Holiday Letter 2000

December 2000

Friends-

Season’s Greetings from Elmira, New York where we are pioneering the recycling of holiday wreaths. Ellen cleverly saved the pine wreath which hung upon our front door last holiday season. This year that same wreath, covered in Better-than-Natural Green spray paint, adorns our house yet again. It’s been another interesting year in the Hanson household.

Among the things we’ve learned in the past year is that home ownership isn’t for everyone. It is also full of surprises. We had a surprise this March when the snow melted we found that the lazy bastards who sold us the house previous owners had left us some raking to do. Enough raking to fill one-hundred-twenty large garbage bags. For those of you not familiar with the City of Elmira’s rules for trash removal, that is roughly one-hundred-fourteen more bags than they will remove per week. Our garage became a compost heap.

Once the bags of leaves were safely stored in the garage we were able to address other issues including: the relative sparsity of grass in the yard (still an issue), Eric’s insistence that a basketball hoop be installed (one was - though maybe not quite the one Eric had in mind), Ellen’s insistence that Eric get a large life-insurance policy (he did), Eric’s insistence that last year’s Christmas tree be taken down (it was - in late February), Eric’s one week remodeling project of his third floor office (in it’s sixth month now), the remodeling of a second floor bedroom (done - this was our last joint project), Ellen’s refinishing of the library floor (done - this was a bigger task than it sounds), Ellen’s remodeling of another second floor bedroom (almost done), Ellen’s insistence that she be pregnant (she is), Eric’s insistence that he acquire a new sports car to get him through his mid-life crisis (one was - though definitely not the one Eric had in mind [it had no room for a car seat]), Ellen’s remodeling of a second floor bathroom (almost done), Eric’s rewiring of his temporary second floor office while construction continues on his third floor office (done), repairs to the slate roof (started - warning: these things can be expensive), raking of the yard this fall (done - with the help of a leaf-sweeper contraption), and preparation of the nursery for the arrival of John Connor Hanson (moving slow - the local artist hired to do the murals [Eric’s father] - has been rather self-paced). The two major issues remaining seem to be training Eric to make the bed in the morning and training Eric to put garbage in the garbage can.

On January 1, Eric and Ellen will be hosting the New Year’s Day Bowl Game Party. This kicks-off at 11:00 am with the Cotton and Outback Bowls. The Gator, Citrus, Rose and Fiesta Bowls follow. Consider this an invitation. For information, directions, a schedule of upcoming events or just to talk to Ellen please call (607) 732-3697, email or visit our website.

Wishing you a happy holiday season and an interesting year,

Eric & Ellen