our holiday greeting mashup

Every year, we send out ~120 Christmas cards.  The format consists of a family photo, usually a couple shots of the kids - and then some action shots of experiences we've enjoyed over the past year.  It also contains a poem that the family will pitch in to write, usually encompassing the entire year in 12 sentences or less.  The annual poem is one of our most notable traditions, dating back to 1994: our first year of marriage.  

Because we didn't take any grand family vacations over the summer - in mid November, we donned our plaid shirts and went to the field across the street from our house, with sweeping views of the mountains and Lake Champlain, and started snapping off some photos we could use 1) for senior photos for the triplets and 2) our annual Christmas card.  

Unlike previous years, where I'm scrambling to write and order our cards the second week of December, this year, I was totally ahead of the game and wrote the poem the day after Thanksgiving. Hoping to capitalize on the Black Friday savings, I ordered our 120 cards and applied every discount that I could find including 50% off, free shipping, no tax, and expedited delivery.  One discount, a new one to me, because I'd never been on the ball to order Christmas cards so early as Black Friday, was "Buy 100 Cards, Get 20 Free!" Yippee!!! 

In my logic, if I purchased 100 cards - we'd receive another 20 for free, so I'd have the 120 we needed.  Alas, when I received the bright orange Shutterfly package less than a week later, and started to write all of our cards week after that, we only noticed that we were 20 cards short after we'd written out 99 of them.  

Charlie was assigned a pile, I was assigned a pile, and we didn't fully comprehend how many were in the respective piles until we were down to the last card.  It turns out, when I bought 100 cards, they only charged me for 80 - and sent the 20 for free.  AND SO IT IS, WE WERE 20 CARDS SHORT.  

Was it me not reading the promo properly, or a very poorly worded promo? 

The consensus at our house, is that Shutterfly was at fault. 

Regardless, there is no feeling quite like the feeling of realizing you don't have enough Christmas cards for some really important people on your list. Perhaps a few of our old friends - who we haven't heard from in a couple years - could have been skipped this year to make room for a beloved aunt who never writes a card, but you know looks forward to receiving ours.  

Unfortunately, all those cards to people that we might have skipped this year, had already been written out and we found ourselves in a serious pinch.  

So that same evening, I logged on to Shutterfly and ordered 20 additional cards.  Taking stock of the date, I realized that although the cards would just be here in time for Christmas, by the time we wrote them and mailed them ... and they are delivered far and wide across the nation ... it'll likely be after Christmas.  So I tweaked the card from "MERRIEST CHRISTMAS!" to "HAPPIEST NEW YEAR!"

EXHIBIT 1. 

That was the ONLY change.  Everything else, all photos, the poem, etc. etc. etc. were identical.  I quickly hit "ORDER" and lamented that without all the discounts I'd received on Black Friday (including free shipping) - this batch of 20 cards cost me nearly half as much as the 100 (er, 80) cards I'd purchased earlier in the month.  Dagnabbit!

Because we didn't have expedited shipping with the second batch, we didn't receive them until nearly three weeks later.  So when I arrived them just this past week, I felt tremendous satisfaction that we had made that change from "Merry Christmas" to "Happy New Years" since there was no way they'd be there in time for Christmas.  At first glance, the cards looked great and I was excited to get them to the remaining people on our list. 

Imagine my surprise - and then shock and horror - when the kids started laughing hysterically and pointed out that the boys heads were missing.  

EXHIBIT 2. 

At this point, I was finished with cards, and just needed these to go in the mail. I was not in the slightest way interested in reordering any more - nor filing a complaint and asking for a refund. 

However, I was convinced that Shutterfly was now 0/2, I logged on to the website and reviewed my order.  Although I'd only changed the words "MERRIEST" to "HAPPIEST", it would seem that this tiniest edit shifted the images on the card and lopped off the top of my boys heads.  Had I taken a hot minute to proofread the entire card, I would have noticed this and made the necessary correction.  Oops.  

The consensus at our house, is that this one's on me.  BUT, had Shutterfly not flubbed up the marketing campaign with 20 free cards, we wouldn't be in this predicament at all, now would we?  Hahahaha!!!!  

Ah well. I'm over it. And it certainly seems like the boys have grown out of the frame since these photos were taken.  Henry has cleared 6'0, and William is 6'3".  At his brother's age, William was *only* 5'9" so I wouldn't be surprised if my littlest firecracker winds up being the tallest of the group. I've never seen a child eat as much as he does.  He received an Air Fryer for Christmas (his #1 request!) and has cooked and consumed at least 15 pounds of chicken in the past three days.  I'm not even kidding. 

All I know is that every single day it looks like they're taller than they were the day before. 

Either they're getting taller, or I'm shrinking.  

Probably a little of both.  But it's so incredibly wonderful having all these people around that can reach things on the top shelf for me!  

do you sprechen sie deutsch?

We recently sent out our annual Christmas cards, and for the first time in a few years, I added our blog address as a means of communication.  I haven't been great about updating the blog, but as I was writing our annual card, I thought that maybe by sharing the address, I'd feel inspired to log on and provide more frequent updates (at least for the next couple of weeks, ha!).  With more updates, we'll generate more archives of memories - and Charlie is better able to turn those memories in to volumes of books that he likes to give me each year at Christmas as a present. (Although, he has warned me that the past few years of blog posts only equate to a few pages - so he can't publish another one until I write more!!) 

It worked! With that bout of inspiration, here I am - updating the blog! 

There are so many exciting things happening in our lives at the moment, but one of the biggest is that William, who is in his fourth year of German, is involved in The International Experience (TIE) through his high school.   

This past October, we hosted a German student from Hameln, at our home for two weeks.  In February 2023, William will be exchanging to Hameln to stay with that same student's family for two weeks.  When William applied to the TIE program last year, he was thoughtfully filling out his application, when his head popped up and he asked, "Mom? Can I ask you a question?  Should I request a girl or a boy exchange student?" Without hesitation I replied, "A BOY, without question or discussion." 

Because...  William is a teenage boy. The absolute last thing that we (or I, his mother) want at this stage in life is for an adorable German girl to come to our home and sweep our American boy off his fuß and the next thing you know, he wants to move to Germany or something crazy.   

I just have a way of seeing in to the future, you know?  

A few months after William had submitted his application, he came home one day and walked in to my office where I was busy working.  "Mom, we received our TIE student placement today," he declared with a solemn face.  He shook his head and with a deep sigh added, "I have bad news, and I have good news." 

My response was something like, "Uh-huh." Glasses dropped to the brim of my nose and I peered over my spectacles, waiting.  I knew what was coming. 

He continued, "Well, for the bad news, it seems that there were a lot more girls from Germany that applied to the program than there were boys. And well, it seems that there are a lot more boys that applied for the program in Vermont than there are girls. As a result ... I'm so, so sorry Mom, but our exchange student is a girl. Her name is Carlotta." 

Yep. Just as expected.  "Uh-huh. So what's the good news?"  (No spoiler alert for me: I already knew the answer to this.) 

He then broke in to a huge smile and said, "Here's her picture!"  

When I had imagined what the adorable German girl might possibly look like, that might be the one to sweep our American boy off his feet, wouldn't you know, she looked EXACTLY like Carlotta.  

So from my perspective, the best possible news is that when we finally met Carlotta, within the first five minutes of our introduction - I had discerned that she has a SERIOUS BOYFRIEND WHO IS HER BEST FRIEND AND THAT SHE LOVES VERY MUCH.  Can I get a Hallelujah, Amen?! 

Ah, but wait.  

Carlotta is extremely sweet and kind, and she and William had an absolute blast spending two weeks together, traveling all around the state with the other exchange students and playing cards - at every free moment. 

Our kids have since said that the two weeks Carlotta and the German students were here, were the most fun of the entire year.  Even with Charlie - Henry - and Liz all falling ill with Covid three days before she arrived.  

Thankfully, and miraculously, the virus dodged William, Carolyn and I ... and Carlotta ... and once the three had been quarantined in the basement for the requisite time, all was well. 

Because the exchange occurred over the triplet's birthday, which also coincided with homecoming, we hosted a huge party at our house the entire weekend of October 14-16.  

On Friday night, we had at least 60 kids.  They rolled in at 10 PM after the football game (where our kids were so amazed that the entire student body sang them happy birthday while they were in the stands ... just one more thing that they have told me would likely never to have happened at their mega school in Texas!) and a good portion of the SBHS student population took over our basement.  We served up tons of pizza ... 

While the kids played foosball, laser tag, darts, and had an intense "Just Dance" off between the Americans vs. Germans. 

On Saturday, we took a gaggle of kids to tour the Ben & Jerry factory down the road ... and had another 30 kids descend on our house. We served up chili and cornbread and the kids bundled up warmly and watched Maverick on our inflatable 20' outdoor screen (which, should I ever resurrect "Favorite Thing Friday" would be on the list!) 

On Sunday, we picked bags and bags of apples. So many bags, we still have at least four dozen apples left over, two months later.  More kids were back at our house that evening for dancing, and card playing. We also ate two huge Costco cakes which we'd been too full to consume on the prior two nights what with all the pizza and chili. 

On Monday, we bid the German students a teary farewell ... and within hours, William had connected with Carlotta's soon to be brother-in-law (who it turns out, was Carlotta's sister's American host family a few years ago; you read that right) and learned all about the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange.  

Within the month, he had applied. 

Suffice to say, beyond his exchange to Germany this coming February, William is now hoping to be accepted in to the CBYX program for the Fall of 2023.  Although he is applying to a handful of schools including the University of Vermont, and US Coast Guard Academy ... my instinct tells me that this program in Germany is his first choice.  He also tells me, it has nothing to do with Carlotta. She has a boyfriend after all, Mom.  I believe him - I know he is extremely interested in the language, history, culture and geography of Germany.  And yes, whatever, the girls are also *kind* of cute.  

And so it is, if he is accepted, I suspect we'll be saying "Auf wiedersehen, William!" next August. 

Can't say I didn't see this one coming.