Dear readers,

With Thanksgiving behind us, now's the time to turn to holiday cards and newsletters. For some of you, writing about your lives might be tricky. Not me! Really, it couldn't be easier to look back on the year that's passed and share some of the joy with family, friends, and especially you, my Cookie-pals. So I'm going to do just that and share the first draft of my holiday newsletter right here:

Whew! Can you believe how time flies? For the Crabfamily, it's truly astonishing to say "there goes another year of joy, achievement, and growth (both personal and financial)." But  sure enough December is almost upon us, Santa is prepping his sleigh, and there's a touch of holiday magic in the air.

As you all know, having a toddler has been something of a challenge for Crabmommy, but by working positively and with self-control through the tough times, I'm proud to say that I now have a rather uniquely marvelous preschooler. Truly it is amazing what they teach us when we let them! Especially when they are as special and unusually kind as Crabtot, who voluntarily gave up her Radio Flyer toddler trike and a gently used sticker book so that the children of Iraq could have a special Christmas too. Bless her tiny heart! I think as parents we all know that this is the stuff that really counts, and the other stuff such as advanced verbal facility (Crabtot is almost bilingual in Spanish now) and developmental developedness (her fine motor is, I must say, ridiculously good) just aren't very important compared with having a deep-seated sense of morality.

I'm also pleased to report that this same generosity shows itself in Crabtot's day-to-day interactions too. Not only does she share, but she actually teaches others to share too. Just last week her teacher told me that Crabtot actually refused to eat her lunch, offering it instead to another child! Talk about selflessness! Of course Crabhubby and I know that raising such an emotionally (and intellectually) wise child is a grave responsibility. We don't want to push her, so we try to simply raise her in an atmosphere of loving normalcy. I've been reading biographies by mothers of great people (Gandhi, Mandela, Celine Dion) and I think a common thread between all of us moms of special people is that we don't treat them any differently for being different. So maybe you have unique listening skills at age 3 and maybe you're going to change the world someday, but today you're still bringing your plate to the sink, young lady! I figure that's the best way to be as the mom of a special kid, and I mean even if your kid is special like handicapped-special you should probably do the same as what I'm doing and just treat them as though they are totally normal. Even if they aren't. It just seems to work out better if you minimize their gifts (or in the case of the handicapped kid, their limitations).

Moving on to other news we're thrilled that Crabhub has done so well as an architect that he has become the personal architect to the Rolling Stones, doing up their houses all over the world! No wait, that's what he dreamed last night. Silly me! The holidays really get to my head sometimes. Just to say he and I both feel pretty swell about everything. I mean, we've had our rough spots. But now that we've sold off a bunch of real estate and are doing daily yoga as a family we feel centered, anchored, and basically just super-stable in all ways. Especially since Crabhub has stopped snorting everything up his left nostril and I've finally taken the gin out of my tonic.

Truly, marriage is about growth, and sometimes that growth can be malignant, like a tumor or a big fungus or something. But if you nurture your marriage with sunshine, laughter, love, and water (I'm drinking so much water these days!) you can see good growth, like an apple tree.

Goodness would you look at that? A whole page and I haven't even mentioned Africa! Yikes, there isn't any room left to report on political activism, or what we've been doing in the Crabtown community, much less space to mention Crabtot's involvement with an African orphanage or my book deal, or the fact that we've decided we might take a year off and build tsunami shelters in Thailand. (Crabtot is just busting to learn a South Asian language and heck, I could use a tan!)

But I don't want to go on and on about me. Just to say that the Crabfamily looks back on 2007 with contentment and looks forward to 2008 with delighted anticipation. And we wish you and yours the absolute best for the season, no matter what your religion. Unless you're Mormon. Which we're feeling rather conflicted about these days, 2007 being the year in which we read John Krakauer's thoughts on the matter.

Anyhoo, jingle jingle bell to you and may the doves of peace alight on your corner of the universe.

Crabmommy

So that's just a first draft. What do you think? Any suggested edits?