An open Christmas letter from me to you.

Good morning!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I realize it's not chic in this country to wish people a Merry Christmas.  I mean, there's been this cultural battle about how we should greet each other this time of year.  What I've seen is that after all the yelling and screaming at each other about "Merry Christmas"  or "Happy Holidays" we've wound up just grunting at each other, acknowledging each other with the bare minimum of effort.  Sort of like every other time of the year.

I have been pretty busy lately, and haven't blogged much, but I thought I'd write to you, my friends, in the form of a typical American Christmas letter:  Except this isn't going to be painful to read.

 So here we go:

My Dear Friends:

This has been a tough year for many people, and that's pretty true for me as well.  My little family spent far too much time this year waiting in emergency rooms, talking to doctors, buying prescriptions for multiple medical issues we never saw coming.  It was sort of a mash in the head, starting on Easter night.  When I look back on 2013, I'll think of it as the "year of the medical bills."

Had the year ended on March 31, I would deem this year a failure, a dark, black hole.  But the year didn't end, thankfully, and there were moments of great hope and beauty along the way.

On a professional front, I got my rights back for Dream in Color and I created not one but two new covers for the book.  I also released my two Elsie W. Books 

"Elsie W.:  Unsafe at Any Speed.""Elsie W.:  Not While I'm Chewing"

And I'm currently working on a third book for my "Wicked Women" series, a book I hope to have released by Valentine's Day.

 

 

I think my favorite day this year was a very hot day in July when the four of us went to our church to have our picture taken for the new church directory.  The four of us did not want to be in the stifling hot classroom at nine at night. None of us likes getting our picture taken and let's face facts:  I haven't improved my photogenic features in the ten years since the last church directory.

But there the four of us were, the last photo session of the night for the photographer.  It had been a very tense time in our house since Easter Sunday night and frankly, we were a very fragile bunch.  But something happened during that session:  The four of us laughed together for the first time in a very long time.

We sat in that hot, miserable room, all of us looking really, really awful for different reasons.  (I personally picked a shirt that simply doesn't look good on me.  It's too light for my fair skin.  Normally I wear it under a sweater, but like I said, it was July.)  But there was something that was so funny about the photographer, what we were doing , and everything, it was like a dam broke and all the tension that had hung over us broke and we laughed together and healed.

I keep this picture on the fridge.  I love remembering that day because it was so special. Some time ago I realized I like the way I look because I look like a blond version of my aunt Carol, who is a beautiful soul and if I turn out to be like her I will be a success in my life.

Now here we are, and it's Christmas.  There's trouble in every corner of the
world.  And yet, I can't help but feel optimistic.  Maybe the world leaders will continue to screw up on a monumental basis, but if we here in the real world can shut out the shrieking, shut out the anger, and reach out to each other, we are going to be okay.

So whether you celebrate Christmas or not, let's all take a minute and see the beauty of things, even in the smallest things.  Leave an extra five dollars as a tip for your waitress.  Hold the door open for a string of people at the post office.  Give your mother a hug even if she makes you insane every day of your life.  Don't give the biggest or shiniest gift, give the one that speaks from your heart.  Hum or whistle a happy song.


Friends, I celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ.  My basis of my faith is hope.  In my writing, I bring to life characters who are very flawed, but have hope.  If I take nothing away from 2013, which started out so very, very wrong, I can take this:  Hope is never lost where there is kindness, love, peace and laughter.

So, where ever you are, whatever you are doing right now, I want to wish you a heartfelt Merry Christmas...and my hope is that we are all just better to each other in 2014!

 

My life would suck without...

Good morning!

So the radio station I'm stuck with at work after Bob and Brian sign off is playing Kelly Clarkson's song, "My life would suck Without You." I'll admit it, it's a song that gets me in a dancing mood, bad knees and all.

But the song got me to thinking, if someone or something in my life were removed, would my life suck?

If I weren't married, didn't have kids, didn't have a mortgage, didn't have that weird stain on the carpet that I cover up with a throw rug, would my life suck? Would it be better?

Well, I wouldn't miss the weird stain on the carpet. I wouldn't miss the endless laundry, dishes, and shoes removed and dumped in everyone's path. I wouldn't miss the bills, the fights over curfew, over the car, over dinner. I wouldn't miss those nights when hubby snores so loud I have to sleep on the couch or in the office.

So, if I weren't married, didn't have kids, maybe my life wouldn't suck.

But then again, what else would I be missing?

School projects, which I always dig doing, for one. And concerts. I love going to concerts no matter who's playing. Going with my kids, even though it embarrasses them, is a blast. I love going to Summerfest. Since I don't drink beer, I have the best time hanging in the back rows at the alternative stage, watching the up and coming bands and their young fans. It keeps me young. Sure, I'd go to more Rick Springfield concerts, which wouldn't suck at all, but who would be at home, waiting to mock me in that familiar way that families all have? I'd go to the concert with friends, then come home to...what?

I would be missing frozen pizza. It's hard to be an adult and have frozen pizza in the house. I don't know...it seems like such a kid thing. That and chicken nuggets, pizza rolls, and Oreo cookies. I would miss that. I'd probably wouldn't eat more fruit or veggies than I do now, so nothing would improve there. And I really do like pizza rolls.

I would miss my memories of the younger years when we went to the zoo, the beach, the museum, the library, whatever. Just get in the car with a bag of snacks and juice boxes and go!

My life would definitely suck without those.

And maybe I'd get more good nights of sleep if I weren't married. But then I wouldn't have my best friend, my husband walking through life with me. We have such a history together, even our own endless inside jokes spanning more than twenty years. My life would suck without those!

I'd probably have more money to spend on myself without kids and a husband. More than likely I'd be living in an apartment, which would suck for my neighbors given how loud I like to crank my Rick Springfield tunes when I'm doing the dishes. Of course, I wouldn't have as many dishes to do which means I'd listen to less Rick music, and then my life would suck MORE!

My writing career would probably suck without my kids and my husband, too. Tom's my biggest cheerleader, which is amazing, since most of what I do is completely foreign to him. The kids, well, the kids were the inspiration for my first attempts at humor writing. Someday I will have a shelf of books dedicated to the endless material they've given me. I just have to get past the teen years, which aren't all that funny all the time.

So I guess I'll take what does suck in my life right now and smile. Because, without it all, my life would suck more.

Here's a writing exercise for you: What part of your life could you cut out? Would your life be better or worse?

The answer might surprise you.