Another Stab at The Christmas Letter

Hi All: 

Please forgive me. Being Jewish, what do I know from Christmas letters? But today we got one in the mail from some real Christians, and it put my meager attempt to shame. First of all, it was two-sided, with plenty of blurry pictures of the kids and grandkids, and obviously good design and layout were not a consideration. Next, it was chock full of details that nobody in their right mind could care about except the writer of the letter. So I'm trying again and hopefully will get it right this time.

Bruise on my arm!

I have been taking Plavix, a blood thinner, since my heart attack and so now every time I hit my hand or arm or leg or hip or any body part even lightly, I get a deep bruise that lasts for at least a week. Also, I have not had my hair cut professionally for three months and have been doing it myself, and I must say it looks bad.

Me with my new friend Teresa

New handbag!

This past year we traveled to spend time with many of our good friends. This included Tom and Linda Shiner (actually they came to Maine), Jim and Teresa Radford in Charlottesville (like you care), our favorite cousins Glen and Valerie Palmer on Long Island (right near the Hamptons where I bought a fabulous new handbag, don't ask what I paid for it) and of course John and Carrie Staples (who you never heard of before) in Maryland. In Florida we saw lots of old friends (Melva, John, Heidi, Judy) but I won't mention their names or tell you what we all did because it is so boring. We also saw Ira and Mike in Rhinebeck early in the year. I remember we went out to dinner but for the life of me I can't remember where we ate or what we ordered. (Sushi?)

Sure I had a heart attack, but I also had some other problems before then: I had a couple of annoying hangnails earlier in the year, and one time I stubbed my toe so bad I thought I broke it. Happily I did not. I also got a new eyeglass prescription.

Mitch bought a new car. Well, it's an old car, just new to him. It's not very old, but it's a BMW so it still looks great and nobody has to know he got it for a song. He also worked a lot in his garden over the summer and grew tomatoes, potatoes, kale, lettuce, beans, peas, carrots, broccoli, peppers, cucumbers, onions and squash. (No spinach this year since last year it didn't turn out so good.) I put away a lot of green peas in the freezer and add them to stews and soups.

I used candles during the blackout.

There was a big windstorm sometime, I can't remember when, but we lost power for three whole days and Mitch was out of town the entire time so I was alone in the dark with no TV or Internet and all the food spoiled in the fridge. Thank goodness for candles!

Zack and Theerasak

We have no grandchildren but I'm pretty sure my son went on lots of dates with lots of really pretty women. His friend Theerasak from high school (my favorite one in fact), visited for a few days and I got a picture of the two of them with the Bean Boot!

Well, that about sums it up. Best wishes to all my friends and family for a happy and healthy 2018!