Santa Claus, North Pole                                                                                                                       December 13, 2012

Dear Santa,

The chaotic Curry clan has been well this year.  We’re still working on being good, and so are our children.  They are doing well; we’ll vouch for them almost any day of the week, except maybe Mondays.  We just put up our tree, later this year than the last year and the year before that.  But we got it done, and enjoyed it too, as we’ll share:  

We thought a lot about the people we love as we decorated our tree this year.  Many of our ornaments hold special significance.  One of the first to go on the tree was the tiny red heart, Elaine’s first gift to Sean, 18 years ago now.  We also marveled over Nicole’s tiny footprint ornament that we made the year we became parents (12 years!).  Nicole couldn’t believe her feet were really that small.  We’ve forgotten what 4 lbs 8 oz. looks like.  

We remembered Aunt Mick, and all of our other loved ones no longer with us, with the neat little sleigh ornament given so many years ago.  There were the ornaments that hung on our childhood Christmas trees – those are really, really special to us, they remind of us our parents and siblings, still close to our hearts even after all of these years of being grown-ups and the miles between us.  

We loved the bells that we bought the year we saw “The Polar Express”.  That was a great movie, Santa.  Thanks for inspiring us to BELIEVE.  We think God has told you that we need a little extra prodding down here.  Life gets hard, but believing has helped us in the hard times.    

Heidi, 10 years, loved her wreath ornament.  She told us the story, again, as she hung it on the tree.  She sure loves a story!  6 (and a HALF!!) year old Cassidy wanted to put the star on top of the tree, but how in the world do we handle that?  They all want to put up the star.  We couldn’t remember who did it last year, so instead of thinking too hard about it, we did it ourselves.  Now that it is over, we wonder if that was the best thing to do?  Maybe next time we’ll do rock-paper-scissors.  

Xander caused us pause tonight as we hung the nail with the red ribbon on our tree.  Morbid? Someone asked why we hang a nail on our tree when we are celebrating Christ’s birth.  We wondered the same thing, but hung it anyway, and were grateful when our tender son of 6-whole-years stopped, looked us in the eye, and shared with us his feelings about Jesus.  Maybe that is why we hang it every year; for moments like that.  

Sadie is 5 now and kept asking if she was hanging the ornaments in the right spot.  She wanted it “just so”.  She’s conscientious, that kid. We’re so very blessed.  Our tree is always….ummm…what’s the word?  Interesting?  Charlie Brownish?  It’s got character, that’s for sure, with all of those little hands searching for the best placement.  

So, our tree is up, and there is a cylindrical tin that says, “Letters to Santa” right next to our favorite Nativity ornament.  We thought we should send you a letter and tell you how we are.  We are well.  We hope you are, too.  If it wouldn’t trouble you too much, send Christmas Cheer to our loved ones across the globe, please. 

Love,

Sean and Elaine Curry 

**every year I tell myself this is the last year for emailed Christmas letters/pictures, but then we do it again.  I hope those of you who read this don't feel any less loved than you would if we had sent you something snail mail.  We love you.  So much!