The New Year Newsletter I Didn’t Have the Guts to Send
I just found this little gem from last month. We’ll call it the cathartic holiday newsletter since I didn’t actually send it to people.
“I just choked back the annual New Year newsletter. And let me tell you, it was the perfect mix of happy crappy nonsense with a side of truth-telling. I wanted to go with the whole “honest Christmas card” thing but got cold feet and decided on the safe and “normal” card instead.
People think we’re weird enough.
If I’d had the actual guts to write an honest Christmas card, this is what I would have written:
Greetings and salutations dear friends and family! I could not manage a family Christmas photo shoot this year, because the truth is, I’ve eaten my feelings for the whole of 2017 and the only pants that fit are gray and slightly stained, not very festive looking, and would not coordinate with any other family members.
It’s true, I could go out and buy new clothes for everyone, and yes I have seen the helpful Pinterest tips on how to maximize outfit matchiness, but the idea of trying to color coordinate makes me want to drink before noon. And who am I kidding anyway? My children live in sweats and dressing them up for a photo that I will send to a bunch of people I don’t ever hear from just to make them think I have my life together doesn’t feel very authentic.
And 2017 was the year of authenticity for me. Damn you, Bréne Brown!
2017 was also a crap heap of emotions. We lost loved ones, had other’s diagnosed with life-threatening diseases, were plagued with endless hospital visits, and Trump became the actual president of the United States.
But I digress.
My husband has a job, so that’s good news.
The kids are great. They love to fight and argue and have some really creative name-calling skills.
As for me, I put much of my life and career on hold so I could homeschool the kids. The mix of ADHD, having your mother as a teacher and your brother as your classmate makes many days barely bearable.
It wasn’t a great year, and despite my efforts, the holidays didn’t feel very cheery for us. The movie Elf still made me crazy and no amount of mocha spiced cheery chino, holiday music or perfectly coiffed holiday photos posted to social media soothed this Grinch.
But I’d be exaggerating if I said all was lost in 2017. We did have some fun, and we definitely learned some valuable life lessons. Dealing with chronic illness taught us a lot about how strong we are as a family, and who we can rely on when things get difficult.
Well, here’s to the New Year! May it be brighter and better and less of a dumpster heap.”
Jen Kinney 
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