In Case the House Catches on Fire.....

The cover photo is Caiden, when he was single digits, experiencing Texas snow. He's now 17 and looking at colleges. 

I almost didn't send out any cards this year, but a tradition that has stood for 38 years warrants holding onto. And there's Cub Sweetheart's best friend's mother, who is now in her 90's and writes us a hand written note every single year. How can I not send her a card? Or my father who is almost 94? Or friends I've had since high school, or those friends we've left behind as we've moved around the country, and it's our only correspondence. I don't want to give up on that.

After I drop the cards off at the post office, I come home and pop the original letter and photos into this binder. It doesn't look like much, but it's the one thing I'd grab - after Lily - if the house was on fire. I'm a miserable failure at scrapbooking, but this one binder is our family's history that dates back to 1985.  At that time our kids were 9, 4 and 2. Our Christmas 'letter' was actually typed on a 5 x 7 sheet of paper, with a hand drawn black and white sprig of holly.

I can't even tell you how much I treasure this tiny little piece of paper - our first annual note of being a family. What life was like back then.

Our 'kids' are now 42, 37 and 35, with kids of their own, who are in that 'still a real experience' stage. I so hope they're keeping track of it somehow, because eventually those kids grow up and become responsible, law-abiding, tax paying citizens, and while that is as it should be, this messy stage is the one they'll look back on and wish they could step into for just one more day.

So whatever season of life you may be in, capture it in some form or fashion. Jot down what the kids asked Santa for this year, what your favorite moment of the holiday season was, what the family did all together to make it special. And be real. Tell the truth. I talked to a young mom yesterday, about how it was going with her little boy, and she told me, "we traded him in for a puppy.' I LOVED THAT! Nobody's life is picture perfect, and recording those truths is what will make for great memories twenty years from now. Then take that card or letter and stick it in a notebook or file folder or box or something. It'll be the one thing your grown kids want to look at for Christmases to come.

And take note of where it is, just in case the house catches on fire.