My Real Christmas Letter

Fabulous light display on the LLBean campus!

In my last post, I spoke too soon! Today we received a genuine "Christmas letter" from a friend in the mail, making me want to write mine for real now. And the one we got opened the door for relating information I've never considered before. For example, home repairs are apparently okay to include!

Dear Friends:

This year we installed heat pumps which so far have been less than we hoped. Like we go to sleep and it's 68 degrees in our bedroom and we wake up sweating at three in the morning and it's 75 degrees. Let the buyer beware, that's all I can say. (We have a call in to the heat pump people and are waiting for a call back.) Ever the free-thinkers, we have not installed solar panels on our roof like so many of the locals. 

We have no grandchildren, thus no photos of new "tribe members" are necessary. Our tribe remains the two of us and our one son. Despite not fathering a child, Zack did have an exciting monthlong adventure in Israel as a volunteer for their war effort. (We didn't go although we were very encouraging so I guess we made a contribution too.)

LLBean outdid itself with their light display this year and since it's only three miles away we have driven through several times. Okay, so it's not Vegas but it's what we've got. (We live in Maine, let's remember.)

And this: Mitch and I went to Florida for a week and almost bought a house but decided it's just too damn hot to live there full-time. I sold a painting for $650 in an art show which was pretty satisfying except the gallery took 30%. Mitch got four new tires on his BMW which cost $1,800; that's crazy if you ask me. And oh yeah, my sister died. (We were never close.)

Wishing a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah To All!