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Christmas Letter Examples
Howard Family Christmas Letter 2002
Twas the night before Christmas,
and Cayne and Lisa were lounging in their family room. Cayne
stretched out on the sofa. Lisa took the La-Z-Boy. “You think
he’s asleep?” Cayne asked. Lisa listened and nodded. “He was out
like a light when I put him in his bed.”
“Well, he should be. He’s been up since 5:30 today.”
Cayne pretended to be upset, but her voice betrayed the humor.
Lisa smiled. At two years old, Chase was a non-stop bundle of
energy. No matter how little sleep he got, on most nights he
still had enough energy to resist bedtime by staying awake and
talking for an hour. Tonight was the exception. He had gone to
bed almost instantly. Well, perhaps instantly wasn’t exactly the
word. First Mommy had to read “Bear Snores On,” or, as Chase
called it, “Bear Nores On,” and then it was time for “Rumble in
the Jungle” (also known in two-year-old slang as “Jungle
Jungle”). After Lisa finished reading those books and put him in
bed, he had to recite his list of people who loved him. And
then he fell asleep. So maybe it wasn’t instant, but he did
fall asleep quickly rather than talking in his crib.
Now Cayne and Lisa were relaxing in their new house, enjoying
the quiet. “Wow. Can you believe we’ve already been here for six
months?” Lisa said, looking around the house that still had bare
walls and a few as-yet-unpacked boxes stuffed in closets, even
though it was all decorated for the holidays.
“Yeah, it’s gone by so quick. But this totally feels like home
now. I can hardly remember living in the condo.” Their new home
was a four-room, two-story house in a new development in
{a Bay Area city], and they had already been in the new place for six
months.
Lisa looked around. “Did you hear that?” she asked.
“What? I didn’t hear anything.” Cayne said. Lisa listened again,
didn’t seem to hear anything, and went
on. “It’s nice to just
sit around and relax for awhile, huh?” she asked. It seemed like
life had been flying by for months.
The year has started off fairly slow. They had taken a short
trip to a wild animal park early in the year and spent the
weekend in African tent cabins. Very fun and relaxing. And then
life went into fast forward. They decided to sell their condo
and sold it within a week of placing it on the market. Then they
held their breath as they waited to see if they’d be able to get
a house in the new development. The homes were selling so
quickly that the developer had resorted to a lottery system.
They ultimately were able to purchase a house that another
person had lost – but not until they engaged in a frantic race
to close in record time and ended up in a last-minute panic when
it appeared they needed to be out of their condo on Saturday but
wouldn’t be able to move into their new place until Monday.
Thanks to the efforts of an angelic title officer, it all worked
out. But Lisa had nightmares about it for weeks.
Now they could sit in their family room and relax. Cayne walked
to the shelves Lisa’s dad had built and turned on the stereo.
Melissa Etheridge began to sing.
“Your dad did a really nice job on those shelves,” Cayne said as
she sat down again.
“Not to mention everything else he did,” Lisa added. Her dad had
been a huge help in getting the new house into shape. He spent
numerous weekends putting in window coverings, a sprinkler
system, garden plants, and shelves. Chase loved waking up in the
morning and seeing Grandpa working outside in the yard. “I’m
just glad everything’s pretty much done now,” Lisa said. “I’ve
got enough stuff to do at work these days.”
In May, Lisa had been promoted to a new position in the sales
department and her team doubled from five people to ten. And
then all hell broke loose; the workload quadrupled virtually
overnight and continued to grow exponentially every month. By
November, they had literally increased workload by 20x, even
though overall headcount went down.
“There it is again. Did you hear that?” Lisa asked. Cayne shook
her head. “Nope. What’d it sound like?”
Lisa watched Millie slink into the room as she answered. “It
sounded like… bells.” She shrugged. “But now I don’t hear it.”
The cat looked at the humans, but didn’t come. She was still
too shy. Millie, (short for Milagro, or “miracle” in Spanish)
became the newest feline member of the household after she had
been hit by a car. When Cayne and Lisa found her, the all-black
kitten was attempting to drag herself across the road. She
couldn’t have been more than six weeks old, and her amazing
ability to escape permanent damage from the car earned the feral
cat her new home and nickname.
It had definitely been a busy year. To get away from it all,
they had taken a trip to Orlando. Chase’s favorite part was
visiting “Kickey” Mouse’s world and Disney’s Animal Kingdom,
while the highlight for Cayne and Lisa was visiting an aquatic
park where they got to swim with a dolphin named Lester. And
Lisa was thrilled to visit Aunt April and her cousin Dawn Marie
during the trip and just hours before Dawn Marie went into labor
with her first baby, a boy. A few weeks after they returned
home, Chase celebrated his second birthday, and then in December
he was the ring bearer for Cayne’s brother’s wedding.
Lisa got up. “Well, I’m ready to hit the sack. How ‘bout you?”
Cayne got up, too. “Yep. I’ll be right behind you,” she said.
Lisa headed upstairs, while Cayne lagged a few minutes behind to
turn off the stereo and unplug all the Christmas lights.
It was only then that the faint tinkling of bells once again
sounded outside. The women never saw or heard the man dressed in
red as he slid down their chimney and placed presents under the
tree, but as he jumped in his sleigh and took to the sky, they
heard a voice cry out, “Merry Christmas to all and to all a good
night!” |
