Belated Holiday Greetings,
The always hectic holidays became instantly
less hectic the day I decided to do this communiqué in January. In
fact, I remember right new exactly where I was that moment, just like everyone
always know where they were when Kennedy was shot. So please forgive my
tardiness, but it made the entire season more relaxed and enjoyable for
me. However, I do see that if my "annual" holiday letter once
again comes after a 13-month interval, you may be hearing from us next
in February of '86.
Our family holiday gathering in '84 was in
Florida at my mother's place. She did a marvelous job of providing
beautiful weather, so the cousins did plenty of swimming and shelling, and we
even spent a full day sailing in the Gulf of Mexico. The meeting place
for Christmas '85 hasn't been determined yet, but I know where my vote will
be!
This school year seems to be going
particularly well for the kids. They are happy and busy. Sara's
activities make a person tired to hear about them: paper route, piano,
intramurals, tumbling, choir, and break-dancing lessons. Can we wonder
why she's reluctant to start a musical instrument at the end of fourth grade
when it's offered? Shannon's list, like Shannon, is more laid
back. Dancing and break-dancing are her only organized activities.
Brownies fell by the wayside, as did piano. That battle ended -- she
won. Could anyone guess which of our daughters is the first-born and
which is the second-born? Then there's Jefferson. In his senior
year of nursery school his greatest interest is video games. He is the walk away
house champion. He is also the house champ in his infallible disposition.
But then why wouldn't he be cheerful when his main functions in life are
painting and topping the last video game score that he can't read anyway?
While 1983 seemed like a year of so much
travel, 1984 did not find us terribly homebound. The family trip of the
summer was at a resort in northern Minnesota, and just the girls spent another
week in Yosemite with their two cousins and my sister Jean (wasn't she
brave!). Rather than pining away with loneliness as we'd feared,
Jefferson loved being an only child that week. John made his annual
10-day fishing trip to northern Canada in June. The fishing wasn't very
successful, but the trip always is. Another trip for him that may become
an annual was a long weekend in Las Vegas last winter for golf ...or so they
said. My gallivanting didn't cover quite the same distance. In the
spring and fall I drove to Wisconsin and met a good friend from Chicago for 24
hours of talking without kids, husbands, or meals to worry about. We've
done that same trip several times in the past few years. It's a great
getaway! It sounds like John and I always take separate vacations -- not
so! Last March on less than two weeks notice we went to Puerto Rico for
a week with another couple from Annandale. The trip was such fun that we
are going to Mexico in February with the same couple plus one other. I
sure hope we are setting a pattern! One more trip was my 20-year H.S.
reunion in July. John decided that 5 days of babysitting was
preferable to hours of small-talk with other bored spouses (it was a 3-day
affair), and we both had a lovelier time.
(Late excuse.
Check. Kids. Check. Trips. Check. Jobs:)
The telephone industry has settled in t a
quieter rumble of chaos, and one outcome of it all for private telephone
companies has been to enable (force?) them to expand to other areas. So,
Bishop Communications no includes a telephone directory company, telephone
supplies, and least lucrative but most fun, two Radio Shack stores, one with
videotape rentals. If we had just a few customers that were as good as
we are, we'd be doing great. We love all the electronic doodads too
much! My job as Computer Coordinator at the elementary school is much
the same as last year. There are more computers to coordinate (21), but
the same wonderful schedule of 3 days a week in which to do it. I wish
that all that exposure satisfied my yen for computers, but I'm sheepishly
anticipating the arrival of the Tandy 1000 (IBM PC jr clone) at home,
while the little radio Shack Color Computer has gotten lots of use a home for
some time (e.g. this letter).
So I come to an end of this second annual
mass-produced greeting from Annandale. It seems far too lengthy, but
then you have more time to read it now in January than you would have in
December, right? 1984 was a busy year for the Bishops, though probably
no more than other years. Do you ever hear anyone (who is healthy) say
what a slow year they've had? The trick seems to be to sort through the
endless ways we all want to spend our time and make the right choices.
Whether you hear from us again in eleven or twelve or maybe even thirteen
months from now, until then, we whish you all the very best in 1985!
Love, John, Jill,
Sara, Shannon, and Jefferson
(10)
(8)
(5)