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Letters From North America
by Peary Perry

Merry ChristmasWell last week, I wrote about those “Cutesy” Christmas letters we all seem to get from people near and dear that have wonderful. perfect, lovely lives. Those dear friends who never have anything in their lives go wrong and who are always somehow trying to decide what they will wear to the Nobel Peace prize awards or to the Academy Awards or dinner at the White House. The last one I’m not too sure is an honor anymore. Anyway, I had made a form for you to use to fill in the blanks if you were so inclined to do so. I would imagine none of you used this one since you are readers of good taste. You have to be since you are reading this column. Anyway, for this week, I thought I’d wrap up the Christmas season with a form letter that is more realistic and along the lines of what we all actually have to deal with in our lives. Feel free to use this whenever you need it….

Dear Folks:

Well, another year has gone by and we are all __________. We have been really lucky since we haven’t had the ___________since last _________. Mom is getting along __________and she hasn’t fallen again since_________. Dad is ___________, but that’s another story. Little_________is now the __________player on the ___________team here at _________school. We are hoping _____will get a scholarship to _________University.  Our car only broke down ____________times this past year and we were able to get it fixed since__________got a new job at the _____________.  If things keep going this way, we will probably be able to afford to buy _____new tires. Since _____________we have been looking for some other kind of work since the __________closed after _____________years. It was a real shock to us all, but we will survive.  Overall our lives have been really _________, and for that we consider ourselves______________. It could have been a lot ____________year. We certainly have had____________. We hope everyone in your family is well. We will close now and get back to ____________. Take care and know that you are in our __________.

Back to the real world. Well, anyway you get the idea. Most of us live lives that have common blessings and problems. Like someone said…if you had to change your problems for someone else’s, all things considered you’d probably keep your own. This is the time of the year to sit back and take stock of what we have to be thankful for and to look at what COULD have happened to us rather than WHAT did happen to us. Like the man said….”When I get to heaven I want mercy, not justice.” Once we start looking at our lives and comparing them to others, well, maybe we could write a really positive Christmas letter. Maybe not one like I described last week, but one that did bring out the positive aspects rather than all of the negative points. This Christmas, take the time to give everyone a really nice gift….. one that doesn’t cost much…like a hug, a compliment or a smile. Then keep that attitude going for the next 52 weeks and we’ll be back again, same time, same spot, next year and we can all tell about how much better we feel after 52 weeks of positives, rather than negatives. Who know? Maybe next year we can even get around to writing a really sincere and positive letter. I’m going to work on it. Take care, have a really nice holiday and remember the reason for this season.

For questions or comments, please contact me at pperry@austin.rr.com

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