowning achievement.
And an opportunity to not take ourselves too seriously:
With
all her successes this past year, it should be worth mentioning that Rachel failed
miserably in her attempt to teach Aidan the art of peeing outdoors. The experience left him soaked from head to
toe, and Rachel with a newfound respect for the role of the father in a young
boy’s life.
Even the unborn get a shout out in the Christmas letter:
In
August we learned that we are expecting our second child, and a recent
ultrasound confirmed that it is a girl!
As many of you may recall, during Rachel’s first pregnancy we referred
to Aidan as “Tonto”. Wanting another
in-utero nickname for our new baby, we left it up to Aidan to decide what to
call his sibling. After much thought, he
settled upon “Rodo”. Although unusual,
it turns out this name is actually quit fitting, as it can be pronounced
“row-dough”, as in, “This is going to be expensive”, or, maybe more
appropriately, “row-doh!”, as in, “Doh! I can’t believe I’m having another
child.” In all sincerity, we are delighted
to have been blessed with this baby, and eagerly await her arrival in April.
Dear
friends and family,
It hardly seems possible that another year has gone
by so quickly, but here we are, sitting down to write the third installment of
our annual Mike/Rachel/Aidan/ (and now) Isabella Teodoro Christmas letter. What’s that you say? There are four of them now? What are they, rabbits over there or
something? Patience please, more on that
topic later. For now we would just like
to say that we have had a wonderful year and created many lasting memories, and
are thrilled with the opportunity to share some of them with all of you.
Our family had the chance to take a few “mini”
vacations this year, and we were grateful for the time we were able to spend
with our families and friends. We spent
nearly a week in July with Rachel’s parents at their beautiful new home in the
mountains of Southern Arizona, and then three days on a houseboat with Mike’s
parents during their annual vacation to Lake Roosevelt in Eastern
Washington. In September we had the
opportunity to go back to Indianapolis to attend the wedding of some of our
good friends from Purdue. We used the
occasion to visit many of our old friends still living in the area, and even
made it up to campus in Lafayette for a few days as well. Mercifully a late-summer heat wave had ended
the day before our arrival, and Rachel and family were saved from the worst of
Mike’s climate-induced crankiness.
However, even Rachel agreed that compared to the fresh air of the Great
Northwest, the humid, sticky Midwest air is just a little bit disgusting.
Mike has now been working at XXXX for two
and a half years, and is still very much enjoying his work. Designing machinery seems to be in his blood,
and the projects he is involved in have been both challenging and fun. On the challenging and not quite so fun side,
Mike is quickly learning that there is downside to the dream of home
ownership. For everything from exploding
washing machines to bathtubs that leak into the garage, the landlord is no
longer there to save the day. Mike has
now come to dread the “Sweetie, I think something’s wrong with the (name your
expensive appliance)” message he gets at work.
In addition to the emergency maintenance, there is a never-ending supply
of projects on his “honey-do” list.
Although he is able to complete most of the assignments in admirable
fashion, his attempt to install crown molding was a complete disaster. This experience has left him with an
appreciation for the vast woodworking differences between framing, which he is
good at, and fine finish work, which he is most definitely not.
Well folks, it has been another banner year for Rachel Inc. She was able to increase her
yearly production of children to one, matching her previous high set in 1998. Surprisingly, this
incredible output was achieved with a decrease in capital expenditures over the 1998 benchmark,
accomplished mainly by way of a natural delivery without the use of pain relieving medications. In
all sincerity, Rachel had quite a busy year, but all her other activities seem to pale in comparison to
the birth of our angel, Miss Isabella Grace. However, it is worth noting that she completed training
to become a volunteer at Life Choices, continuing the crisis pregnancy counseling that she began in
Lafayette at Life Care Services. Rachel feels a real calling to help those in need, and will begin
working at the clinic this coming January. In addition to her time spent volunteering, being a stay at home mom has also afforded her the time to help out with Aidan’s class, where she is a room mom
and often joins the ‘caravan of minivans’ as a regular driver for his various field trips.
Aidan has grown by leaps and bounds this year. He loves to play sports, and is enrolled in
classes at the local community center for swimming lessons, basketball, soccer,
and hockey. Though the children
thoroughly enjoy the games themselves, the parents really just go for the
calisthenics. The entertainment value
alone of watching a group of 4 year-olds doing jumping jacks is well worth the
monthly membership dues. After a year in
a co-op preschool where Rachel attended classes with him, Aidan began attending
a traditional preschool this past September.
Although there was some of the expected first-day apprehension and
tummy-aches, Aidan marched bravely into his classroom and did wonderfully from
the beginning. His mother, however, did
not perform quite so valiantly. After
dropping her little boy off, Rachel proceeded to cry the entire way home. Here’s hoping that the transition to kindergarten
won’t be quite so traumatic.
Now nearly eight months old, our baby Bella is
quickly becoming a toddler with a personality all her own. Her radiant, gummy smile is quick to greet
anyone who comes into the room, and her dimpled grin spreads joy to everyone
she meets. Although she loves her mommy
and daddy very much, it is obvious that she holds a special place in her heart
for her big brother Aidan. Her eyes
light up as she watches his every move, and she cackles with delight at his
attempts to entertain her. Isabella
began experimenting with solid foods last month, and has proven to have quite a
discerning palette. After foraging
through the murky underworld of sweet potatoes, strained peas, and creamed
bananas, she appears to have come up with a rather ingenious system for
determining what she will eat. She now
limits herself to all foods ending in ‘eerios’.
What would the world do without that happy yellow box?
We hope that this letter has found you all in good
health and high spirits, surrounded by friends and family during this wonderful
Christmas season. May God bless you all
in the year ahead.
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