Christmas Newsletter 2005
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
The newsletter that Carolyn, Ashleigh, and I (with special assistance from Briana) put together for Christmas 2005 was the last one that would include the original ABC Crew. It was a rather difficult one to write, especially where the introduction was concerned. As always, I wrote this intro, and I wanted to convey a sense of ‘we’re not a perfect family’ – even if we were in the midst of trying to work on it. With all of the beating we had taken as a family, I think we all were able to put a positive spin on this, our third Christmas Newsletter. Read the rest of this entry »
Like the previous year, our family broke tradition once again by not having the Murphy family Christmas gathering on Christmas Day itself. This one was much more palatable than 
I didn’t sleep all that well on Christmas Eve night on Denise’s couch – hearing the periodic coughing from Grandpa Murphy upstairs and also a bit on the warm side on this blustery cold night. So I popped awake immediately at 7:00am when I heard the pitter patter of one set of little feet as Adam came to down to have a look around. Oddly, he gave only a cursory glance at the milk and cookies (which had naturally been consumed) and the gifts under the tree before disappearing back upstairs to his room. 
The culmination of all of the holiday preparations, the raising of the tree and placing of the decorations, the making of the list and checking it twice, all of the gift buying and wrapping, the newsletter assembly, the baking (okay well, the purchasing of four bottles of soda and two packages of dinner rolls) - all sending the credit card debt into the stratosphere – came about on Thursday, December 24, 2009, as I entered into my 39th Christmas here on earth. 
December 2009 was not all that good to me. It was mostly a month of sadness and sickness, with the weather turning colder and the days getting shorter. In fact, I considered not putting up a Christmas tree at all this year, instead just settling for celebrating the month by watching Third Rock From the Sun on DVD, but thankfully Ashleigh was in the Christmas spirit and said she wanted one. But before we began this venture, I was faced with illness number one for the month.