PSoTD

Last night we were having a last beer in a local establishment, four of us, all Dads, and one says to me:

"That's different, now that your kids are older..."

and I think it was the first time I had heard that. It was one of those moments where a different way to think about my (and our) situation was crystallized by someone else, and it stopped me a bit in my tracks.

Yes, we know our kids are "getting" older, and there's all these signs that have been coming up - giving away the toddler stuff that we've used for two children, the tiny desks, the little chairs, and now we're planning on repainting both kids' rooms this summer to replace the current "kiddy" images with something more tween-and-teen friendly.

But there's a difference between seeing your children as "getting older" and seeing them as "now older". Didn't know that before last night.

We took down the Christmas Cards yesterday. This year we received 4 or 5 annual wrapup holiday newsletters from friends and family as well. That's probably par for the course.

Only one of them was actually interesting to read. It's not that the rest of them didn't lead interesting lives or had news to provide - but they weren't well written. They weren't written with the intention of giving the reader enjoyment, or at the very least, news.

I think that Hallmark and all other card providers ought to provide a free link to Christmas News Letters - Suggestions and Examples as a favor to society. People do some mindnumbing things with these end-of-year newsletters. We received one that actually described the plants that were put in a garden, and the exciting growth results. Flowers. People have to remember that when they're doing these kinds of newsletters, they're sending to a general group, and they need to focus on content - and the details - that would be of interest to the general group. In the case of the garden, a picture equals 1000 words, so don't waste the 1000 words, because I won't get through it.

I'm no grinch, I like getting the holiday letters when they're well done. But it's a craft that people don't prepare enough for before they undertake it.

Whatever that means. These broken up work weeks play havoc with focus.