I'm Sure Superman's Year Wasn't All that Exciting, Either.

Like I mentioned earlier, it's that time of year.  Time for the annual holiday newsletter and I haven't the faintest idea what to write.  It's been like this ever since both our kids passed the one year mark.
The years they were born, there was lots to write about.  We had a new baby!  We produced life!  We haven't slept since!  It's droll and a lot of people can relate.  Well, many of the people on my Christmas list can relate, anyways.
But nowadays the days are just... days.  We get up, work, eat, sleep, clean, rinse, repeat.
There are small and wonderful moments like the time that... the time that... see?  I can't even remember any of the small and wonderful moments.  I'd scroll back through Facebook like I've done for the past couple years, but they've messed it all up with that damn Timeline format and I can't find half the things I've posted.
And besides, most of those moments aren't something that translate well on paper, at least, not in the Readers' Digest Condensed Version of our Life that I try to create every year.

This is what happened this year:

DD turned three and I made a really cool cake that looked like a globe.
DS turned five and I made another cake that had a passably recognizable dinosaur on it.
We threw a kick ass New Year's Eve party (can you even *say* "kick ass" in a holiday newsletter?) Then the rest of winter happened and I have no recollection of any of it.  We probably ate spaghetti a lot and spent too much time watching children's television.  We had people over many times to play games and eat.  We got invited to other people's places to eat and play games and play Rock Band.   J went to CABS as often as possible while I watched the kids.   At some point DD stopped saying "memato" for "tomato" and I will miss it.  She still says "yogrit."
We went to Florida in June to visit James' grandparents and managed to go there the one cool and rainy week of the summer.   (The grandparents are doing well, though.)
I belly danced at a couple of summer festivals.  In public.  With a bare midriff.  After turning 40 which I celebrated in July with good friends.  I karaoked while James watched the kids.  (It's like dating, only we do it separately.)
We celebrated Christmas in July (but really in August) in Kalamazoo for the last time because J's mom has retired, sold his childhood home and is moving (slowly) to New Jersey.  She's been visiting here more, too, which has been great.
Gracie got a mysterious malady that took us twice to OSU Veterinary hospital, but she's mostly recovered now, though far more skittish than she ever was before.  George has stepped into her role as the gregarious housecat.
DS started full-day Kindergarten, and while it's going well, he doesn't love it as much as we thought he would.  He is sometimes a very serious little man.
DD made it through the worst of age three and seems to have come out on the other side.  We are still blinking at the lights at the end of this long tunnel.  We're nervous about her teenage years.
We went to amusement parks both with and without the kids and I'd have to admit that at this point it's more fun without them.  J loves it either way and will be a coaster enthusiast into his eighties, I'm sure.
Six days before his birthday, J lamented that he really wanted a surprise party, but now I couldn't throw him one because he'd be expecting it, so I threw him one.  We have the kind of friends who will come together on short notice to provide food and festivities and diversions at key moments and I am immensely grateful for them.
J found a new job at some point and I got a somewhat new job thrust upon me when they restructured the gifted program in our district.  I'm keeping my head above water.  Mostly.
My younger brother and his wife expanded their family by one, adding a beautiful, healthy, gorgeous boy to their brood.  My elder brother and his wife purchased a lovely new (to them) hilltop home near Boston where they weathered hurricane Sandy without serious incident.  My mother celebrated retirement from teaching by volunteering at her grandson's school.  Then she got a full knee replacement and has celebrated by learning to walk on it again.  My father retired from KSU and celebrated with a terrific party followed by an immediate return to working as a professor at KSU.  My family does not know how to retire well, clearly.
We had much of the first floor painted and the furniture rearranged so that it all looks more, well, intentional, and not like we just set all the furniture down where it was because it got too heavy keep holding.  Our goal is to eventually have a home that looks like it's owned by actual grownups.

And that's about it.  Not really, though.  That's what there is for public consumption by relatives and acquaintances and strangers I've never met who stumble upon this blog.  The rest is just kinda private.  But I hope you'll indulge me and imagine that all the things I've left out make us utterly fascinating and hip, and probably involve saving the world on a regular basis.

Happy Holidays.