Looking back: 2014

Sari told me that I was supposed to write the "Christmas Letter" this year.... that did not happen.  So this is going to have to do.

Now, there is a good chance that you know a lot of the details of our lives (if you come by this blog regularly - and why wouldn't you???? - then you likely got the high points), so what I want to do is just reflect a bit on what happened and how I feel/felt about it.

2014 was a year of big changes.  Katie graduated from high school.  Megan got her driver's license.  Katie moved away from home.  Megan acquired "Fonzi" (her truck).  Sari was in the paper 3467496790459068907 times (actually - that is not a change).  Katie completed her first semester of university.  Megan got her first real job (at Pharmasave - or "Pharma - slave" as some of the staff call it).  :)   Sari did 367389469046 nice things for people.

I thought that graduation day would be harder than it was.... maybe the fact that I moped and pouted about it all spring helped (well - it helped me anyway.... I am not sure what it did for everyone else).  The day was fun though.  I really enjoyed it and I was really proud of Katie!  I miss having her around.  It has been great having her home this past week - laughing and being silly - talking and going on breakfast dates - but I also know that she is enjoying what she is doing and that is good!

I thought that Megan getting her license would be a big deal - last kid growing up and all - but it has been good too.  She is a good little driver.  It has been fun watching her get her independence both financially and in terms of more mobility and freedom.  Megan likes to make things and build things - she likes to know how things work - so I taught her how to change the oil in Fonzi.  She is also very compassionate (like her mom) and so it is interesting to watch her as she looks after her buddies and cares for them.  In a way, Katie not being here has allowed us to really get to know Megan too - and that has been good too!

From the time the kids were little, people told us (read this next bit with an old lady voice)... "Treasure these days!  They grow up so fast!"  and that is exactly what we have tried to do.  Every stage along the way has been different and every stage has been fun!  (Though I will admit that - once in a while - I miss having little girls with pig-tails running around the house)

So I could tell you all sorts of stories about volunteering at the stock car track, or Sari's craft projects, or the transmission blowing up on our SUV in the middle of our summer vacation, or freezing in Montana on my yearly bike trip... and it could be an interesting letter.... but that is not what I am thinking about - or even what really matters.

I often tell people that "Some things are valuable even if you cannot measure them in dollars and cents" and that is what I think when I look at my life...... I have a beautiful, kind, sweet wife.... I have two lovely, wonderful and funny daughters..... we have great friends both in the church here and in the town.... we get to see our parents and siblings more than most people do (and we actually like them).

Like anyone, I could complain about a few things.  Not everything went the way I would want it to and not everything has been easy...... but life is good and we are happy and blessed and looking forward to what is next.

Bring on 2015.  :)

A Christmas Song Rant

Can someone tell me why we are still playing "White Christmas" on the radio????  WHITE CHRISTMAS????  SERIOUSLY????  That song was recorded in 1942!!!!!   1942!!!!!   Bing Crosby has been dead since 1977!!!!!   Are you telling me that that no one in the past 72 years has written another song that we can play instead?????

Or how about "Have yourself a merry little Christmas"?   Written in 1942 with several popular versions recorded in the 50s.

"Rockin' around the Christmas tree" was a LAME song when it was the "girl's song" at my Grade 7 Christmas concert and it has not got any better since.

And what about "Boney M"?   Boney M lives off of the Christmas album that they released in 1981.  Quick, name a Boney M song that is not on that Christmas Album...... I thought so.

And don't even get me started on  "Frosty the Snowman" or "The Little Drummer Boy"!!!!

Now someone is likely thinking, "Come on, bonehead (not a very Christmas like spirit there but anyway....) it is tradition.  We play those old songs for nostalgic reasons.  The baby-boomers loved them as kids.... their kids grew up listening to them.... those songs are part of Christmas".

And you know what... I will give you that.  There is something to say about tradition.  I am good with that.

Why, though, do we need to be subjected to 6874896789457689 versions of the same song recorded by 904690456804586 artists????   I  could have lived without ever hearing Michael Buble singing "Let it Snow".  Are you really trying to tell me that "One Direction" is going to do a better version of "White Christmas" than Bing Crosby did???  Not a chance!  Not if you locked them in the studio and made them sing it until they were dead!  What is with that?  We have, literally, 30+ Christmas CDs and they encapsulate 14 total songs!  That is sort of like going to the store, buying a new pair of pants and then opening the bag at home and finding your same old pants!  They just keep putting the same pants in a different bag and we keep paying for "new pants"!!!! 

And then - when someone does finally come out with a new song - sadly - they write something like "Text me Merry Christmas".  If you have not heard this stellar gem, have a listen here......

Actually, I take that back.  I would rather listen to "Text me Merry Christmas" than "Last Christmas" by Wham (which gets played all the time and is 30 years old now too).  At least "Text me Merry Christmas" is actually about Christmas.  "Last Christmas" is just set at Christmas time.  It could have been called "Last Cattle Round Up" and it is still the exact same song.

So - please - someone..... somewhere..... write a new song about Christmas.  Just one!  I guarantee that you will be "Laughing all the way"..... to the bank at least!

Especially if you can figure out some way to get Bing Crosby to sing it.

Embracing Imperfection

Everyone is too uptight about getting things "right" all the time and doing their best.  So here is my new plan.... I am intentionally going to do things "imperfectly" in an effort to show everyone else that perfection is not required.  In doing so, I hope to free people from their overly extravagant expectations of themselves and others so that they can be free to enjoy the imperfect life that they are living.

Exhibit A:  My Christmas present wrapping.

It is terrible!!!   It looks like a drunken monkey on crack tried to wrap theses presents in the dark with his arms tied behind his back underwater in a 90 mph wind!

But ..... ummmm......  that was the look I was going for!

No really.... it is!!!!

Megan did not believe me either!  #dontlaughitisveryhurtful

Well there you go.....

Estevan's downtown shopping district had their big "Midnight Madness Christmas Shopping Kickoff" thingy tonight.  For the last few weeks, any time you shopped downtown you got a stamp in your passport.  Then you entered your passport in a draw.  To win, you had to be at the drawing downtown tonight at 8 pm.

Sari and Megs went just for the fun of it..... then wandered over to the draw just for the fun of it......

And Sari won the big prize....... a $500 shopping spree (just for the fun of it).

The only catch was that she had to spend it all in an hour and a half.  She had from the time of the draw until 9:30.

Now, with all the teasing I do about Sari spending all of our money all of the time, you would think that this would be an easy task for her..... but it wasn't!   I was at the hockey game so she called and asked "What should I do?  Should I buy practical stuff or just blow it?"   Of course I said, "It is found money.... just blow it!" and that may have been the problem.  I don't think I have ever told her to go blow $500 on impractical stuff in the 20 years we have been married.  In fact, she thought she had the wrong number.

Fortunately, she had Megan with her!  :)

Even at that though, Megan said that Sari would go into a store, look around and go "I don't know!"   In fact, one of the ladies who organized the thing said, "You don't selfishly shop for yourself very much, do you?"  :)

In the end (and in typical Sari fashion) she came home with bags and bags of stuff.... some practical stuff that we would have bought anyway, some presents for other people (just because she thought she ought to share the love) and a very few, small things for herself.

The best part, though, was the reaction of people when she won.  There were other prizes and when people won those everyone was like "meh"..... but when Sari won the big one everyone started clapping and patting her on the back and saying things like, "You do so many good things for others - you deserve to win this!" 

That may have been the best gift of all (but we are keeping the stuff too!!!)  :)

The Best Thing I have Seen in a While