Dear Friends:
Congratulations -- you made it through another year! For those who did not succumb to gruesome car accidents or diseases, it's time for another Christmas Letter. I received one today from someone who has five children and nine grandchildren and it's all about them, whereas I have just one child who is a very private person so I can't mention him, leaving just me and my husband to talk about. (Sorry.)
Also, instead of TMI about us, I will stick to banal topics nobody cares about, which is actually the hallmark of the traditional Christmas Letter.
January was fairly quiet, starting off with Lurch getting his flea medication on the 3rd and ending with an afternoon at the Portland Symphony on the 30th. In February Mitch caused some excitement by going to court for giving a cop in an unmarked car the finger several months earlier. I volunteered twice for the American Red Cross but was so bored I had to stop, as my assignment was crossing names off a list when people arrived to give blood. I didn't really see my role as life-saving or, honestly, worth leaving the house for.
We went to Florida for eight days in March and visited our friends who live in NY but spend the winter there. Later that month I had an MRI of my knee, which had hurt for six months and was cured by two sessions with an acupuncturist. The test was, as you may know, a big nothing and not worth the weeks of anxiety that preceded it.
In May we drove to a foreign country with our dear friends from Charlottesville. It was Canada, as you probably guessed. (We decided against going to Mexico figuring if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris don't want to go there, why would we?) Quebec City was fabulous, as expected. We stayed in an apartment in the Old City that we found on Airbnb. It was quite lovely and new-agey, everything black and glass and chrome and shiny. An odd note was the master bath being right in the bedroom! Right next to the bed and behind a glass divider was an entire bathroom -- toilet, sink and shower. (That tests a marriage for sure.)
Mitch got COVID in May. 😢 He was okay; he just needed a lot of couch time. I did not catch it and remain Covid-free to date!
We got a new dining table and chairs for the porch in June, and in July we met former Governor Paul LePage at a neighborhood fundraiser for his re-election campaign. (He lost.) LePage was a lot nicer than you'd think since, being a Republican, all you hear is how bad he is.
In late July my best friend died and for the next few months I basically sat around, at home, staring at the walls and weeping. August is a blur. (Miss you Deb, in case you are reading this.)
In September we went to Long Island for a few days -- the Hamptons, you know -- to visit the same people we visited in Florida because really, you gotta see your friends as much as possible while they are alive. (Author's message.)
This Christmas we are flying to Arizona to visit old friends in Phoenix and Sedona and are praying the airline doesn't screw anything up.
Wishing all of you a Happy Holiday Season,
The Roudas
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