Who knew that writing a Christmas letter could be so....you fill in the blank because I am sure it is all of that and more. As you may have guessed, it falls on me to write the families annual Christmas letter while my wife gets to "edit" it. I put the edit on quotes, not because she does nothing, but because she doesn't read it so much to find grammatical and spelling errors (that's what word is for) as she does to weed out the portions and phrases she either doesn't agree with or she considers to much information. Granted, she is usually right. If you follow my blog at all, you have probably noticed I tend to be long winded and repetitive. I tried fixing it once, but it just wasn't me.
The point here is that I write the letter, she cuts it up, I rewrite it, she approves it and we send it out. The problem is, she can't wait until I am done to edit it. As I am typing a sentence (by the way, I tend to think as I type and may end up writing a single sentence 6 or 7 times before I consider it acceptable), I will suddenly hear her voice come from behind me telling me that the sentence I just wrote doesn't make a lot of sense. I love her dearly and am thankful for her input, I just wish sometimes she would wait until after I am actually ready for her to read it.
She has gotten better about it. She actually asks me if I am ready for her to read it most of the time. She just forgets every once in a while and then I hear her dancing in the background with a comment she wants to make. She just bounces from one foot to the other sighing until I ask her what is wrong then mumble the standard nothing. We eventually sort it out and the letter is better for it.
Maybe I am ranting a bit much here. I most definitely will be in the doghouse when I get home, but the truth is, without her input, the annual Christmas letter would be a short book detailing not only the events of the last year, but the emotions, and backgrounds for each event. Oh, and I would probably forget to mention how the family is doing, so there is that.
The Christmas letter is always better for her input, but writing it is a day or two of torture that we endure together (and sometimes because of each other) to keep our families informed. Currently, this years letter is at one and a half pages and I have yet to mention any event specific to a single family member, let alone how they are doing. That is just one of the tasks I have before me this night. Actually, it is pretty much the only set task I have before me tonight and I still have 5 hours to do it in. I have a feeling I will be cutting a lot out of this years letter. Better to cut things out than to have to add more. If you want one of our Christmas letters this year (and you didn't get one last year) or you have changed your address since the last card, leave your email in the comments so I can contact you to get your address.
Well, that is the post for tonight. Thank you all for reading and have a nice day.
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