Passionate Perseverance: family christmas letter...

So I thought I would share our families Christmas letter with you my dear readers. This year my husband was in quite a place when he wrote it. If you want to know where the "funny" comes from in our family, look no further than my hubby. Not to worry no twenty year old was harmed in the writing of this letter although Jerry's blood pressure did go up just a BIT! As for the picture above, all I can say is Courtney hates flash photography and refused to open her eyes in any of our photos. Yes, she is a stubborn as her big brother!

Hello from snowy Virginia, scene of two feet of global warming, cleverly designed as snow! Yes for first time since we’ve lived here, we are going to have a white Christmas to end our year, and what a year it’s been. We’ve decided that if you’re not laughing, you’re crying, and we much prefer laughing!

To start off with, Jonathan, our 20 year old college student, had his first encounter with the justice system in Fairfax County, courtesy of a shortened tryout for NASCAR. The flashing blue lights, which were not an indicator that he won the pole position, were followed by the usual encounter with a southern law officer:

“Son, do you know how fast you was goin’”….nervous silence…”No, sir”….more silence, followed by lyric banjo music…”Well, looks like you got yerself a date with the traffic judge.” This of course is followed by the typical southern courtroom, with Deputy Sherriff Coaltrain and Hangin’ Judge Parker: Stern look from Deputy Sheriff to NASCAR wannabees “Listen up…you will not talk, chew gum, read anything or use your cell-u-ler devices in this courtroom or you will be dismissed and have your trial rescheduled.”……no doubt followed by a fair trial and a fine hanging. But since my son, at the clever guidance of his father, decided that a shirt and tie accessorized nicely with a little groveling and a plea for mercy from the judge, since his daddy had none, got off with court costs and a “Don’t you go a-speedin’ in my county again, son” from the judge, followed by a “Thank you ma’am for ensuring your son was properly dressed” to Mary, who was only hearing “What we have here, boy, is a failure to communicate.”

Courtney had an equal amount of drama this year, courtesy of the swine flu. Now, I know what you’re thinking and it was not caused by my unusual relationship with bacon, sausage, ham, pork chops and other fine members of the pork products family. NO, this was caused by an emergency visit to….wait for it….an emergency room full of sick people with swine flu. Anyway, now I know why I love science so much…the incubation period for swine flu is 7 days and Shazaam, one week later we are BACK in the emergency room, full of sick swine flu patients with a 103° fever. So up we go for a fun-loving two day stay at the hospital, complete with masks, gowns and a plea from the ER nurses-”Please, Mrs. Lenaburg, can you give your husband a task, please, the nursing staff would REALLY like it if you could give him a task…that needs to be done outside the hospital.” Have I mentioned how much I hate hospitals? So, off I went to clean the house and bring back Starbucks and Boston Market. “Hey what is that stuff on the hospital food cart, something there growled at me, and I think that was the pudding cup.”

In the midst of all the insanity, I reached my 10 year mark with NG this year, which was kind of amazing to me, I have now been out of the Navy as long as I was in, so I figure I almost qualify for the gnarly old veteran with the “Lemme tell ya how it was back when…” stories. Anyway, life has also been busy for Mary as she builds her following on her blog, (HI!) sharpens her writing skills and tries to keep everyone happy, fed and sane (not necessarily in that order).

One sad note, our faithful dog of 15 years, Roxie, had to be put down this year. It was tough for everyone in the family, especially Courtney, who had a special relationship with Roxie over the years, particularly at dinner time. We hope this letter finds your family well and enjoying the Holiday Season.