Christmas 2019

Dear ones far and near,                                                 January 2020

Happy events kept me from writing a timely letter this year. We were taken on a Caribbean cruise as a surprise Christmas present to Sam’s father. My eldest daughter and her husband decided to come along! So we had a lovely time traveling and seeing sights on the high seas. While it didn’t look or feel like Christmas to my northern bones, it was an especially delightful time with family.

Sam and I have been married for three years and three months.  It is remarkable to me how lovely it is to be partnered with this man. I had dreamed of such companionship and reciprocity but had long since given up hope until I said yes to this guy. Being happily partnered does not solve all of life’s problems, but it certainly makes it easier, and with Sam, full of laughter too.

I have spent the year traveling for work. No consistent clients in New York City yet, but I do have lots of work near my home town in Pennsylvania, and I also have clients in Ontario. The Ontario clientele cover the cost of the bus fare to see my friends and family in Ontario too!

Speaking of family, daughter Eden and her husband Aaron had a scary couple of days in July when they discovered all was not well with her pregnancy. After tests and consultation, their care team decided to take the baby three weeks early. She was tiny and perfect and arrived safe and sound. I arrived in Ontario just a few hours after she did! Paige is now six months old and already a force to be reckoned with. I am in Kitchener on a visit even as I write, and am soaking up every minute, be it playing with Andrea, or rocking and holding Paige.

It was also my first time being in town for Andrea's birthday. I got to help ice the cake and watch her unwrap her presents. She loves all things purple and princessy AND is an amazing rock climber. This girl can do it all! She loves being a big sister. 

Paige has big blue eyes and loves to make noise. She makes great eye-contact and is progressing right on schedule.  She doesn't sleep much, which is hard on her mom. But eventually, she will. That's what I keep telling Eden!  

Life seems to have come down to work and family. I still battle with depression, which makes the constant advertising and reaching out for my business extra hard. But once I’m on the job, I am grounded and focussed. Helping people organize their spaces to best suit their lives is not just fun, it truly is magical.

I am including a photo I took on Puerto Rico as I climbed the Yohaku Tower in El Yunque National Forest. Our tour guide pointed out the face of the god "Yucahu" on the mountain top.  Can you see the nose, lips, and eyebrow ridge? Pretty cool, eh?

As global politics and climate change continue to be baffling and frightening, I choose to focus increasingly on the small and beautiful moments of daily life.  I do everything I can to learn about the issues and promote decency and compassion, non-exploitation and stewardship. Then I have to unhook from the world and be in the small moments. 

And so ends the 2010s.

For me, it was a decade of tremendous change,  upheaval, and growth. I'm not sorry it is behind me. 

I am committing to writing every day. I am going to build an outline for my next novel and then begin to hang scenes on it. I am done waiting for inspiration. This novel's gonna have to come out using forceps, and that's what I'm gonna do, if necessary.

May you be finding your small moments of joy. May you continue to build a community that loves and supports you. 

And may you keep coming home to yourself.

Here is a small moment of joy.

Blessings in the new decade,

Sam and Alison Moore

Previous Christmas letters can be found here:

https://alisonlongstaffmoore.blogspot.com/2018/12/christmas-2018.html

and here:

https://cliffsidechapel.com/Christmas2015.htm