Most of my rl friends get this letter in the mail. But if you don’t have an address, or if I don’t know what your address is, this virtual copy will have to do.
To: Friends, Family, Enemies, and Strangers
From: The Bethancourts (David, Dana, Chelsea, and Sam)
Subject: Christmas Letter, circa 2006
This year went by real fast.
Lots of hard work. Good friends. Spectacular failures. A few glorious triumphs. More hard work.
Sam turned 9 years old in February. He remains the teacher’s pet at school. We sometimes wonder if there is something wrong with him, he behaves so well. The kid actually tell us when he has homework! And he occasionally even does it before we get home. Puzzling behavior for a nine year old. Unlike previous years, Sam has not yet received a Student of the Month award. We can only assume that the school has ceased awarding Student of the Month; probably because it makes the other students jealous of Sam.
Football is Sam’s favorite sport. He plays regularly on the offensive line, and occasionally at defensive end. For those of you who have not heard, or maybe have never seen Friday Night Lights, football is a big deal in Texas. Not a big deal like the barn being on fire is a big deal. It’s a big deal like a meteor, the size of Delaware, is about to collide with the earth is a big deal. Baseball and basketball have their place. But this is football country. Sam has 9 football coaches. They have a 30 page playbook and a written game plan for each game. The coaches watch film on opponents. They scout. They recruit. Sam took a passing interest in basketball, baseball, and sailing this year. But football remains king.
Chelsea’s sailing career is starting to groove. She placed 19th at the United States Junior Women’s Single Handed National Championship, sailed in Laser Radials. It was her first go at a national regatta, and she would have been happy with top 50. 19th was stellar. Her friends voted her youth commodore. She won the Junior Club Championship and the Women’s Club Championship (the last one with 3 straight bullets.) Her sailing coaches voted her the sportsmanship award. Embarrassed, she tried to give the sportsmanship award away to another kid, but the parents wouldn’t let her.
Chelsea turned 16 in August. Sweet sixteen and never… Well, sweet sixteen anyway. She rolls around Houston on a mean set of wheels; her Mom’s old minivan. She has a boyfriend. And a laptop. And a cell phone. And an Ipod. We haven’t seen her since October. But since she’s sitting 5th in her class of 500, and since she chooses good friends, and generally makes good decisions, we find it difficult to make too much trouble for her. Our little girl is all growed up now.
Dana played musical jobs in 2006. She left MD Anderson to do some home health work. The home health stuff was flexible and rewarding. The new job allowed Dana to spend more time bonding with the kids. 3 months later, MD Anderson decided they could not live without Dana. So they made her an offer she could not refuse. Have you ever bonded with your kids for 3 months? That’s a lot of bonding! I mean, it’s not like they need their diapers changed anymore. They can pretty much look after themselves, right? Dana went back to MD Anderson.
The year would not be complete without David developing some sort of health problem. This year, his back was his primary malfunction. The doctors say it’s a ruptured disk. As a result of the disk issues, David has been on sailing probation since September. On the bright side though, he took advantage of the free time to start some new hobbies, such as watching TV and eating. His current goal is to eat himself into a new waist size, so that he can buy all new pants.
We’re contemplating some short term cruising; probably in 2008. We’ve also ordered some logs to start building a log cabin on Dana’s family property in northern Michigan. Most of our planning and all of our savings is focused on these goals. We’d like to buy a cruising boat, then send Chelsea off to college (she doesn’t want to cruise.) And then become boat bums. To date, we have enough money saved to go cruising for a time period that will remain a secret for now, but will exceed 11 days.
Again this year, we have admired the generous spirit of our friends. We love sharing your adventures, hearing about your family, your travels, your troubles, your joys, and your fears. Thank you for including us in your life. It wouldn’t be much fun without you.
