Kalquessa circa 1987
I just finished typing up my mom's annual Christmas family newsletter and was reminded that it's about time for another installment of Christmas Letters of Yore, where I post the "Marie paragraph" from my mom's old letters for your enjoyment. Just to warn those who haven't been around for previous episodes of this particular feature: if you've ever wondered why my approach to punctuation seems to be somewhat, em, eccentric? Well, it's because mistreatment of the comma is genetic.
Now that you've been warned, I give you my feature paragraph of Mom's 1987 letter:
Marie is a first-grader this year and continuing school here at home. She is becoming our resident poet; at the close of this letter we have included a sample of her work. At times she still seems to think her daily chart* constitutes slavery; however, if the slaves had worked at her speed they would have probably never had a Civil War fought over them. Some things, though, must be soaking in by osmosis: one night when Marie was beginning to memorize Romans 12 (her second full chapter which she has now almost completed!), we were discussing the meaning of “renew” in verse 2. Marie’s explanation was: “Like the Muffin’s** mind is new, and when she asks Jesus into her heart, it will be renewed.” (This without a seminary degree…) Other skills Marie has learned this year are a big help to me. It is a great blessing to be able to say, “Empty the trash”, “Get yourself something to eat”, “Put the Muffin in the swing” and (yay and hurray!) “Fold your laundry”. (This has improved the laundry situation which has been described in previous letters). Marie still loves to practice ballet (especially with an audience), and we are planning to let her take Scottish dance for awhile.
Also, because it's funny, a bit from Mom's paragraph about herself, which feature both me and not_a_monk:
I guess you could say this has not been a “banner year” for me - Earlier this year, when my eldest was asked whether she preferred wearing the clothes I had chosen or staying home, she replied “I prefer that you be thrown out!”*** My middle child, in an apparent loss-of-brain incident, flushed my Seiko La Salle watch down the toilet**** (both these children are still alive and have all their teeth).
* Our daily chores were marked out on a chart that we had to check off every day.
** "Muffin" was not actually green_tea_lady's name, but we usually forgot this fact. There are still family friends that will ask me how "Muffin" is doing, and how are her husband and baby?
*** I was practicing for when I am Ruler of Your Trifling Planet.
**** She still brings this up on a regular basis. She can't remember the surprise party we threw her for her fortieth but by gum, she can recall the exact description and monetary value of that watch.
Now that you've been warned, I give you my feature paragraph of Mom's 1987 letter:
Marie is a first-grader this year and continuing school here at home. She is becoming our resident poet; at the close of this letter we have included a sample of her work. At times she still seems to think her daily chart* constitutes slavery; however, if the slaves had worked at her speed they would have probably never had a Civil War fought over them. Some things, though, must be soaking in by osmosis: one night when Marie was beginning to memorize Romans 12 (her second full chapter which she has now almost completed!), we were discussing the meaning of “renew” in verse 2. Marie’s explanation was: “Like the Muffin’s** mind is new, and when she asks Jesus into her heart, it will be renewed.” (This without a seminary degree…) Other skills Marie has learned this year are a big help to me. It is a great blessing to be able to say, “Empty the trash”, “Get yourself something to eat”, “Put the Muffin in the swing” and (yay and hurray!) “Fold your laundry”. (This has improved the laundry situation which has been described in previous letters). Marie still loves to practice ballet (especially with an audience), and we are planning to let her take Scottish dance for awhile.
Also, because it's funny, a bit from Mom's paragraph about herself, which feature both me and not_a_monk:
I guess you could say this has not been a “banner year” for me - Earlier this year, when my eldest was asked whether she preferred wearing the clothes I had chosen or staying home, she replied “I prefer that you be thrown out!”*** My middle child, in an apparent loss-of-brain incident, flushed my Seiko La Salle watch down the toilet**** (both these children are still alive and have all their teeth).
* Our daily chores were marked out on a chart that we had to check off every day.
** "Muffin" was not actually green_tea_lady's name, but we usually forgot this fact. There are still family friends that will ask me how "Muffin" is doing, and how are her husband and baby?
*** I was practicing for when I am Ruler of Your Trifling Planet.
**** She still brings this up on a regular basis. She can't remember the surprise party we threw her for her fortieth but by gum, she can recall the exact description and monetary value of that watch.