On Completing Personal Projects

We all put pressure on ourselves to accomplish things.  Some people overschedule their children so that they can brag about their many skills.  Some of us want to have the most amazing home filled with stuff to impress people and host amazing social gatherings.  Some of us want to lose 20lbs so that we are attractive to everyone else when, in fact, everyone else is really only paying attention to their own "weight loss journey."  Many of us climb the corporate ladder to have the most impressive job.  

The thing that I have tried to do since 2004 - Mail out a "Christmas Letter" to friends and family.  

Photo from 2004 Christmas Letter

And I usually fail.  Well, not completely.  Most years I get a letter completed and mailed.  But it is typically not before Christmas.  The letter itself is informative, funny, and well-written.  It's a joint effort between myself and Dan, and now, the children have been forced-to-write-a-section about themselves.  Timeliness is the biggest barrier, brought on by my impressive procrastination skills and desire for perfection.  

Typically I start the "Christmas Letter" on Black Friday.  I collect pictures that we have taken throughout the year and start out with the letter from the prior year for general ideas of things that should be updated since the last year.    Then I get distracted by various upcoming weekend events such as Christmas Parties.  Add in normal procrastination.  About the time the kids go on Christmas Break, I type some more, maybe sending to Dan for writing on his sections.  Then comes Christmas and different events.  Add in excessive procrastinate mode.  I get busy with Alex's birthday and going back to work/school.  Finally, after it has been put off long enough, I finish up the letter on MLK weekend and mail it out.  

This year, it was not just MLK weekend, but also President's Day weekend.  The letter was finally complete! Then it got mailed and emailed out in spurts.  If you didn't get a letter, I apologize, just drop me a line and I can mail or email you.  

Two things remain:  

• Project Management - Addressing the underlying Project Management issues related to the "Christmas Letter." 
• More 2019 - Blogging about some of the events that were left out of the 2019 Letter

Project Management

As a parent, one of my responsibilities is to teach my children skills that will help them to succeed in life.  Over the past few months, we have already studied the concept of task management based on how important and how urgent the tasks are.  We end up with markerboard charts like this:

The Colors Have Meaning Too

As an example, The most urgent thing is the Christmas Letter, indicated by "C".  Another urgent and important task is the "P" which is to renew the kids' Passports.  As you can see, we also work on the circled tasks which are easy and quick.  The orange and blue "O" was to do an Amazon Order for some items that we needed.

This being said, it's time to learn how to form an entire project, use already acquired skills to schedule the tasks, and create milestones!  So, for our 2020 "Christmas Letter," I am outsourcing the Project Management to the kids.  

More 2019 - 4th of July Train

Dan and the boys ended up going to Boy Scout camp over the 4th of July week.  This meant that I would be alone in the Washington, DC area during "Tanks on the Mall."  So, instead of this, I opted to take a work trip up to our Chicago office during the first few days of the week, then I used my Amtrak benefits to take the train from Chicago to Minneapolis.  I finally go to meet my brother's girlfriend in person after many years and hang out with both of them and my sister.  

We took artistic pictures at The Guthrie and ate ice cream in the rain.  I also got to watch fireworks from Robin's balcony, which was better than braving crowds at The National Mall.

Feet over Empty Space - In Yellow

Reflections of Us

More 2019 - Dad's Birthday

The visit with my siblings was not the only one of the year.  As mentioned in the Christmas Letter, we all met up in Michigan for my Dad's birthday in August.  We had a family gathering for dinner, then a big park party the next day with lots of fun activities.

Will Building Cupcake Conveyance - Other Child Holds Cake in Hand

There was also this candle-age-proof-cake, thanks to my step-brother Brent.  

More 2019 - Pics from Niagara

We did include one picture from Niagara in our Christmas Letter.  It was this one:

Fashionable Ponchos!

But we didn't have room to expand on our red poncho wearing and compare it to our Honeymoon visit in 2002 when we were actually in yellow ponchos.  

Cold, Wet, Rainy, and Windy Yellow Ponchos

Why yellow?  Yellow is the color for the Behind the Falls tour on the American side.  Red is the Hornblower Tours poncho color.  The kids surmised that this was so that when people fall into the water, they can be returned to the proper side of the border through easy color identification.  

Here is Alex, rejecting the poncho, on the boat.

Damp Alex

Now, these are just a few of the additional 2019 adventures that we had.  Clearly, we need to start posting more on the blog.  Although, given the current state of coronavirus stay-at-home events, maybe we will have to start with older adventures and leave the 2020 items for the new-and-improved Christmas Letter!