1996
Hello there,
Well it's the middle of January, so we all know it's time to expect the Willis' Christmas card. It's late at night, the girls are finally in bed, football is over for another two weeks and it's minus 5 outside. What better time to start my Christmas letter. I must start with an apology this year though, as I read in Miss Manners and Dear Abby's column that these kinds of seasonal letters are not deemed acceptable in polite company. Of course, if I was really polite, I probably wouldn't even consider telling Miss and Abby to......well you get the picture. Besides, I bet Heloise wouldn't mind being on my Christmas card list. Maybe I'll send her a copy.
Following the outline of past letters, I will start with January and fill you in on a month to month basis, being sure to include all the highlights that define life in the Willis household.
January again consisted of mostly cold weather, snow and Emily's birthday. This was number eight! Half way to a drivers license! If she continues to have birthdays on a regular basis like this, she will eventually turn into a teenager. I don't believe I am quite ready for that to happen. We also got to help Emily with her first Science Fair project this month. She did a good job and learned all sorts of stuff about crystals, but I don't believe she really startled the scientific community with any great discoveries. I've already learned to hate Science Fair projects.
Our February was about the same as yours. We stayed inside if at all possible and waited for March.
March contained a defining moment of personal growth for our family. That was that Sarabeth turned three. She was no longer a member of that proud organization, THE TERRIBLE TWOS. She was now three. We all know about the Terrible Twos. We've heard the stories and seen the photos. But no one ever mentions what happens when these kids turn three. I imagine that is because if word got out about how a three year old behaves, civilization as we know it would cease to exist! The human race would come to a screeching halt. No one would dare have children if they knew what happens at age three. A quick synopsis of the entire year. "No.....NO....I said No.....Did you hear me young lady?.....NO!!!" Of course this was followed by a temper tantrum with lots of screaming and crying. And sometimes Sarabeth would scream and cry too.
April was the start of soccer season. We really needed soccer to start when it did because for awhile there it looked like we might end up we a free evening during the week. Luckily, soccer practice filled that void, and even occupied a prominent spot on the calendar every Saturday morning. Emily's team did OK and she really enjoyed it. Emily was the star player and was selected to play on the Junior Olympic team, where she made a last second goal and brought home the gold for the good old US of A., all with a severely sprained ankle. Actually, that last sentence is a lie, but it is the kind of stuff everyone else puts in their Christmas letters, so I thought I'd give it a try. Let me know if you liked it and I will do more of the same next year.
May was more soccer, and the race. Since my connection for suite tickets sold his company, we drove to Louisville and watched it on TV. What I mean to say is, we went to Louisville to spend quality time with my parents and the race happened to be on TV down there.
June wasn't really the start of summer for us. Emily was still in school for the whole month, soccer was over for awhile and it seemed to rain nearly every weekend. But we made up for it in July.
We started July by going to Bruce's place in Idaho for the Fourth. About four hours after we arrived, Emily slipped and fell down some stairs. Lucky for her, Sarabeth was at the bottom to break her fall. Unlucky for Sarabeth, who ended up with a broken leg. This happened on the 3rd. Sara slept through most all of the Fourth, including the parade, the rodeo, and the fireworks. A day later, she was back up to speed, scooting around the place on her butt, dragging that big old cast around. She put up with the hassle real well and ended up taking advantage of all the cousins, aunts and uncles that would pick her up and carry her any place she wanted to go. We had a great time and really enjoyed seeing all those Willis people again. We stayed an extra day, which was fun, but ended up with a flight schedule that had us sleeping in airports and arriving at Indy at 10am Tuesday. By noon I was at work. What a company guy! Of course I took Thursday and Friday off for a golf outing in Ohio. You remember last year, how I bragged about winning my first golf trophy. Well, I won my second one this year. Second low gross. I hope to make this a regular feature in Christmas letters to come.
July stayed busy. This is Emily's summer vacation so it was loaded with sports camp, and Girl Scout camp and swimming and all the other things kids are supposed to do in three months of vacation. Of course, she only had one month to do everything, so we kept her hopping. July ended with a call from Bruce. He offered us his hotel room and tickets for the last week of the Olympics. I guess he had to go make a movie or something that week. That's why I have a real job with nice regular hours. Anyway, Jane and I thought about it for a few seconds and said "OK". What a tough decision. We flew out the next day. Sara had her cast taken off the day before so we were all ready for action. We spent the first evening just wandering around taking pictures. In the hotel room. It was a little more than we were accustomed to seeing at our normal vacation hotel room. It felt a little more comfortable after I got back from the Kroger across the street with the peanut butter and jelly that we would eat for most meals. The events we saw were great. The whole place was just amazing. It was probably a once in a lifetime experience for us, something we will always remember.
We left at 6am Friday, because Jane and I had some special passes for the Brickyard 500. At noon we were in Gasoline Ally at the track. We watched the race the next day from the Goodyear Suite. We had a good time and my hearing is almost back to normal.
August came. Emily went back to school. Sara back to daycare. Wayne and Jane went back to work. We needed the rest. That's all. NO, WAIT A MINUTE. Now I remember. Jane and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary that month. I took her out for a romantic evening on the town. Actually, we went to Red Lobster for the shrimp special, but since the girls weren't with us it counts as a romantic evening. As anyone who knows me must realize, that woman is a saint. 20 years!
September arrived and things got busy again. Emily made the travel team in soccer. Now we had TWO practices a week, plus a game Saturday, Sunday or both days. This is semi-serious soccer. It's fun, but more fun if you win. She loves it, so I love it. AND guess what else happened in September. I shot my first sub par round of golf, and then two weeks later got my first hole-in-one. You will notice that I put the word "first" before each of those two feats, hoping that both will be repeated some day. Feel free to call and I will give you a "shot by shot" description of each wonderful event. Actually, just a "shot" description of the hole-in-one.
October was good. I had a birthday. Who cares. Went to Dallas for business and got to spend some time with my old college room mate and his family. It was fun. Thanks Pete. Oh, by the way, soccer is over.
November arrived and brought with it another month off for Emily. It also brought the indoor soccer season. Neat game. We managed to take a week off before Thanksgiving and went to Orlando to see my parents, and of course Mickey. And Donna. The weather was perfect for us. I would tell you all about Disney, but why don't you just read what everybody else wrote in their Christmas letter about going to Disney World and just change the names.
December was great. I was asked to be a part of the church choir Madrigal Dinner program this year. It was a great time. I really enjoyed the chance to get up on stage and perform. I was your basic Knave #1. This was also my first experience with wearing panty hose......Well, at least in public. Just a little joke there. Anyway, the 21st of December was a wild and crazy 50th Anniversary party for my parents. My sister Teresa did tons of work on invitations and a video. Great work Teresa. All sorts of people came from all sorts of places to honor two really special people. Everyone had a good time. I can't wait to do it in another 50 years.
Christmas came and went. But it didn't leave without changing us a little bit. Every year seems to mean a little more than the year before. I really like it that way. I hope the Christmas spirit touched you this year, and it meant a little bit more than ever before.
IN CONCLUSION
Wow, I can't believe it ended up at three pages worth this year. I wonder what it's going to cost me to mail. And we still have to take the family portrait and get it printed up. OK, it's January 13th now and I hope to start getting these things out in a week. I just love Christmas traditions.
By the way, the address is 3343 Melbourne Circle
(new zip) Indianapolis, IN 46228
317-299-6764
excelwcw@aol.com