The Family Christmas Letter

I don't get many Christmas cards, and most of them don't contain a "Family Christmas letter," that annual report for the unincorporated, and besides no one calls it the Family Christmas letter anymore, do they? Well I do, and here it is in what I trust is good form--personal, but not too much so, a bit jokey in parts, some detail but punchy punchy punchy, and, of course, late.

2013 was a year of transitions. Talia left full time employment to examine her parachute's color, Gideon changed preschools, Felix began the numbered grades, I learned what it is I do for work, and we all moved. More on each below.

TALIA:

Sick of her commute to Oakland Talia bid Mills College farewell. Since that time she has discovered the Fitbit, found sunglasses that really suit her, and reinvented her hairstyle. I mention these three things not because they are the most important things she has done this year, but because I'm convinced that none of the three would have happened without the break from Mills and the increase in free time that brought. Also, I really like all these things about her. When not improving herself personally she is improving our new house, improving our new lawns and gardens, and consulting. She also handles more than our family's fair share of school involvement. Her addiction to the Office has been replaced (though never exceeded, no, not that) by an addiction to some other show that I think is supposed to be about an imaginary politico's PR crises. I am surprised by this because this other show isn't even supposed to be funny and I'd thought she liked to laugh.

GIDEON:

Gideon discovered He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and that's it, game over, it's all he cares about anymore. It's a recent discovery though, and since this is a report on the entire year we should mention that he turned three, learned to swim or at any rate is willing to throw himself into a pool, and is still waking us up more nights than not and if I find myself writing that again in 2014 I'm just going to die. He did change daycare and now doesn't complain about going but does fall asleep in his dinner afterwards, both plusses as far as we're concerned.

FELIX:

Felix can read. If you are not currently dancing around the room it's because you don't remember what a relief it is for a parent when their kid learns to read. Also for the kid. Anyway, it's great news and he's otherwise a super student and everyone loves him. If only he'd stop saying "peace, people, peace" all the time he'd be just about perfect. He's a first grader, he's broken his first addiction (nail biting), and he claims he wants to learn to play the flute. Yeah, maybe when you're seven. Or maybe not.

ALEC:

Alec's almost at his two-year anniversary with Autodesk, which is kind of creepy because he's never stayed longer than two years at any job before. Also creepy, he's begun writing a will (you're not in it...or are you?) and other worst-case-scenario documentation. This is in part because he's down two joints but mostly it's because he bought a house and that demands a lot of documentation anyway. Alec has finally found underwear he likes but accidentally composted his good camera so, you know, you win some, you lose some. He had to take a "selfie" with his second best camera because nobody ever takes pictures of him.

THE HOUSE:

We bought our dream home by which I mean that as we lie in bed shivering we dream about how nice an insulated home would be. Seriously, our contractor looked at one of the many large glassed openings we have in our walls and pointed out that "technically that's not even a window," which I take as generally symptomatic. Still, in the late afternoon or when we are not experiencing the California winter, there's a lot to like about the place. Some highlights: no sharing our bathroom with the boys, a stove that is older than almost anyone we know, really nice neighbors including some owls, one outbuilding per adult, more land than we know what to do with (though spring is coming!), a spare bedroom in every sense. (That last was a hint and a warning.)

THE VACATIONS:

For some reason everyone always tells you about their vacations in their Christmas Letter, so here's the report on ours, in pictures.  As this suggests, it was a very nice year for us, and we hope as nice a one for you.