dizzy, I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning...

I love that song...ok, not really, it's annoying, but I really am ditzy. I mean dizzy with Xmas and trying to prepare for the spring semester and with generally feeling really anxious about going back to work.

Meanwhile, I'm going to try to send out Christmas cards - and instead of a little "brag" letter this year (although honestly, I've tried not to make them too boastful), I am including this poem. It's not meant to be cryptic, just sufficiently devoid of details so as not to embarrass the little people/teens. If you have the patience, I'm putting the brag letter I won't be sending out below the poem.

Growing up

in our cozy home
things still
appear
grow
change

not plants
but people
and ideas
and convictions

learning geometry proofs
and world capitals
also
how to
read the map of each others’ hearts

we learn scales
and f-stops
remembering the map
is not the same as the terrain

remembering that now
is not then

On the horizon
empty nests appear to take shape

Vision becomes blurred
and sharpened

as some reach forward
while others reach back

as love binds what time steals

- Christmas 2006

Christmas letter version #1:

December 19, 2006

Well, we added two more stadiums to our baseball stadium quest this year. In early June, we drove to Cleveland, OH and Pittsburgh, PA. While there, we not only enjoyed the baseball, but the Andy Warhol Museum, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

S has done a great job of transitioning to B High this year. He spends even more time than ever with friends, still sings in the choir and is preparing for a chorus trip to Spain in April 07.

K was on sabbatical this fall – and although she didn’t complete her dissertation, she did “advance to candidacy.” Basically this means her proposal was approved and now she can officially collect her data. It also means, that she’ll spend one more summer (07) working on the dissertation, but then by Christmas next year she should be done! Say a prayer! Sabbatical also meant starting cello, joining the Daughters of Abraham, and going to the art therapy conference in New Orleans in Nov.

M has officially decided that bassoon was only a phase, and that next year she will NOT be playing it! While it lasted she was able to earn several bassoon awards and did Music on the Hill this past summer. She continues to be a big SIMS fan, and is wondering if architecture or interior design is the career for her.

P continues to do full-time solo practice in B. He’s still sailing, has invested a bit more in photography, and has been running consistently all year.

It’s been a full year, and we continue to look for ways to live out a sense of social conscience despite all our privileges. We don't have babies or dogs to keep us honest, but as we all try-on "adulthood" we know that there is more to life than accumulating more.

...anyway, that's when I starting thinking there was no way I could really pull it off.

Here's Christmas letter version #2 which let's just say was a tad angry...

December 19, 2006

Our year hasn’t seen much of a change in our social consciousness – I can honestly say that despite the intensity of our trip to El Salvador last year, no significant changes have been made by our family to become part of the global solution. If anything we’ve become even more consumerist and driven to own and numb ourselves from awareness of a larger consciousness.

S started at B High this year. He spends even more time than ever with friends, still sings in the choir and is preparing for a chorus trip to Spain in April 07.

K was on sabbatical this fall – and although she didn’t complete her dissertation, she did “advance to candidacy.” Basically this means her proposal was approved and now she can officially collect her data. It also means, that she’ll spend one more summer (07) working on the dissertation, but then by Christmas next year she should be done! Sabbatical also meant starting cello, joining the Daughters of Abraham, and going to the art therapy conference in New Orleans in Nov.

M has officially decided that bassoon was only a phase, and that next year she will NOT be playing it! She’s also not sure that C Middle School is in the cards for next year, and has decided to apply to private schools.

P continues to do full-time solo practice in B. He’s still sailing, has invested a bit more in photography, and has been running consistently all year.

anyway... expect to see the poem in your cards instead of the letter... only you know why!