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Thursday, December 11, 2008

Heiss Holiday Humbug 2008

Perhaps I'm a little obsessive, but I've been thinking about this year's newsletter for at least 2 months now. Truthfully, it's probably been longer than that. Mostly I've been thinking about it because sending them out last year was a mess.

Last year was the first year we sent a Christmas newsletter out--you'll notice this newsletter is still volume three. Yes, that's because we forgot to send letters out the first year we were married. We wrote one. We just forgot to send it out and by the time March rolled around it just seemed a little silly to send them out. So we just didn't.

I'm terrible at things like this. Did I ever mention I never got around to finishing the thank-you cards for my wedding? That's probably going to haunt me to the grave. I'll be on my deathbed sobbing, "I didn't send out thank-you cards...and I habitually emailed out my Christmas newsletter...but I promise I'm still a good person!!"

At least this year we're emailing our letter because we live in Egypt, unlike last year when our lame excuse was that we didn't want to spend money on stamps (although if we lived in the States this year I would bet money that we still wouldn't want to spend money on stamps). Regardless, emailing just feels more valid this year.

Unfortunately I've procrastinated far too long and I didn't get our address book as organized as I'd hoped to this year (or at all for that matter) so if you got this twice or not at all, I'm sorry. It's not our fault we both like you and you happen to be in each of our address books...or that we never got around to adding you into our address book. Maybe next year I'll be organized. No promises.

Now without further ado I bring to you the Heiss Holiday Humbug 2008 (fully downloadable with the click of a button):


Our family weblog is epically long; I’ve written around 500 blog posts this year alone [edit: this is my 507th blog post this year...yikes]. So while I don’t expect you to read every word I write, I would feel obtusely redundant if I actually wrote a Christmas letter. Following last year’s trend I am using this opportunity as a shameless plug for Heissatopia. Just follow the links....

Two thousand and eight started out with a bang
I contuted my elbow; in a sling it did hang.

From that moment on the year only got better
Which I’ll summarize here in our Christmas newsletter...

A goal on my life list says, "Bake wedding cake."
That goal was accomplished, a big undertake.

For part of the cake we tried keeping pet fish
But each of them found a quick way to perish.


Andrew, in April, donned grad cap and tassel,
Left BYU, and became somewhat less vassal.

For although he stayed working there as his vocation
Our post-graduation freedom gave way to vacation!

We went on a road trip to see San Diego
And got real nice tans to boost up our ego.

Later we took off to Grover for camping.
The cabin had gone through a lot of revamping


So we slept in the newly constructed loft,
Rachel in a crib, us on mattresses soft.

Soon after that Rachel turned one—
She’s growing up fast and it sure is fun!


By this time she already knows how to walk.
She jumps, spins, and climbs and is starting to talk.

Our parents are sad that we took her away
To Cairo, Egypt, where we plan to stay


For two or so years—Andrew’s doing his master’s.
(We’ve been in school so long I wish he’d go faster!)

He’s currently studying at AUC
And in our spare time we get all touristy.

We’ve already hiked down inside the Bent Pyramid
And found it quite dull, dreary, dank, dark and humid.

But Egypt is great! We’ve our share of adventure;
Our future is unequivocally up to conjecture.

What’s in store for next year? I cannot divine.
But Merry Christmas and Happy Two-Thousand and Nine!

Love from,
Andrew, Nancy and Rachel Heiss

And that's basically what we did in 2008. Obviously we did a lot more than that since I wrote hundreds of entries about our life...feel free to peruse the archives if you're bored.

8 comments:

  1. Honestly, I didn't finish those wedding thank you's either... I even tried and then lost them and then tried again and then, because I had made them all, even the envelopes, they were too small to send and needed extra postage, and by this point I gave up! I'm so glad I'm not the only one!

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  2. Are you kidding me, Becky? I'm so glad I'm not the only one! That's awesome! (Thanks for telling me this).

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  3. Yeah Nancy, I didn't even finish mine, and when I was almost done them, A pitcher of water got spilled on them, or Kool Aid something like that... so I gave up.

    SORRY to all those people, I tried!

    And cute poem :)

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  4. You, too?

    Oh, I'm so happy! If many more people admit to never finishing their thank you cards I might just stop feeling guilty about it!

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  5. Very cute newsletter - good job! I love the layout of the page - what program do you use?

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  6. Thanks, Shaille (with an accent). I used InDesign.

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  7. Dear Nancy and whoever else hasn't sent out thank you's for presents, I had only one thought...the 10- lepers - and only one returned to give thanks. It says in the scriptures something about in nothing is the Lord displeased so much as in the sin of ingratitude.

    I know that we are all involved in the busyness of this world, but when someone takes the time, or spends the money or does both for your benefit and does not receive an effort on your part of thanks,it indicates ingratitude.

    I presume that we have too much nowadays and really don't need the things we have been given, or maybe we would be a little more conscious of the generosity and often sacrifices of others on our behalf.

    Sorry if I sound like a generation out of time, but some principles, like gratitude are eternal and shouldn't be taken lightly.

    Also there is not statute of limitations on expressions of gratitude. Sorry about this comment but the sentiments about haunting until your dying day are a conscience that maybe knows what to do battling with the world that does otherwise.

    Love you Nancy!
    Bernie

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  8. Thank you Bernie, for your thoughts. I agree that we should all do our best to show gratitude. And I definitely feel it is something that I personally need to improve on. This is not the first time I've written about this...indeed, I feel guilty about it every time I receive a thank-you card for anything. Inshallah, one day I will be able to finish them and get it off my conscience! Unfortunately I lack the resources to do it here, so it will wait...for another year or more...until I live in a place that has a postal system :)

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