Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Holiday Letter 2002

December 2002

Friends-

Holiday Greetings from Elmira, New York, home of the country’s oldest natural pine wreath (please see last year’s note). We have grown a year wiser here, assuming, of course, that wisdom can be measured in years. Most of Eric's new found wisdom comes in the parenting department. Things that Ellen seemed to be aware of going in have come a little slower to Eric. This will surprise very few of you.

Little nuggets of wisdom recently acquired include:

  • A toddler should not be given a bat in the kitchen. Or a broom.
  • A little boy --this may apply to little girls as well-- with a bowl of oatmeal should never be left unattended - not even in a highchair. The highchair, in fact, only increases his range.
  • Children will cry. Try and enjoy the sound. Temper tantrums can be amusing if you just get in the right frame of mind.
  • All over-the-counter sedatives say "Do not to give to children under age 2". Eric still thinks it was worth checking.
  • Nothing teaches "safety-first" like a good fall.
  • Socks can be kept on with duct tape. Who would have thought?

Home ownership continues to take a toll on us. Our parking lot has a large pile of sand and a large pile of gravel - remnants of a stone walkway project started in May. The adventure was put on hold when our stone-walkway-builder took off for Hollywood. Roughly 30 feet of the 160 proposed feet of walkways have been completed. Trenches criss-cross our back yard making night-time volleyball dangerous and croquet impossible. Also, the stone barbeque in the back yard is half demolished as part of what also promises to be a long-term . . . something. The proper word eludes us at the moment. We had hoped to report that Eric's office remodeling project had been completed, 2 years and 8 months after it was started, but it is still not quite there. It is close enough to completion that Eric has been relocated back up to the attic, doubling the distance of his morning commute (not to mention his distance from the kitchen). The contractors will have to work around him the rest of the way. Next on Eric's list is converting the entire basement into a rec room. A bar, pool table, race track, foosball, pinball, home theatre - the works. Ellen's list may vary slightly. For those of you scoring at home you may have noticed that these two sentences also appeared in last year's Holiday note. Eric’s list is not the one we are working off of.

Before we forget - Ellen is six months pregnant with what appears to be a girl (at least to those people familiar with looking at sonograms of what vaguely resembles a small person curled into a ball) and we are having a bit of trouble agreeing on a name so we would appreciate everyone weighing in on these choices:

  • Sophia Holland Hanson, "Sophie"
  • Molly Kate Hanson, "Molly" or "Kate"
  • Katherine Claire Hanson, "Kate"
  • Claire Holland Hanson, "Claire"
  • Alix Shea Hanson, "Ali" or "Alix"
  • Madeline Claire Hanson, “Maddie” (After our neighbor’s dog.)
  • Molly Catherine Hanson, “Molly” or “Cate”

Finally, for those of you trying to keep up with Connor's exploits it's best to visit the website (www.newyorklogic.com/hanson/) frequently. As an added attraction, Eric is working on a page for the website listing all of the great reasons to come to New York's Southern Tier and, perhaps, stop by our place. In his second year Connor has now learned his colors (at least the ten he needs if he does not pursue a career as an interior designer), added a couple of trips to Philadelphia and one to Nantucket to his growing list of adventures, figured out the counting thing up to six ("None, two, tree, four, five, six, many." Seven seems a ways off now, but I'm sure it will be here before we know it), memorized a few books, awarded Ellen three separate nicknames and been photographed an additional 1017 times by Ellen. He still doesn't have a girlfriend, has demonstrated some odd compulsive behavior and has shown no desire to get a job and move out of the house. We may be stuck with him forever.

Wishing you a happy holiday season and an interesting year,

Eric, Ellen & Connor

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