Happy Holidays 2010

Honestly, it's been 2 years since we were organized enough to write and mail out a holiday letter. But baby, Kit wrote ours for 2010 late one evening...so without further  ado...

8 December 2010

Dearest family and friends,

Apparently it has been two years or more since we sent out a Christmas letter, for which you can thank me (Kit), not Emily, since Emily actually has time management skills and the ability to prioritize and to be goal-oriented.  Kit continues to refine his ability to be “in the moment” to the point that he is rarely out of “the moment” any more, to Emily’s endless exasperation (and sometimes, I hope, if not envy, at least grudging appreciation).  Thus we still have the family photo we printed up two years ago for you all, the text of which celebrates the departure of the f**king fascist motherf**kers[1] George W. Bush and Dick B. Cheney from the White House, which Kit’s family had the unusual distinction of decorating for the Obama’s neighborhood trick-or-treating event this October 31^st (http://tinyurl.com/tgpp-at-wh).  Kit was on his way back from his second Central Asian library conference in as many years (Kyrgyzstan, 2009; Uzbekistan, 2010) at the time, but his brother insists that he wouldn’t have gotten security clearance to help out with the display anyway.  In part thanks to his international travels, Kit may have the opportunity to move from the Slavic Reference Service into Slavic, East European and Eurasian acquisitions at the UIUC Library.  Those of you who have known Kit for many years can imagine his delight (not to say salivation) at being entrusted with a large budget that needs to be spent on books in Russian, Uzbek, Tatar, Hungarian, etc., etc.

But enough about Kit.  Emily is wrapping up her 3 years as a La Leche League leader, keeping the household together, volunteering at Kai’s school, and lugging the kids around to their various activities, all while four months pregnant!  Baby girl #2 is due on May 4^th, and mommy and daddy are gearing up for one last child-bearing/rearing/nursing/wiping hurrah.  We feel a little bit crazy to start this whole process over again, but hey, you only live once (right?) and we ain’t getting any younger.  Norah is adamant that the baby should be named “Baby Baby Potato Chip,” but Kit and Emily are exploring other options as well. 

It is hard to believe that big brother Kai will be almost 6 by the time the baby comes around.  He started kindergarten at South Side Elementary this fall, which was a momentous event for all of us.  Social skills:  dramatically improved.  Reading, writing, and arithmetic:  improved, thanks in large part to his early-morning sessions with Gaga (Emily’s mom), who is using her 34 years of teaching experience to help Kai along.  Visual arts:  effects unclear, since while Kai still spends hours every day drawing, painting, sculpting, etc., each project now seems to last 15 minutes or less, whereas before he’d work on one drawing for days.  Behavior:  um, about the same, i.e., he can be a real pistol sometimes.  But he seems happy and takes great pleasure in his classmates’ hijinks, especially those that land them (but not him) in trouble.  He enters and leaves the school every day with a smile on his face now, and that does mommy and daddy’s hearts good.

Norah is enjoying her first (and last) stretch of time as the only child in the house during the day, bringing out her dollies and other toys that received short shrift under Kai’s former testosterone-fueled play regime.  She loves eating, role play, ballet, Kindermusik, watching movies, running errands, being outside, being naked, her weekly trips to story/craft time at the Champaign Public Library with Gaga, and talking to Baby Baby Potato Chip in mama’s belly.  She also loves Bodhi, our long-suffering Tibetan terrier, who is looking forward to the kids being a little older and our household becoming a little bit more dog-centered again.

So, in 2011 we hope that the world becomes a safer, saner, freer, funner, more prosperous, less consumerist, more peaceful, less militaristic, more tolerant, less Glenn Becky, more thoughtful, less high-fructose-corn-syrupy place.  It is painful to remember that Kit’s cousin Ross Taylor and our friend Jason Ray both passed away suddenly this fall, but it really got us thinking about what is important in life (as I’m sure both Ross and Jason would want us to be doing).  We have really enjoyed spending more time with friends and family (i.e., you all) in 2010, and we hope to do even more of that in 2011.  If you don’t live around here, let’s try to figure out when and how we can see each other.  Keep in touch and Happy Holidays!

Love,

 Kit, Emily, Kai, Norah, and Baby Baby Potato Chip (in utero)

---

[1] This is not solely a Tourette’s-like outburst of unchristmasy profanity, but a reference to Emir Kusturica’s Palme-d’Or-winning 1995 film Underground, about Yugoslavia under the Nazis and Communists, which Kit makes partly in order to try to convince himself that he is still hip, and partly out of nostalgia for a time when Kit believes himself to have been hip.