Christmas 2018

Wish you all could've joined us

     It is Christmas morning.
     It is a crisp, coldish, 35 degrees out.  It is pretty quiet in the house.  My wife is sleeping and it is well-deserved given the days and nights she put in preparing for our fabulous Christmas Eve family gathering and dinner.  It is just the two of us.  Our daughter and her family are at home in Los Angeles and were unable to travel here:  Feeling Thankful.   Our son and his family are in New York and unable to travel here because they are expecting in February!
     I thought I would revive a This Side of Fifty Tradition and pen a Christmas Morning letter to one and all.  I have been writing and distributing a monthly letter since February of 2004.  In 2009, it turned into this blog.  In 2004, 2005, and 2008, I wrote Christmas themed letters.  My favorite of those was the December 2005 one in which I parodied the Christmas letters we often get in Christmas Cards.  In 2010, I began writing a Christmas Card kind of letter or blog post.  I was up earlier than everyone else.  It was dark, I had a cup of coffee nearby, the world was still, and I would pen a stream of consciousness letter mostly thankful for all the people I know but would not be that Christmas Day.
     Note that my friend Ara would also tease me about the opening of those letters e.g "it is Christmas morning, it is dark still, I have a cup of coffee at hand, and the house and world is peacefully quiet yada yada yada."  He considered it my version of the classic, "it was a dark and stormy night..."  Truth be told, he was spot on.

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Shnorhavor Surp Dznunt

     It was a pleasures to pen those letters.  I continued it each year through 2016.  I did not write one in 2017.  I only blogged eight times that year.  I am not sure why.  I was busy at the university.  I got out of the habit and I hated that I got out of the habit.  The habit of daily writing and blogging was something I was proud of and it was my thing.  I did not like that I let it lapse so badly.  On New Year's Day, I resolved to write more.  I am pleased to say that this and quitting smoking cigarettes in 1990 are by a long shot the best resolutions I have ever made and kept.  They might be only two I have ever kept.  With this posting, I have 91 postings this year which eclipsed the previous high which was 53 in 2011.  I have been looking forward to writing this letter all year.
     Last evening, as is another tradition, my friend Andres called from Uruguay.  It used to be a bigger deal when it was an international call.  But, with WhatsApp, we video chatted for free.  Being in the southern hemisphere, he was enjoying a lovely 86 degree Christmas Eve in a t-shirt and shorts.  It is always a pleasure to hear from him.  Later in the evening, my phone started buzzing.  This time I was getting Christmas greetings and well-wishes from China where I had the privilege to teach in the summers of 2015 and 2016.  It is most thoughtful of these students to keep in touch as they do.  Through the magic of WhatsApp, I have been exchanging greeting with friends in Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, and elsewhere.
     Allow me to copy/paste the last few paragraphs from my 2012 Christmas Letter:

I know I will not see most of you this year. I am not sure if this is an Armenian or American tradition, but consider this my making the rounds, knocking on your door, wishing you the best of the season, and you inviting me in to meet you and yours over a cup of Christmas cheer. If I could do that in Detroit, Los Angeles, Boston, San Jose, New York, Wilton, Caracas, Mexico City, Yerevan, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Guatemala City, Panama City, or Ocala, that would be something. Heck, it would be something if I could do that with everyone I know in Chicagoland! 

I close this letter the same way I did last several years. The sentiment is exactly the same with only the year updated. I am delighted to reach out this very quiet moment to friends and family all over the United States and all over the world to convey our warm Christmas wishes to you and yours. Even more so, I hope that 2019 is a year of health, happiness, and prosperity for you and yours.