Dear family & friends (or at least we like to think
you are),
It’s time again, for the holiday letter. You know, the one
where we provide you with tidbits of information about how our lives have
continued on over the past twelve months or so and expect you to ooh and ahh
over our many accomplishments and such. That letter doesn’t sound particularly Minnesotan, does it? Here in
Minnesota we pretty much stand around looking at our toes when someone asks us
to talk about ourselves. So instead, this year we’re delivering a purely Minnesota letter. One that’s less about us and more about life in general.
First
thing, I suppose, we should introduce ourselves (just in case you forgot who is
in our family). There’s me
(Alisha), Andrew (my husband, partner, general sidekick for life, -whichever
you prefer to call it), and our two boys Collin & Owen. Collin is three and
a half and Owen is nearly two. This means we practice humility in our parenting
every single day of our lives. Parenting is hard! Why don’t these kids come with manuals? Anyway, this year we’re thankful for a lot. Here’s our list of global ideas that we think are worth
sharing (thank-you-very-much- TED).
1.
We’re fortunate
to live in a world and community where there are good people all around us.
Very often our family experiences acts of kindness that all too often we forget
to pay forward. Sometimes everyday experiences eclipse that gratitude is a
sustaining part of life. Just this week at work I was privy to a surprise free
lunch (yeah for pizza!), our siding vendor offered to drive us around to other
homes to view siding colors in real-life (how very nice of him!) and the boy’s
preschool let slide that I totally forgot to pay this months tuition and let me
pay a few days late without a late fee. Those are all kind and generous acts.
We should remember to share more kindness, generosity and gratitude in our
lives, and so, dear friend and family, we’re making an effort in 2013.
2. Even though there are many good people in this world,
there just aren’t enough people doing good things. We work to make a difference
in this world as a family, giving time and energy to support other families in
need and agencies that serve to help others. We actively seek to not only
better our own lives, but to better the lives of others. Sometimes, the
individuality of our society can force us to feel as though our path is the
only important one, but if we are to be happy, healthy and successful, we should
always remember that we are part of a much bigger whole. So, this year, we’re
trying to do better for others, we hope you are too.
3.
We think our
environment is important. Indeed, the environment truly is so very precious and
important. We’re trying to become more and more conscious of our footprint in
this world. We want the future for our boys to be fulfilling and pristine. We
want them to enjoy nature the same way that we have been able to, and to do
that we really believe we need to protect our environment. So we recycle, we
carpool, we use products made of natural, sustainable things and we try not to
be wasteful (In fact, we reasoned we shouldn’t actually write this letter-
instead we should send it via email, but too many of you are without email for
that to work out well!). We try to be green, to be healthy and to hand our
children a future we can be confident will be filled with the wonders of
nature. So in 2013 we’re venturing into the world of chickens and trying to
live out of our garden for most of the summer.
Canning is the newest hobbie I hope to add to my repertoire.
Really, that’s
all we have for you this year. No stories of who did what, or what’s going on
in our lives, instead, just a some tidbits about the bigger picture. We hope
you find it as a refreshing change from our usual letter.
We hope your
year has been fantastic and fulfilling and we look forward to connecting with
you again, hopefully sometime within the next 364 days.
With all our love,
Alisha, Andrew, Collin & Owen
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