Thursday 23 November 2006

Christmas Newletter Issues

Today, I'm regretting calling my web blog 'blissful' anything! Life, you see, is not all chocolate, red wine and roses. Sometimes that dragon on the left chewing on the knight's lance wins, and he wins big time. My issue today is that I'm having problems with writing the first draft of my 2006 Christmas newsletter and don't quite know how to solve them.

I've been writing Christmas newsletters for about 20 years. They usually run along the lines of lots of good news about the family and our doings, and then happy wishes to the recipient for the coming year. In fact, the newsletter has become such a tradition that my elderly readers start ringing me just to make sure all's well if the newletter hasn't arrived in their letter boxes at least a week before Christmas.

The thing is that while there is lots of great stuff happening in my life and I should just get on and write about all the silver linings, this year, there is a part of me that wants to write a with a tad less blissfulness than usual. I wanna tell about 2006 like it was, warts and all.

Perhaps, the issue isn't the composition of the writing; it's the evaluation of what I do on a daily basis for family and the realisation that I want my life back. Ah, what the heck! A journal is suppossed to be writing practice and while I'll probably get into trouble for this blog entry, too bad. It's written tongue in cheek, a draft to the real Christmas newsletter which will come out in early December. Read the following with the sound of my laughter ringing in your ears ... I figure if I get whatever ails me out of my system now, the final article might just be worth sending. With Paul's ideas on length in mind, I've got a really short one planned.

So, here goes ...

'Dear One and All,

Merry Christmas & happy new year from our house to your house.
(Nothing wrong with that as a salutation, is there?)

We hope 2006 has been a good year and that 2007 promises to be at least as good, if not better (all that should pass muster. The next part is the tricky bit)

As usual, our year has been punctuated with off-spring activities - mostly from the my kids' point-of-view. Sadly, Paul's boys still have their heads in the sand and are hoping to wake up one day soon & find that our marriage was a nightmare that never happened in real life and that they will still inherit the earth when Paul dies.

(No, I can't put that in! It's Christmas, for goodness sake. It's a time for forgiving and forgetting. Tantrums & threats occur at least monthly from one or other of our 7 offspring, all punctuated by the implied if not stated 'If you loved me, you would do/give...' & are part of the deal of parenting in the noughties. All parents experience it. LOL)

Don't get me wrong, there are lots of good bits about 2006 ...

Paul has a new job . (He travels a lot, spending many working weeks in other cities. This is not all bad. He loves his job and I like my alone times.)

As a result of the pile-up of frequent flyers points, we've made some interesting and fun trips together as well this year - Tasmania, Europe, Singapore.
(I WILL expand on this)
I quit my job at FLC in February.

(I don't want to talk about MY work this year. Hello! I quit my job in a huff when a 15 yo spat on me at school and I was the one punished for making a fuss. You missed it? Too bad. It's done with and I'm enjoying my new routines.)
New routines allow for the above mentioned travel with Paul, some house renovating, time for cross stitching and lunch with my kids.

Which reminds me ...
Would anyone be interested in the countless episodes of 'Charmed', 'The Dead Zone' & 'Waking the Dead' that I have watched in recent months? They were very entertaining - my fave shows at the moment, in fact!)

And so my dilema! LOL

I think the everyone will just have to survive on a very short Christmas card this year. People will have to happy with knowing that we are still alive & that they are in our thoughts, I guess.

Your thoughts & possible suggestions on the matter will be greatly appreciated. Email me!

Happiness & laughter always,

Bliss

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