Roger,
I'm going out on a limb and assume that you do not want me to add your
name to my Christmas Letter List!
Carl Jarvis
On 7/13/19, Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx> wrote:
I said that I don't remember when I first heard about Christmas letters,
but since I wrote that a few hours ago I have been trying to remember. I
am pretty sure that it was in an article I read in print, so it must
have been before I lost my eyesight. Christmas letters were not the
subject of the article. They were only briefly referenced and, yes, the
point was to make fun of them. That is, it poked fun at certain people
who take them so seriously that they devote so much time and effort to
them and the recipients are uninterested. At least the author of the
article assumed that the recipients would be uninterested. Since the
time that I read that article I think I have very occasionally
encountered some allusions to them here or there. However, I don't think
I have ever known anyone who actually wrote them or received them. Until
you, Carl, mentioned them on this list some time back - probably close
to Christmas time - the existence of Christmas letters were a minor
factoid hidden somewhere in the back of my mind and never thought of
consciously. If I have, indeed, known anyone who either wrote them or
received them they never mentioned the fact to me.
---
Voltaire
??? Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit
atrocities. ???
??? Voltaire,
On 7/13/2019 8:52 PM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
Roger,
I think, at least in my family, Christmas letters are dying out. The
younger generation all go with Facebook or Linked in, etc. The older
generation, my generation, is...well, is dying out.
But I enjoy writing and story telling. So I send out something in the
neighborhood of 24 Christmas letters each December. I also write
short stories about stuff I find interesting back in my early years,
and send them to my three children and our older grand children.
On the WCB list, I do a monthly History Quiz, for the purpose of
sharing some of our WCB history with members who would probably never
read anything longer. I do an article for each issue of the WCB
Newsline, our organizational news letter. In fact, I began the
Newsline back in 1972, after our White Cane Magazine was discontinued.
I gathered the articles, wrote the stuff we thought should go out to
our members, and edited, printed, labeled and mailed over 500 copies
quarterly for about ten years. The news letter sagged a bit, but it's
under new editors and looking better than its ever looked for years.
In other words, writing is my hobby.
And I enjoy reading trivia and vignettes from other peoples lives.
Maybe I'm just nosy.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/13/19, Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Interestingly, I know of no one in my family who has ever written one of
those Christmas letters. I don't remember when I first heard about them,
but it was in the context of making fun of the people who write them.
The gist of the ridicule was that they spend so much time writing
something and sending them out when no one is interested in them.
---
Voltaire
??? Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit
atrocities. ???
??? Voltaire,
On 7/13/2019 10:49 AM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
Miriam. Probably you are right, but then these sorts of letters are
meant to bring cheer, along with some information. Here's one sample
of what I write. If you want, I have the entire set between 1995 and
2018.
Carl Jarvis(with nothing better to do this Sunny Saturday morning).
Christmas 2016
Really now.?? This can't be right.?? Father Time is playing tricks
again.?? My baby sister Delores, turning 80 on January First, 2017?
Impossible!
But that's getting ahead of things.?? This year actually started back
on January 1 of 2016.?? And in early February we set out to lend a
helping hand to Delores, who had just been released from the hospital.
She had undergone knee surgery and contracted MRSA.?? She had a
visiting nurse administer the daily meds, while we ran errands and
provided emotional support.?? While there, we checked out the strange
???
bump??? coming from under the truck.?? Seems we'd driven all that
distance, some 1,650 miles,?? with a tie rod that was ready to break.
Back home, we were in time to join with our good friends Ken and Mary
Hopkins in celebrating their 50TH wedding anniversary, and Ken's 80TH
birthday.
Celebrations can be happy or sad.?? And yet, Aunt Rose's June 30TH
memorial was both.?? Sad because we could never again pick up the phone
and spend hours gossiping, but it was also an uplifting?? time of
sharing so many pleasant memories with her children and old friends.
For our dear friend Edith Kapka, it was a very special year.?? On June
30, Edith celebrated her 103RD birthday.?? It also marked the
publishing of her novel.?? Edith had a book signing that was so well
attended we were only able to squeeze into the entry of the library
building.
Probably the big family event of the year was the July 17 extravaganza
Cathy, Marlene and Michael put on to celebrate their mother Dorothy's
90TH birthday.?? Some 45 family and friends gathered at the beautiful
Kiana Lodge, by Agate Pass.?? Dorothy's sister Lorraine was there,
along with a tangle of noisy children, grand children, great grand
children, all wishing her another 90 years.
In August, Cathy and I took a break from our rehab work and spent a
few happy days in Ellensburg, with Jennifer and Don.?? Of course Dylan
and Christina took time off from college to stop by and play a few
hands of Liverpool.?? We spent part of one day wandering the street
market.?? My idea of a good, relaxing time.
September 16 and 17 were interesting in the fact that we had lunch at
Alderbrook, quite by accident.?? We had never eaten at Alderbrook.
Shirley Smith was in town from Sedona, Arizona and we agreed to get
together for lunch somewhere sort of between Olympia and Quilcene.
Shirley suggested Alderbrook.?? Several days later Harry Whiting, the
Vocational Rehab. Counselor for the Olympic Peninsula called and
wanted us to join himself and his wife Page for lunch.?? They live in
Aberdeen.?? So he said we could meet halfway, ???How about the
Alderbrook
restaurant on September 17,??? Harry suggested.?? We agreed and decided
we weren't going to tell Harry and Page we were eating there the day
before, but the waitress remembered us and spilled the beans.?? It was
the first, second and probably the last time we have dined there.
Woven among these events were the visits back and forth with children
and grand children.?? James and Amy are looking permanent, making plans
for a future together.?? Renae has a new job, and Brian was promoted to
Detective.?? And granddaughter Grace continues to call Grandma Cathy,
planning her next stay, and what they will be cooking together.
Two big Thanksgiving dinners again this year.?? And again, we dragged
our weary bones to bed saying, ???This has to be the last time???.??
But
we
said that last year, too.?? And as we lay there, we think of all of the
laughter and all of the food, and all of the bustle and chatter.
These are the memories that will still be nestled inside the heads of
our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren long years from
now.
Building memories, beautiful memories.?? What better job could there
ever be for two tired grandparents?
So we wish for each of you, have a grand time building special
memories this coming year.
Carl and Cathy
