I’ve collected up this year’s Christmas cards, and made sure they were all accounted for in my Palm Pilot. For each name and address in my address list, I have entries in the “Notes” section that look like this:
Where 00=2000, 01=2001, 02=2002, etc., and:
| Abbreviation | |
| S | Sent Card |
| R | Received Card |
| SL | Sent Letter |
| RL | Received Letter |
| SPC | Sent Picture Card |
Three years in a row with an S, but no R, gets you off my holiday card list. So, for example, this is a bad sign for someone: 03 S; 04 S; 05 S
Unless, of course, you’re a close relative, or a good friend that I know appreciates cards even though you don’t send any out yourself.
I want to capture the sentiments from the cards my sister and my parents sent me.
From mom and dad:
John,
Nothing has been more rewarding than seeing you take your place in the world, sharing in all your accomplishments, believing in you and your dreams…
Nothing has been more important than being a part of your life, because nothing has been more wonderful than having you for a son.
Merry Christmas With Love
Mom & Dad
A Merry Christmas for all you do and care for us. We love you!
Note: All of the words in the card are underlined once, with the words in green being underlined twice, and the ones in red being underlined three times. My mom is an underliner.
From my sister:
Those memories are so important to me, and so are you. I’m really glad you’re my brother… and my friend.
I love what this card says. It was all I could do not to underline the key words (a là mom and dad 
) Every word is true — my brother, my friend… memories, laughter and special times. You are a bright spot in my life. Love, Vivian
I met Robert to drop off his car for service out in BFE. Actually, I enjoyed the experience, as it taught me an alternate route to Durham and Chapel Hill.
We had the final servings of the Hoo-Mee (Yes, yoo!) Chow Mein for dinner, and some Butter Pecan ice cream for dessert.
We took about an hour nap before dancing.
Driving to Flex, things were very blurry out of my right eye. I rubbed it a few times to make sure there wasn’t “sleep” up in there.
I moved my head up and down to look through the upper and lower part of my bifocals to see if it made a difference. Still blurry in the right eye.
As I always do, I left my glasses in the car while dancing.
Dancing was quite festive tonight, and I had great fun.
Carl taught The Boot Scoot Boogie, as there were a couple of new people interested in the lesson, and that’s one of the easiest dances to learn.
Later on, Carl and Adam, doing tag-team teaching, taught a new dance called, damnit, I forget now. Some woman’s name. Charlotte? Shelly? Rebecca?
Robert and I had a great waltz to Walking Away.
While shadow dancing, I got the idea that Robert and I ought to practice those antics that Carl and Michael do during Steam, and do it out of the blue one week.
On the drive home, my right eye was blurry again, or more accurately, still.
At home, I checked in the mirror to make sure there was nothing in it, and put a drop of this in it, even though it wasn’t red:
I hope I haven’t scratched my cornea or anything.