Christmas Copout Post

My laptop has been commandeered lately by a certain 11 year old who is writing a book of her own. Add to that the birthday and Christmas festivities and the reading of actual books and, well, there's not a lot of blogging going on.

I'm sore today from, of all things, dodgeball. The TKD Christmas party was Friday night and it consists of eating and awards presentation, followed by hours of dodgeball. What a blast (literally!) If you haven't played dodgeball in a long time, I suggest you find a group of willing participants (if you can't, just start throwing a ball at people and they'll be willing to fire it back at you soon enough ^_^ ) and give it a go.

In lieu of a real post, you now get my Christmas letter. Feel free to add suggestions as I haven't actually sent them out yet. ^_^




Surprise, surprise!! It's a letter from us!!
I'm breaking my holiday tradition of completely letting the Christmas cards slide. At least that's what I tell myself. We'll see if these actually make it into stamped, addressed envelopes. And out the door.

You'll notice that there are 2 different pictures of the kids in here. This is mostly because, as adorable as my children are, I didn't need 30-some copies of the same picture from 2002 in an envelope for the rest of eternity. But could I bring myself to throw them away? Ha! So I'm telling myself (and you) that I'm enclosing them in this year's cards as a nifty new “look how they've grown” trend. And by “trend” I mean “one-time-good-deal.”

Many of you are aware that we've landed in Michigan, and we seem to be here to stay for at least some time to come. We're far enough from downtown Detroit to be well out of the scary zone, but close enough to enjoy fun things like being able to go see Les Mis at the Fisher Theatre, and checking out the Detroit Institute of Art. And Ann Arbor is right nearby when we need a good dose of surrealism.

(TKD rundown that would be old news to you all went here)

And now we've come to the part where I should launch into some sort of detailed description of everyone's personal highs (and lows?) but I can't bring myself to do that to you, so here's a short summary instead.

GuTTer MuNKi has become a great chef, meaning A) I rarely have anything to do with cooking dinner anymore (except as sous chef) and B) a whole new field of gift-giving has been opened up to me. Hooray! Because I'm crap at buying computer stuff. (Can you say “crap” in a Christmas letter? Well, I just did. I hope it doesn't detract from your Christmas experience.) He also builds cool Linux computers at home.

I am continuing to write when I make time. More and more I find myself sliding down the slippery slope of Blogging, which means I haven't done as much “real” writing as I intend to, but at least I'm exercising my writing muscles, as it were. I also take a lot of pictures.

Mollusc (11) is VERY into art and fantasy and is always reading, writing or drawing (when not pressed into TKD classes.) She could care less about fashion unless it's something to do with dragons or gryffins. She loves mountain climbing, surfing and fire-walking, provided they are done by someone else while she is reading a book. She is a staunch advocate of the death penalty for the misuse of apostrophes.

Sluggie (9) is Miss Physical, loves sparring, and is starting to get into art. She is the fashionista in the house. Her superpower is producing fabulous outfits from unlikely sources and creating amazing hairstyles using very few accessories -- arts which she often practices on The Prawn. She can outrun all of the boys who chase her.

Fishy (7) is Mr. Bionicle aka Mr. Lego aka “Eatfoodman.” If you can imagine it, he can build it. If you cook it, he will eat it. Sometimes he will attempt to eat it before you cook it. Keep your hands and feet well clear! He loves Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes and he will gladly regale you with one of his self-published (aka pencil drawn) “Adventures of Stick Guy” action books.

The Prawn (5) is blossoming as a martial artist and has a great memory for blocking sets and forms. Her hobbies include drawing; cooking and selling plastic/wooden food; being a princess; and getting married. She recently received the Nobel Peace Prize for rapid shoe-tying in the face of adversity.

Oh, and we have a new kitty. Well, new as of a year ago. Her name is Trillian and she has 24 toes, bringing the grand total of kitty toes in our household to a whopping 72. Do the math if you like. Or not. (the rest are not genetic mutants – at least not in the toe department)

That's probably more than enough information. Now let's see if these actually make it out.

Brightest Blessings to you all, and a very Happy Hannukah, Christmas, Inti Raymi, Solstice, Yule, Kwaanza, Daeborum and Dong Zhi. Hallelujah, pass the Tylenol™!