A Late Thanksgiving...

While Thanksgiving is past, for some reason today I am feeling a little more thankful than I was on Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for lots of things, ordinary and not so ordinary. Obviously, I'm thankful for my kids, husband, parents, siblings, etc. Not to short-change them or anything, but they aren't what put me in the mood, I just want you to understand that I do appreciate them, especially everything they do for me. Eric is a fantastic husband. This post just isn't about him.

I was thinking about friends. I have a lot of friends. That's something that I actually have to stop and think about from time to time when I feel lonely, or neglected. I really do have lots of friends who care a lot about me, and take care of me when I need it, sometimes listening for hours when I'm going on about something, ranting or raving. Friends have made having children much easier than it could be. Friends have thrown me baby showers and provided a lot of needed clothing and equipment for my babies. One friend, Alisha, even re-painted her daughter's crib, delivered it, and set it up for me and Sam. Did I mention we had been living in Arkansas and she drove from Louisiana with her three children? She also painted and decorated Sam's bedroom. I still miss that room, she did such a great job! She gave me a baby carrier, a swing, and the list can go on. Friends combed garage sales for baby clothes. They sewed things for my babies. Friends have cared for Tasha on numerous occasions when we've been out of town. Our friend Sherrie has even taken care of her when we were just visiting Kansas. I lived in her basement for a semester rent-free, and while I was supposed to be helping her out around the house, I doubt I was much help. From Sherrie I learned about doing thoughtful things for those I love, no strings attached. Something as simple as getting up off the couch and getting a coke for my son/brother/sister/husband/friend just because they asked, even if they know where the coke is, and are in no way handicapped. It's just because we love them.

I don't have everyone's address, but I'm trying to get Christmas cards to all of you. Christmas cards to me are more than just a newsletter or pretty card or family portrait. They are a way of saying, "Thanks for being my friend!" I love getting Christmas cards. I love sending Christmas cards. Every year I write a newsletter, and I even put it in the first person instead of the third person, as if I wasn't the one writing the letter. Yep, it's me, the Liz in Eric, Liz, Sam, and Awyn. Obviously Sam, Awyn, and Tasha have a little trouble, as they are illiterate so far. Eric does the editing and corrections. He does enought newsletter and newspaper stuff with work that he gets a little burnt out in the publications department. But he's an excellent proof-reader and keeps me from going off too far on a tangent. (Gee, can you tell he doesn't do my editing for my blog?) The easiest way to get Christmas cards is to send Christmas cards. Eric and I have yet to get to the point where we are sending out so many cards that we have to start culling our list back, pruning away the names and addresses of those who don't send cards back. As we've slipped in past years, we are fairly understanding of those who simply are bad about cards. We also use our cards as a way to confirm our address and contact information so that everyone has the latest updates. Some years that can change a lot, as you might have noticed. Two years ago, as we were sending out cards, our address was to change the following month. We'd already sent out half our cards before we knew about Eric's transfer, and in our little newsletter we talked all about the house we'd just bought and our plans for staying put for a few years. Then we moved. Sigh. So keeping up with us can be a real challenge.

We have friends who move without providing forwarding addresses too. I've even sent out a Sam-Spam to everyone on our address book to try to confirm addresses, and I've really had a lack of response. A few have replied, but many of the people it was aimed at didn't reply. Some I know are bad about checking e-mail and won't read it for a few months. Others haven't kept us current on e-mail addresses, so they didn't get the original message anyway. In fact, one of the big reasons we quit sending regular Sam-Spams is because our list of addresses was so big that we had a hard time pulling the bad addresses. On average we get back around 20 wrong addresses or full in-boxes or the like. I have friends in Japan who wrote their forwarding address so badly that every year I try writing in different numbers in hopes that one of these years I'll get it right. Half her postcard was written in Japanese, and I'm way too rusty to read it. It's been long enough that we aren't getting forwarded mail from Arkansas anymore, so I doubt they'll get another card to us.

So, if you are reading this blog, you probably have already provided us with an address. If not, Thank you. You are still my friend. I doubt there is anything in the newsletter that you can't get from reading my blog. I'm not pregnant, Awyn and Sam are it for two legged children, and we aren't planning on moving in the near future.