2011
Hey. Merry Christmas!
This is always the hardest part. It’s March already and I have to start this Christmas letter. And so far, all I know for sure is that I’m going to finish this little introductory paragraph and then type January in all caps. Probably underlined too. I’ll have to look at last year’s letter and see how I did it then. I know how you people need continuity. But let me warn you now that I am going to do one thing different in this year’s version. I pride myself in the fact that this isn’t your typical Christmas letter, but I’m afraid I have no choice but to use one of the tried and true staples of the Christmas letter genre. I’m going to brag about my children. I know. I paused for about 10 minutes before I could bring myself to start typing again. Weird, but they earned it this year. When you get to it, just hike up your pant legs and start wading.
January
So now we know it was bold and underlined, but not all uppercase. I just read last years letter, so I can bring you up to speed. We start the year with snow on the ground. Sarabeth is beginning her last semester of high school and we are starting to get serious with the college search. Emily is working at the daycare and living with us. And those silly cats are still around. And of course Scout and Kirby. So we start each morning with the pitter-patter of 24 feet around the house. On the 29th, we celebrated Emily’s 23rd birthday and of course everyone out there knows what gift she didn’t receive this year. Actually, I don’t really think we did much for her birthday. I think she jumped in her car and drove to Ohio to party with all her college friends that weekend. Maybe that’s why there is no picture of her holding a cake.
February
The big highlight of this month was a college visit back to the home state. There actually is a school in Lexington, KY that I would consider allowing my daughter to attend. A great little school with a great reputation and a cool name. Transylvania University. How can you not go to visit a place called Transylvania? I liked the place but Sara thought it was way too small for her. But she did get a nice red t-shirt with the name on the front and “Looking for New Blood” across the back. Almost worth the trip. But what was worth the gas money was meeting the Beck girls and Dennis for dinner the evening before. Yes, I know they’ve had different last names for 30 something years now, but some things just aren’t going to change in my head. We had a great time talking about our kids, who we still stay in touch with from high school, and wondering what ever happened to ………? Jackie, Lynn & Dennis, thanks for a fun evening. We managed to visit Xavier in Cincinnati on way back. That’s another college, not an old high school buddy. When the weekend was over we had 2 schools we could mark off the list.
March
A couple fun things happened this month. Early on we started a remodeling project in the basement. We needed someplace to store important things like a big flat screen. And a refrigerator that could be used for storing beverages. And a big leather couch. And me. Being smarter than I used to be and having more money than time, I enlisted the help of a trained professional. That would be my tennis buddy Scott. Jane and I did the demo, some of the other dirty work and painting. We let Scott and his crew do the things that took time, talent and skill. And since he actually does this kind of stuff so he can eat, it was all finished in about 3 weeks. It looks great and now I have a place to safely store that stuff I was talking about. While all this was going on Sarabeth was still narrowing down her college choices. And Emily was busy working on her future. She had applied and been accepted into a program called Indianapolis Teaching Fellows. It is a 2 year program that begins with a summer of intensive training. She would then begin teaching in the fall and taking classes at a local university. At the end of the 2 years she will have her Master of Arts in Teaching, two years experience in a high risk school and hopefully a great start in a career she enjoys. That part is a few Christmas letters away so we’ll just have to wait and see. And in the middle of all this stuff Sarabeth had her 18th birthday. It’s not as exciting as 16 or anywhere close to turning 21. But she can buy Lottery tickets now! And she’s too young to leave the state and go party with her friends. That’s why we have a picture of her holding her cake!
April
Nothing happened this month so I’ll use this space for some bragging. It was time for Sarabeth to decide on a college. It was down to 2 schools. IU in Bloomington and a small liberal arts college in southern Indiana called Hanover. Both good schools but totally different. One small, cozy and exclusive. One huge, fast paced and exciting. Both able to provide a great education. And both really inexpensive, because they really wanted my daughter to attend their school. Sarabeth did well in high school, had a bunch of the extracurricular activities that college recruiters like, and she really kicked butt on the ACT. All sorts of great scholarship offers. She made her decision and signed up with the Hutton Honors College at IU. I’m a proud dad. And to all of you with “Indiana” right before your zip code, thanks for helping to pay for her education. You won’t regret it. That’s all the bragging. For now.
May
Fun month. Started by heading to Louisville for the Derby. We met up with my sisters and if that wasn’t enough, we added Cousin Sharon to the mix for good measure. Nancy used all those KY connections to get us into the backside barn area. Kind of like having Garage Passes for the 500, except in Indy you can’t pet the cars on their noses. As you can see from the photos, the horses really wanted to be a part of every photo taken. The weather was perfect. We plan on doing it again sometime soon, that is, if Nancy picks up on this subtle hint. And just for good measure I thought I’d add this Derby
picture of Emily. Because she looks so darn cute! The other big deal this month was prom. Our last prom! Here are a couple of pictures of Sarabeth and her friends. Yes, there were boys involved, but they have served their purpose and really don’t need to be a part of my Christmas letter. Nasty little animals for the most part anyway. But all of the ladies looked beautiful and had a wonderful time at the prom. But we all know that as lovely as they looked, they will get together in 20 years and laugh about these photos. At least they don’t have to look back at crushed velvet and bell bottoms like some of us.
June
We started the month with SB’s graduation from high school. That’s her in the red. The graduation was good. She had a chance to celebrate with 650 of her closest friends. But a couple of weeks later we had a big open house to mark the occasion. We got the house all cleaned up, waxed the dogs and had all sorts of food and drink. Thanks Marky! We had a great time and friends came from all over the place to wish Sarabeth the best and help kick-start her into the future. Thank you all for stopping by. It meant a lot to Sarabeth and the entire family.
The other neat thing we did in June was take a helicopter tour of the city. I won the flight at a silent auction and the girls and I lifted off on a beautiful Friday evening. There was only room in the copter for 3 passengers so Jane volunteered to keep her feet on solid ground. If you have never done a helicopter ride I would highly suggest it. The view was fantastic. It didn’t really seem like flying. It felt more like a video game. I do think Sarabeth actually used the trip as an excuse to buy a pair of aviator sunglasses!
July
Sometimes I do things that…well, things that are stupid. But I’m the kind of guy that is willing to share my stupidity for your Christmas letter enjoyment. So let me set the scene. Early morning before work. I was in the shower when Jane bangs on the door. She opens the door and tells me that someone has stolen our van from the driveway. So I jump out of the shower, pull on my jeans and scurry out to the driveway, dripping wet. Note that she said “has stolen,” as in past tense. I wasn’t going to catch the bad guy in the act. Why did I run to the driveway to look at something that wasn’t there? Did I really expect to be able to casually walk back upstairs and tell Jane she was mistaken? That the van actually was sitting there in the driveway and she just missed it? But the main reason I told this story was as a public service announcement. If you own a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan with 128,346 miles on it and a little bit of rust just starting to show over the wheel wells, keep a close eye on it! Someone out there thinks it’s valuable.
But we did have some fun things happen during the month. We met my sister Nancy and went down to Lake Cumberland. We spent a weekend just floating in the lake. Right there in that blue part of the photo to the left. Usually had a beer in one hand and….nothing in the other. But that was OK because you could use the other hand to paddle around in the water to get the sun out of your eyes. And that was about the most strenuous activity of the whole weekend. A really good weekend!
August
This was an exciting month for us, but not in a picture taking way. We bought a new car. A nice metallic gray Camry. I do have a photo I could drop in here, but I think most of you out there may have some sort of an idea what a Camry looks like. But pay attention. If you ever see a rare metallic gray Camry driving down the road, wave! It’s probably Jane. We took Sarabeth to Bloomington to start her freshman year at IU. It was a little easier this time around. We had done this once before with the other one. I still managed a tear or two. I really, really wanted to stay! OK, sorry, but I need to do just a little more bragging. Emily completed all of her courses and was pretty much at the top of the class. She only had one job interview and that was at the school where 3 of the top instructors from her program taught. It was the best school in the system and they wanted the best teachers there. She was hand picked for this spot. So this month Emily officially became a 7th grade Special Ed teacher at Harshman Magnet Middle School in IPS. And she moved into an apartment in Broad Ripple with a friend from the program. Broad Ripple is the real trendy part of the city. It’s where all the cool kids live. The best way to sum up August is that we got rid of both daughters this month. The house is quieter. The house stays much cleaner. Laundry is 20% of what it used to be. Now I’m sure there will be a time in the future when I am sitting there watching my favorite show on my big TV, and not being relegated to the small one upstairs because Grey’s Anatomy is on, that I will miss them. I’ll be sure to let you know when that happens. Won’t be anytime soon.
September
Last spring, back before Sarabeth’s graduation party, we did a lot of work around the house. Power washed the deck, put out what felt like tons of mulch, added a raised flowerbed and all sorts of other things. And Jane bought flowers for about every square inch. She bought some sort of special plant that was supposed to have flowers the size of dinner plates. We watched that plant all summer. It kept growing and growing and finally this month we actually got a bloom. It wasn’t the size of a dinner plate, but it was unusual. It has since been christened the Dr. Suess Flower. Even more exciting, if you can believe it is that we got to spend time in Bloomington for Parents Weekend. Now what makes it more exciting than an 8’ tall flower is some of the other parents we had the chance to see that weekend. We went to a football game and had dinner with my old college roommate Pete Ineich and his wife and daughters. It’s neat how this Texan from Chicago sends all his kids to Indiana for an education. We had a great time telling stories and talking about a bunch of the people that are reading this letter right now. We couldn’t quite figure out how it could have been 38 years since we first met. Wow. I haven’t felt old this entire letter until that last sentence. Jane had a birthday this month, speaking of…
October
Once again, my favorite month. All sorts of things happened. I had a couple of work trips. Early in the month I flew to NJ to play in a golf outing. Then went to Louisville for a weekend to play golf with Dave Emery. It was 100 degrees and we were the coolest guys on the course. No golf pictures, but Dave’s dog made the Christmas letter! Somewhere in here I managed to have a birthday. And I decided I’m man enough to start taking advantage of all those discounts I’m eligible for now. I’m old and I just don’t care! A few days later I headed to New Orleans for more work stuff. My job sounds just horrible doesn’t it? Anyway, I flew back from there straight to Louisville for my nephew Jake’s wedding. The beautiful Amanda is now officially part of the Willis family, with all the honors, rights, and privileges pertaining thereto. It was a fun weekend and turned into the biggest family gathering in recent history. There were 20 of us in this photo. And that’s not counting Cousins Paul and Marci that jet-setted in for the evening. Maybe that’s why it turned into such a party. What’s that last photo of Nancy?
November
We all know what happened in November. Absolutely nothing. Except Thanksgiving. And I always have good things to say about Thanksgiving and this year was no different. Jane’s family came to our place for a very calm, relaxed dinner. We just kinda hung out, ate some really good food and then just layed around a little more. And all of this was being done with a thankful attitude. I really think we could do with more than one Thanksgiving per year.
December
IU beat Kentucky! My goal now is to get this thing mailed before the few special UK fans that receive this letter have the last laugh. And if it was just for a day, Nick & Jess it was nice to see you. I know that last sentence seems random, but I don’t believe in paragraphs. So let’s talk about Christmas. My sister Teresa has joined the real world again and moved from California back to Louisville. So we decided to christen her new home by having our family Christmas there. We had just about everyone there. Maybe next year we can get all 23 of us together. Not much to say. You know what families do when they get together for Christmas. Just look at the pictures. It’s kind of like the grand finale.
See that picture way over on the right? That’s the girls on New Years Eve. That’s why I wait until after the the year is over to write this thing. Didn’t want to miss that photo. They look so pretty! Sorry, bragging again.
So that’s it. For the most part it was a great year. Like most families, some ups & some downs. But we made it and are going to try it again this year. Hope your 2011 was fanatastic and 2012 is even better. If we didn’t get a chance to talk or get together last year maybe we can connect this year. We still have a few months.
Merry Christmas!
Wayne Jane Emily Sarabeth
