{"id":2972,"date":"2012-12-14T07:45:09","date_gmt":"2012-12-14T15:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.streamdoubletrouble.com\/?p=2972"},"modified":"2012-12-14T07:45:37","modified_gmt":"2012-12-14T15:45:37","slug":"the-annual-family-christmas-letter-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/the-annual-family-christmas-letter-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"The Annual Family Christmas Letter \u2013 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

I know many of you hate receiving these yearly accolades neatly condensed into a single letter \u2013 complete with stationary bearing the appropriate winter motif.<\/p>\n

(And we went with the fantasy of silvery snowflakes like a good California family.) Quite frankly, if you\u2019re still reading by this paragraph, you\u2019re probably at least a little curious. Or you\u2019re going to forward to all your friends with an accompanying mocking cynicism.<\/p>\n

Too bad. I wrote one anyway.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2012 passed us by in the blink of an eye. It was the end of an age and the beginning of a new era. As we welcomed this year into existence, our family said goodbye to Great Grandma Winnie<\/a>. The story of our family turned a page as our newest generation continued to grow up.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s frighteningly easy to miss some of the simpler moments when you\u2019re watching the discovery of life through the eyes of a child. And I couldn\u2019t be happier to report we are approaching the conclusion of a simple year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This season our toddling terrific twosome are starting to really get the concept of Christmas. Yet, despite the urgings of neighbors to partake in the time-honored suburban tradition of Griswold style house d\u00e9cor battle, I am pleased to report we refrained and nothing more than a giant inflatable penguin and Santa flying a helicopter adorn our lawn.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

I know. Subtle right?<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The boys LOVE it.<\/p><\/div>\n

(At least as of this letter writing, the most recent Northern California winter storm hasn\u2019t given flight to \u201cthat guy\u201d in the copter. Although that would totally be hilarious to see reports of \u201cSanta spotted in early flight\u201d \u2013 as the very merry rotary sleigh shoots across the night sky via air spitting out its backside like a balloon.)<\/p>\n

Jon and I have spent the year at our respective jobs. (A rarity, I know.) Our two senior labs continue to make their pitch for features on the Dog Shaming blog sites by eating and peeing on things they\u2019re not supposed to.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the point in the holiday note where I\u2019m supposed to let you know that our children are completely brilliant and likely to be granted an audience with the Pope as they are awarded an honorary doctorate by age 3. But it does occur to me that the boys are at the same developmental stage as their fraternal canine companions as noted in the prior paragraph. So I\u2019ll rephrase with the sentiment that Search and Destroy are \u201cright on track.\u201d They remain my heroes.<\/p>\n

Search is proving more and more to be his mother\u2019s son, having mastered \u201cthe look\u201d (an intense eyeroll) and lining up his beloved Big Trucks along the floor or cuddling up with a good book. Destroy, the physical carbon copy of his father, has found his voice and narrates life to us when not flipping himself across the living room floor. (We took the hint and signed him up for gymnastics.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Thank you for spending part of your lives being a part of ours. May you and yours have a happy, healthy holiday! Here\u2019s to all the new stories to be told in 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know many of you hate receiving these yearly accolades neatly condensed into a single letter \u2013 complete with stationary bearing the appropriate winter motif. (And we went with the fantasy of silvery snowflakes like a good California family.) Quite … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[19],"tags":[629,1126],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Sbzi-LW","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":950,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/the-annual-family-christmas-letter\/","url_meta":{"origin":2972,"position":0},"title":"The Annual Family Christmas Letter","date":"December 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I know many of you hate receiving these yearly accolades neatly condensed into a single letter \u2013 complete with stationary bearing the appropriate winter motif. Well 2010 was a big year for us. As we close it out, it really seems to have passed us by while we were buys\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Baby Photos"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/streamdoubletrouble.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/12\/christmas-2010_christmascard_12-14-10.jpeg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2049,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/the-annual-family-christmas-letter-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":2972,"position":1},"title":"The Annual Family Christmas Letter \u2013 2011","date":"December 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I know many of you hate receiving these yearly accolades neatly condensed into a single letter \u2013 complete with stationary bearing the appropriate winter motif. Too bad. I wrote one anyway. Although you may not be a fan of THE ANNUAL FAMILY CHRISTMAS LETTER, I am. I love receiving them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Celebrations"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.streamdoubletrouble.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Christmas-2011_ChristmasCard_12-14-11-1024x449.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3688,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/techmom-tuesday-the-christmas-card-conundrum\/","url_meta":{"origin":2972,"position":2},"title":"TechMom Tuesday: The Christmas Card Conundrum","date":"December 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I write a monthly column over at\u00a0AlliOSNews. It\u2019s a techie site \u2013 extolling all the goodies and gunpowder on the Apple OS. (SHINY TOY!) I\u2019m TechMom. And these are my stories on how technology is really used. This is what you must deal with, as I am a Silicon Valley\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Holidays"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Letter-to-Santa-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4180,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/the-annual-holiday-letter-2014\/","url_meta":{"origin":2972,"position":3},"title":"The Annual Holiday Letter – 2014","date":"December 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"My email address hasn\u2019t changed in seven years (and that was only because I got married and changed my name). During that same time period, there were three physical residences. It\u2019s hard to keep track of people\u2019s addresses these days. Maybe because snail mail has become a relic to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Family Stories"","img":{"alt_text":"2014 holiday card","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/2014-holiday-card.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3730,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/merry-christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":2972,"position":4},"title":"Merry Christmas","date":"December 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Baby Photos"","img":{"alt_text":"Christmas Card_2013","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Christmas-Card_2013-1024x739.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":971,"url":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/christmas-day-2010\/","url_meta":{"origin":2972,"position":5},"title":"Christmas Day 2010","date":"December 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Before After","rel":"","context":"In "Holidays"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/streamdoubletrouble.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/12\/christmas-2010_before_12-15-10.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/streamoftheconscious.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}