Dear Norman Rockwell,

Dear Norman,
    I feel like Linus out in the pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin, but Norman, you did not make it to my house again this year.  Have you lost my address?  I have been waiting and waiting for that Norman Rockwell Christmas, and I haven't seen it yet but I am sure you will come next year.  Just between you, me and Santa I am sending my Christmas list for 2014 right now so maybe you will put me at the top of your list.
    Of course I want world peace, food in every kitchen, a cure for cancer and every other disease, love for every one, and good will and kindness toward all men and women, and most especially children and animals.
    Personally, I  want the same things as last year so just pull out my last letter to you.  You know, new car, new house, grass & trees in the yard. Santa doesn't seem to respond to me so maybe you could speak to him for me.  Maybe I need to write to The Great Pumpkin too.  Linus may know something I don't.
    How was your Christmas?  Actually, mine was good, bad and ugly.  A little heavy on the ugly end. But I have had worse.  I will tell you a little about it.
    Good? On Christmas day both of my daughters came over and had breakfast with me. Juice and blueberry muffins.  It was wonderful.  They didn't wake me until the muffins were hot out of the oven.  I talked to my sister in New Mexico, my son in Seattle, my granddaughter here although I can never understand her on the phone very well.  She is only 3 and my ears are not what they use to be, but I did understand her saying that she got playdoh.  :)  My daughter-in-law emailed me pictures of my granddaughter with a new little bike and a doll house too. Playdoh was her favorite gift though. The weather outside was not frightful, it was sunny and nice.  If you can't have a white Christmas then sunny and nice is 2nd best. There was no mud for the dogs to drag in today and I was grateful for that.
   Bad  #1?  My son here in town was sick as a dog.  He did not feel like getting out of bed except to see his children have Christmas, then he went back to bed for the day.  He and I got sick at the same time.  I was sitting at his house yesterday when boom, one minute we were fine and the next minute we had a bug and we knew it.  Therefore, I didn't get to go to their house to see my granddaughter open her presents, (her brother is only 8 weeks old so he probably slept through it) and none of them got to come to my house for turkey.  
Bad # 2?  I was sick as two dogs.  I don't even know what that means except I feel pretty darn crummy.  Sore throat, fever, coughing, aching, headache, sneezing, arms feel like they could fall off.  I pretty much stayed in bed the entire day. The turkey I didn't get to have at Thanksgiving didn't get cooked for Christmas either.  Maybe tomorrow.  Today I couldn't have lifted the thing much less prepare it.  Instead I made myself some mac & cheese since that would go down my throat easy.  Since I didn't feel up to anything but sleeping and staying in bed my daughters went to their dad & stepmom's for Christmas after breakfast with me.  I was so glad they had a place to go and good food to eat but before I got sick I had planned a great day for us at my house.  
Bad #3? My daughter-in-law went back to work last week after having my grandson 7 weeks ago and she chose someone else to babysit my grandkids instead of me.  I had babysat my granddaughter all her life except her first 6 months until her brother was born this fall.  Then I was at their house every week day for 7 weeks after the baby came, letting my daughter-in-law have a good nap. It was just a communication problem, mostly. I told my son & D-in-L I didn't want to babysit, I wanted her to stay home with her kids. If she had to go back to work I wanted to babysit 4 hours a day. Could they find someone to share babysitting. Well, they found someone, for all day.   It was a blow, a big blow to me, but the new babysitter has two boys for my granddaughter to play with.  Yeah, well, I am heartbroken. Stressed. Sad.  On Christmas eve said babysitter called my daughter-in-law to tell her that her two sons and she herself were suddenly stricken with "the flu" and may have passed the bug on to them.  I think my son and I got it, but thank goodness, not my grandkids so far.
   Ugly?  my son-in-law decided two weeks ago that he really wasn't cut out for being a family man and told my daughter he wanted a divorce.  She is devastated.  My grandsons will be too.  She didn't want to tell them until after Christmas.  None of us saw this coming. It is a family tradition we have evidently.  Another relative's husband decided the same thing two days before Thanksgiving this year.  4 years ago another relative's wife decided she wanted a divorce 2 weeks before Christmas. The same year another relative's girlfriend dumped him right before Christmas when he thought they were planning on getting married.   All four were a big surprise to everyone except the person wanting out of the relationship. And all right at the holidays.  Unbelievable. 
    No, this was not a Norman Rockwell Christmas.  But I Norman, I am grateful for a lot of things. A roof over my head, my dogs, food in the house, and electricity keeping me warm.  Juice in the fridge for my sore throat. I have a family that loves me. I have a stack of library books to keep me busy.  My grandchildren are healthy ... that alone is enough to make it a great Christmas. 
    I hope next year is my year.  No one heartbroken, no one sick, my entire family together to eat good food, spend the day laughing and playing games, to go see lights, decorating a real tree together, packages for everyone, making fudge and decorating sugar cookies.  See you then, OK? And if you could make that happen in a big, big cabin in the mountains of New Mexico that would be super!
   Until then I am looking forward to getting well, and to a brand new year.  And glad this holiday season is over. 
    Happy New Year,
             Aunt Betsy