Christmas Card Letter 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas! It’s hard to believe that it’s already time to send out Christmas cards. This year has really flown by. We hope you’re all doing well.

Not a ton has happened to the Bird family this year. Our lives have actually stabilized quite a bit. We haven’t moved, or had another baby, or changed jobs, or anything major like that. We’ve gotten pretty comfortable with our situation. I’m starting to really feel like a grown up.

I, Ben, work for Severtson Corporation, a company that makes the best movie screens in the world. I really like my job, which happens to be a private-sector non-union small business job in the manufacturing industry. I feel patriotic just clocking in every weekday morning. It would be inappropriate to delve into politics here (vote for Mitt Romney!) so I’ll just refer you to my blog, Telemoonfa Time, found on the Internet at telemoonfa.blogspot.com. This year I’ve dabbled into a few hobbies like planting trees, oil painting, and avoiding housework.

The back yard looks a lot different than it did a year ago. Erin and I took out all the gravel back there, shovel full by shovel full, and we got rid of the ugly bushes that came with the house. We wanted to work with a blank canvas. Unfortunately, due to several factors -exhaustion from the gravel removal process, apathy, insufficient funds- the back yard still looks like a blank canvas- a blank, brown, and dirty canvas. But before our willpower ran dry, we managed to plant three citrus trees: orange, grapefruit, and lemon. They’re hanging on for dear life.

Erin has enjoyed being a homemaker this year. She keeps herself busy around the house and around the neighborhood. She makes kefir, she cans, she makes raspberry jam, she jogs, she does yoga, she takes care of Trudy, she leads the church choir, and she’s also been babysitting a lot lately. But wait, there’s more! She quilts! She kayaks! She yodels! OK, I’m exaggerating, but not very much. Erin is a wonderful woman with a can-do attitude and a will-do work ethic.

Trudy is 2 years old now, and she’s such a sweet little girl. She’s gotten a few inches taller, learned a few hundred new words, and is exclusively talking in complete sentences. For example, the other day when we strapped her in her car seat, she said, “Why did you do that to me?” It’s so rewarding to be a parent, and to watch her learn how to walk and talk and interact with people. Trudy sure can be melodramatic, though. Within a matter of minutes, she can go from the depths of anguish when she has to leave the park to the heights of ecstasy when she gets an artichoke. Really, I’m not just trying to impress you by telling you that Trudy loves artichokes. She really does love artichokes. But if you are impressed with Trudy’s appetite for healthy vegetables, so be it.

Well, I’d like to put something religious in this Christmas letter, for reasons that should be obvious, so I’ll quote from the Bible. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Sincerely, Telemoonfa