What happened to the Christmas Letter?

I was looking through some old papers that I have saved for many years.  A lot of what I saved are Christmas letters from friends and relatives.  I also have some handwritten letters from older relatives, like Uncle Al and Aunt Connie.  I re-read them all as I tried to decide what to keep and what to throw away.  And I realized that I haven't gotten a Christmas letter in years - nor have I sent one out.  There were several from Jessica's godparents and, then, just her godfather after Peg Sante died.  Now Pete has also died so.  A friend from nursing school apparently had the smartest kids in the world and didn't mind letting everyone know.  They were valedictorians in high school and then went on the multiple degrees in Ivy League schools while she worked with at-risk populations of pregnant women and girls.  Hard to live up to that.  My sister-in-law used to send out missives updating the family on the exploits of her two daughters and kept us abreast of what our brother was doing.  I was not crazy about the Christmas letters but I sent them anyway as a means of keeping in touch with family and friends.  Now with Facebook and emails, it just doesn't seem as important.  But I miss them.  Be on the lookout for a letter this Christmas - that is if I send out cards.

Mood Swings

It has been a wonderful day so far for me.  I managed to get out of the parking lot and to the gym to try the cardio dance class.  As soon as I saw the skinny young women with no boobs, I started to suspect I was out of my league.  I lasted 50 minutes though, but left early enough that no one would have to call 911.  Then I had to fight the Seafood Festival crowd to get home.  My street has been blocked off due to the festival, but I made a point of telling the guard when I left that I would be back at 11:30 or so.
  After a quick shower, Richard and I went to the festival.

The sun was shining brightly, no clouds and only a little standing water here and there.  There was a nice breeze to keep things comfortable.  I had not eaten yet so I checked out the various food booths and opted for fried clams and fries.  Big mistake because I am never going to find clams as good as the ones I used to get at Nantasket Beach.  After checking out most everything, we settled into a couple of bar stools at Tight Lines Pub and enjoyed some adult beverages.  Then I made one more pass through the festival crowd and back home.  I checked out the Weather Channel briefly and all they had was the gloom and doom stuff that would make anyone not here think we might be in mortal danger.   It was only later that my thighs started to scream at me, protesting all the squats we did in class.  But still, it has been a very good day.  I love the fact that I can wear a tank top, shorts and sandals in October.  I love the water views.  I love the simplicity of renting.
The problem will be tomorrow when my mood swings back the other way and I start questioning my judgement in moving and despairing of what my next step will be.  And tomorrow it will probably rain again or, at the least, be cloudy and gray.  These mood swings have been plaguing me ever since I stopped my hormone replacement therapy last year.  I don't think I should go back on hormones but I sure wish my mood would stabilize somewhere in middle.  I would sacrifice the highs to get rid of the lows.