Sorry about that. If you ended up on the B list, it means that next year you will be right at the top of the A list :) While we're here, and before I paste, let's visit another holiday card phenomenon. I have noticed that even after sending a slew of cards, seemingly, the first ten cards to hit my mailbox are from people that I didn't send a card to this year. What is that? How does that work? Is there some unwritten rule that I haven't been privy to, whereby I'm supposed to alternate lists and send cards to certain people every second year. Arghh. I really try to stay on top of this one, have an Excel spreadsheet and everything. Ooh-ooh, and one more question - when will we reach a point where I can freely let go of this tradition (which I like very much) altogether? Get on with it already Kerry...
December 3, 2007
Dear Cardholder(s),
Happy Holidays. Hope this finds everyone relaxing and spending quality time with the people who mean the most. This being my first attempt at a holiday letter to the masses, please bear with me as I try to sum up our year in a few paragraphs. We had a great Turkey Day, celebrating with close friends, and are now preparing for the next big day, Mikulas nap (Nicholas day). Pronounced ‘mee-koo-lah-sh nahp‘, it’s the day St. Nicholas comes to Hungary, and it takes place every year on December 6th. The kids put their boots by the window in the hope that St. Nicholas soon will be there. There’s only one thing I don’t get in all of it - they put the boots by the window but the big guy still comes down the chimney. I’m thinking that the chimney thing may be a recent development, tacked on in order to accommodate the permeation of American culture throughout the world (and the sale of little made-in-china Rudolph knick-knacks). I will research this a bit further and get back to you.
Items checked off the fa-la-la-la-list thus far… we have the tree in the stand, lights up outside, cards in the mail (obviously) and I just put all my holiday music back on the iPod. Much to the dismay of the boys, the sounds of the season will now be blaring in my car for the next month. I’m not sure how to convince them that they should embrace this holiday tradition, but I don’t think I was much of a Bing Crosby fan as a kid either. Liam really only digs one song, ’Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’.
Amazingly enough, the shopping is also done for the most part. With any luck we will be able to actually enjoy ourselves the week before Christmas. And on the main stage…looks like it’s going to be a Guitar Hero Christmas here at Chez McGann. There are other things in the letter to Santa - mostly Legos and PSP games for the boys, and anything /everything in the realm of plastic garbage that appears on TV for Keira - but Guitar Hero is the headliner. Turns out that Bill and I are giving each other the gift of warmth this year, in the form of a new furnace. Not a planned expenditure, but there wasn’t really an option. We will spend a quiet Christmas here with friends and then head to Lake Bohinj, Slovenia from Dec.30th-Jan5th. We are hoping for snow and a bit of decent skiing, but will be happy either way. Slovenia, while we‘re on the subject, is a virtually undiscovered jewel in terms of travel destinations. You’ve probably heard me say it before, but in case you haven’t, I highly recommend you put it on that ‘list of things to see/do before I die‘.
News from Budapest… well, I guess we should start with the basics. We are still here, which was questionable this time last year. Here’s a good one – October 7th marked ten years in Budapest for me – unfathomable. Most of you know that Bill left his position as CFO for Hungarotel at the end of 2006. It was a good decision, and one that I know he wouldn’t change. He has spent most of 2007 enjoying the down time with the kids (Keira in particular), decompressing, and figuring out what the next move will be. We remain hopeful that we will find something in this part of the world, and if not, then we will most likely head back to the US in the next year. A year of being together 24-7 has certainly given us a glimpse into the future, and while we don’t foresee any problems continuing our life together in retirement bliss, it’s safe to say that neither of us are ready to begin that chapter of our lives just yet :) Truthfully, it’s been fantastic having him home, and it will be a big adjustment for all of us when he goes back to work.
Happy Holidays. Hope this finds everyone relaxing and spending quality time with the people who mean the most. This being my first attempt at a holiday letter to the masses, please bear with me as I try to sum up our year in a few paragraphs. We had a great Turkey Day, celebrating with close friends, and are now preparing for the next big day, Mikulas nap (Nicholas day). Pronounced ‘mee-koo-lah-sh nahp‘, it’s the day St. Nicholas comes to Hungary, and it takes place every year on December 6th. The kids put their boots by the window in the hope that St. Nicholas soon will be there. There’s only one thing I don’t get in all of it - they put the boots by the window but the big guy still comes down the chimney. I’m thinking that the chimney thing may be a recent development, tacked on in order to accommodate the permeation of American culture throughout the world (and the sale of little made-in-china Rudolph knick-knacks). I will research this a bit further and get back to you.
Items checked off the fa-la-la-la-list thus far… we have the tree in the stand, lights up outside, cards in the mail (obviously) and I just put all my holiday music back on the iPod. Much to the dismay of the boys, the sounds of the season will now be blaring in my car for the next month. I’m not sure how to convince them that they should embrace this holiday tradition, but I don’t think I was much of a Bing Crosby fan as a kid either. Liam really only digs one song, ’Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’.
Amazingly enough, the shopping is also done for the most part. With any luck we will be able to actually enjoy ourselves the week before Christmas. And on the main stage…looks like it’s going to be a Guitar Hero Christmas here at Chez McGann. There are other things in the letter to Santa - mostly Legos and PSP games for the boys, and anything /everything in the realm of plastic garbage that appears on TV for Keira - but Guitar Hero is the headliner. Turns out that Bill and I are giving each other the gift of warmth this year, in the form of a new furnace. Not a planned expenditure, but there wasn’t really an option. We will spend a quiet Christmas here with friends and then head to Lake Bohinj, Slovenia from Dec.30th-Jan5th. We are hoping for snow and a bit of decent skiing, but will be happy either way. Slovenia, while we‘re on the subject, is a virtually undiscovered jewel in terms of travel destinations. You’ve probably heard me say it before, but in case you haven’t, I highly recommend you put it on that ‘list of things to see/do before I die‘.
News from Budapest… well, I guess we should start with the basics. We are still here, which was questionable this time last year. Here’s a good one – October 7th marked ten years in Budapest for me – unfathomable. Most of you know that Bill left his position as CFO for Hungarotel at the end of 2006. It was a good decision, and one that I know he wouldn’t change. He has spent most of 2007 enjoying the down time with the kids (Keira in particular), decompressing, and figuring out what the next move will be. We remain hopeful that we will find something in this part of the world, and if not, then we will most likely head back to the US in the next year. A year of being together 24-7 has certainly given us a glimpse into the future, and while we don’t foresee any problems continuing our life together in retirement bliss, it’s safe to say that neither of us are ready to begin that chapter of our lives just yet :) Truthfully, it’s been fantastic having him home, and it will be a big adjustment for all of us when he goes back to work.
The kids are still thriving here, which makes it hard to imagine moving everyone back to the US right now. The plan, as it stands, is to spend another 2-3 years here and head back to Somewhere, USA in time for Riley to start high school. Note to the grandparents: this plan is subject to change. Riley will most likely move to the American school from September, where he will be in 6th grade. It’s the perfect time to change schools, as there are lots of new kids coming into the middle school. He is far from convinced that this is a good plan, in fact he maintains that he’s not going anywhere. Liam is in 3rd grade this year, so he will stay at the French school for a couple more years. Keira is the queen of her nursery/kindergarten and absolutely loves it, so we will probably leave her there for another year, instead of moving her to the French school as planned. All three have become very Hungarian, in so many ways, but we really try to maintain their American-ness at home. I have had to put my foot down and insist that the boys speak English in the house, as Hungarian could well take over as their mother tongue otherwise. We are also trying to ramp up the English lessons. I am perpetually second-guessing our decisions regarding their linguistic development, but am hopeful that someday it will all pay off.
The boys are still active in after-school sports, but we’ve narrowed it to two this year, tennis and football (soccer). They love tennis. Liam is actually playing three times a week, and both are getting pretty good. They play football on Saturdays with a group from the French school, and although it’s a bit disorganized, it is a great way for them to use the language outside of school. Keira started a ballet/dance class on Saturdays from September, which she seems to enjoy very much. We are headed into our fourth official ski season, with Riley and Liam kicking parental butt up and down the slopes. I’m actually improving a bit with each season, but will never be able to keep up with them. Liam is a total hotdog - it’s a wonder he hasn’t had a serious run-in with a tree yet. We are a three hour drive to Slovakia, and about five hours to the place we normally go in Austria, so we are trying to get 12-14 ski days in every year. The resounding theme in all of these adventures: cheap and cheerful.
We didn’t make it back to the US this past summer, but we did manage to spend a couple weeks in France, with a stop in Venice on the way down. Venice was very cool, but not at all what I expected. Somehow it just looks so different in the movies. Hello…Hollywood. We stayed with friends in France in a small town near the perfume capital of Grasse, and made a few day trips to Nice and Cannes. Oooh la la, I could happily spend a few weeks a year chillin’ like Bob Dylan on the Cote D’Azur.
Enter reality… I shall close for now, before I really do wear out the charm of the once-a-year blurb you were so eager to read a few minutes ago. Many of you have had the pleasure of dropping by my blog now and then, which hasn’t been touched since the end of September. I imagine it will be my recurring New Year’s resolution from now until the end of time to keep getting back in the cyber-saddle to reconnect. There are just never enough hours in the day.
Enjoy the moment you’re in, and have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and/or a Kooky Kwanzaa (I’m pushing the envelope with that one, huh?). And, it goes without saying, A Happy New Year.
Love, Kerry
Drop us a line: kerrymcgann@aim.com or Tune In: http://mcgannmonologues.blogspot.com/
The boys are still active in after-school sports, but we’ve narrowed it to two this year, tennis and football (soccer). They love tennis. Liam is actually playing three times a week, and both are getting pretty good. They play football on Saturdays with a group from the French school, and although it’s a bit disorganized, it is a great way for them to use the language outside of school. Keira started a ballet/dance class on Saturdays from September, which she seems to enjoy very much. We are headed into our fourth official ski season, with Riley and Liam kicking parental butt up and down the slopes. I’m actually improving a bit with each season, but will never be able to keep up with them. Liam is a total hotdog - it’s a wonder he hasn’t had a serious run-in with a tree yet. We are a three hour drive to Slovakia, and about five hours to the place we normally go in Austria, so we are trying to get 12-14 ski days in every year. The resounding theme in all of these adventures: cheap and cheerful.
We didn’t make it back to the US this past summer, but we did manage to spend a couple weeks in France, with a stop in Venice on the way down. Venice was very cool, but not at all what I expected. Somehow it just looks so different in the movies. Hello…Hollywood. We stayed with friends in France in a small town near the perfume capital of Grasse, and made a few day trips to Nice and Cannes. Oooh la la, I could happily spend a few weeks a year chillin’ like Bob Dylan on the Cote D’Azur.
Enter reality… I shall close for now, before I really do wear out the charm of the once-a-year blurb you were so eager to read a few minutes ago. Many of you have had the pleasure of dropping by my blog now and then, which hasn’t been touched since the end of September. I imagine it will be my recurring New Year’s resolution from now until the end of time to keep getting back in the cyber-saddle to reconnect. There are just never enough hours in the day.
Enjoy the moment you’re in, and have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and/or a Kooky Kwanzaa (I’m pushing the envelope with that one, huh?). And, it goes without saying, A Happy New Year.
Love, Kerry
Drop us a line: kerrymcgann@aim.com or Tune In: http://mcgannmonologues.blogspot.com/
1 comment:
Absolutely adorable!!!
Post a Comment