Vicarious Rocky

This is my experience with the Christmas update letter -- can you relate? You open a thick envelope and see it's a card with something else. Ah, the 8x11 typed letter in an 11-12 pt font that's not Times Roman. On one hand, it's a 10 minute obligation; then again it's bound to be entertaining because you're about to learn more about this person and family then you ever wanted to know. The over sharing that occurs in the Holiday update letter is not always overt and intentional, but between the lines you typically get to find out:

Their interpretation of God / Christmas
The intro always gives a shout out to the season. No one wants to be remiss about explaining why they're telling you everything you never cared to know about their family. It's Christmas, that's why! And Christmas is a time of . . . Here's where they lay it out. Sharing? Gratitude? Family? And then you find out if they're in this for the glory of God or not. Is Christmas a secular family holiday or this about Jesus? If it's about Jesus for them, they'll let you know.

What they value
Sometimes they spill a list of things they're thankful about, but more often the values are portrayed in paragraph length and topics addressed. You know, as in 2 full paragraphs about his job, one about the vacation, another about the golf game. Then Jimmy's latest sports success gets a 3 sentence paragraph and Suzy is 5 so she gets one sentence. She's fine. Whatever. And his wife Carol, just loves having family around her this time of year. So you get the hierarchy just in scanning -- Good provider values career, leisure, proud of Jimmy, ignores Suzy, with a nod to Carol for making it all happen. Ta-Dah. Sometimes it's all about the kids. Sometimes the pets each get their own paragraph. You get the idea.

Pessimist or Optimist?
The tone is always fascinating. Is life a crap sandwich or is every tragedy laden with hope? "Well, I have cancer, lost my job, and my wife is leaving me, but God Bless it, I'm still breathing!" But I like the miserable writers. "Jimmy still hasn't found work, but his daughter is doing great in school despite her pronounced learning disabilities."

The take-away - Their life in 3 sentences.
The last paragraph is always the best because you sense they had to really focus to boil it down. How do they sum it up, the entire last year? Here's mine:

We're all healthy and happy here at the Lewis House. It's been a year with a few challenges, but each are helping us appreciate life more and giving us better perspective. We're really looking forward 2010 and continue to be grateful for all our blessings.

Happy New Year to you and yours!
The Lewis'