Christmas eCard

Merry Christmas!

Claire and Emily make such dramatic progress each year that normally the adults in their lives seem stuck in place. Not this year.

Emily is in the second grade and reads better every day. She is doing so well that all my friends with older children caution me with, “Yes, that’s great, and how long until she’s a teenager?” That’s okay. I’m certain all the navel-baring, eyebrow-piercing and raccoon-eye-shadowing trends will all be gone by the time Emily is in high school. “Replaced by even worse ones,” say the friends.

I curse you and your smugness, friends.

She has started to get interested in astronomy and has a sticker for each planet on her window. We even got to see the rings of Saturn through a telescope owned by Karl Bertain’s father in Yucca Valley. I stumbled through the mnemonic, “My Very Excellent Mother Just Sent Us Nine…” and then I didn’t know what to do. Some children wrote letters to scientists asking that Pluto not be demoted to demi-planet status. I worried that she would be upset that Mickey’s dog friend no longer rated recognition. I told her about the Pizzas and Pluto, and she took it all in stride. Intelligent, easy-going and beautiful. If you want to know anything else about her just ask me, I’m completely unbiased.

Claire left pre-school in June and started kindergarten in September. The faculty of the pre-school wants us to say she “graduated”. They dressed her up in a white shirt and mortar board and made all the adults say, ”Ooohh” at the cuteness of it all, but come on. Four-year olds facing a minimum of thirteen more years should not be getting the idea that this is the high point of their education. Claire has overcome any of those misconceptions and recently got a glowing report card for her first trimester of kindergarten.

There are some things that we have failed to get across to Claire. We have been very fortunate to visit Maui the past two summers. Claire loved the pools, but got a little freaked out at swimming with fish below her, even with three noodles, a life jacket and a parent alongside. So at the end of the trip she informed us, “Next year when we come back, I’ll be better at snorkeling.” Because she can only remember the past two summers, she figured we go every year. Yeah, sorry Claire, our snorkeling is going to be confined to Leader Lake in Wisconsin for a while. But I can show you some big sunfish! Claire’s giddy disposition and unintentional humor is a constant source of delight.
Shut up, friends.

Not that Claire has left any of her mischievousness behind. She dressed as a sting ray for Halloween and loved nothing more than sneaking up on us and yelling, “Rrooaarrrr!” She gets impressive volume out of her limited chest cavity, but we still have to feign fear. I mean, how scary can a 3 ft. tall sting ray be in a well-lit den? She also told us to shuffle our feet on the floor or, “I’ll sting you!” She picked up that factoid at the Long Beach Aquarium and would not let it go.

Jenn has assumed several new responsibilities this past year. As the girls’ increasing school schedule has left her with a few empty minutes here and there, life stepped in and filled them up. She is the membership chair of the PTA at Barker Elementary, co-leader of the girls’ scout troop, and a coordinator of a social group at the church we joined over the summer. I think Jenn subscribes to Zora Neale Thurston’s advice: “I want a busy life, a just mind, and a timely death.” Well, that death thing is a little too heavy for a Christmas letter, but you get the idea.

And last May I decided to switch schools, so I put in for a transfer, interviewed at Rancho and was hired as a new math teacher. I am teaching all Algebra one and have to travel from classroom to classroom, but it is getting easier. It has been a big adjustment getting used to new procedures, making new friends and organizing around being a mobile teacher, but I have been enjoying the transition. I do miss many people at Pacifica, but teaching does not leave a great deal of time for regrets—too many papers to grade. Things are still in transition, and I am not sure what my subconscious has planned. I think Jenn smells a mid-life crisis coming on; so far she has only been wrinkling her nose.

My highlight for the past year was enjoying our time in Wisconsin with the family. Also, my good friend Karl Bertain was able to visit us at the lake with his son, Joe. Fish-fries with Matt Ryder, inner-tube drags behind the boat with the McKenzie-Gillems and all manner of relaxation.

Jenn puts her vote in for the seven days we were in Maui with her parents, the Johnsons, and the Geises, all thirteen of us in adjacent condos. Dinner cruises, snorkeling trips and whole days just playing on the beach. We had a very nice blend of tacky tourist activities (who can argue with seeing a giant green sea turtle up close?) and more authentic, lower expectation outings.

Last Spring, Emily was invited to attend the Miss Placentia Pageant as a little girl escort to Jenna Howard. She got to perform on stage with all the other girls. It was a big night for her, full of makeup, singing and dancing—very exciting to a seven-year old.

Claire’s favorite time of the past year was her birthday party, because she had a killer huge water slide. If only all our pleasures could be so simple. I am going to enjoy these years and not worry about what may come. So there, friends.