The
red kettles are out. Your neighbors’ inner Griswald is running amok with reckless
disregard for any neighborhood covenants. And where the skies are so blue, the
outdoor temperature is dropping faster than the President’s approval rating. It
can only mean one thing: It’s Christmas
time… and THAT can only mean one other thing: You are about to be disappointed.
Contrary
to what any sane reader of the Morrow Family Christmas Letter would conclude,
we actually do know the point of a
Christmas Letter. We get it. But
instead, you hold in your hands a lump of Christmas Letter coal: a funhouse
mirror on the universe of Christmas Letters. You know the drill (and you know
it’s a sin): “The Letter” is light on Morrow Family news; and heavy to the
point of obnoxious overkill on madcap and perplexing references to pop culture
and political satire. But with ample political fodder and a corresponding
throne of lies unmatched since Watergate, it does not bother us. Does your conscious
bother you? Tell the truth.
You
might recall we dropped the “M-Bomb” in our last MFCL… We were moving… to Sweet
Home Alabama. We are thankful the Lord graciously sold our house quickly. That
meant it was early in 2013 when we could tell Matt “we’re coming home to you”
and join him in Birmingham. After many sad goodbyes, a few weeks of packing,
much help from many of our best friends and family (and a paid crew of brawny professionals)
we were ready to go. Rachael, our two small children and 20,000 pounds of our
favorite things left Springfield, praying our big wheels keep on turning till
we hit Birmingham.
Please
make sure and note our address change! We love hearing from everyone. And if
you find yourself driving through the southeastern U.S., make sure you don’t
miss Alabama once again. We LOVE it when our friends and family visit.
Each
Morrow is adjusting to life in the South, and we all did what we could do:
Alex
is in the first grade this year. He misses Andy’s Frozen Custard. We tell him a
southern man don’t need him around anyhow. Alex is reading, playing baseball and still
loves critters, weapons, food and Legos.
He has decided to become an Alabama football fan. While many here think that is the most
important decision a boy can make, we know he made a much more important
decision this year. Alex decided he
wants to live his whole life for Jesus, who willingly gave up His own life for
Him, to pay for his wrongs and to give him eternal life. Alex responded to His
love by asking Jesus to be his boss. We are rejoicing that at the end of his
life, Alex will be able to say: Lord I’m coming home to you.
Annie
is in the fourth grade. She loves horses, piano (she’s been known to pick a
song or two), vacations, nail polish and books. She has embraced mac and cheese
as a vegetable. She digs the gigantic hair bows of the south and Auburn
football (yes, a house divided - that’s kind of a big deal here). She was voted
by her class to receive the Leadership Award, and has been blessed this year with
two new friends right on our street. She is growing up quickly. Just ask her. She
also will tell you that most of the time she is a genius.
Rachael
has been unpacking (remember the 20,000 pounds of our favorite things?). When
she is not doing that, she is finding all new “gettin’ places” (“gettin’
places” are places to shop. It’s one of many southern colloquialisms we’ve
enjoyed learning. They pick us up when we’re feeling blue, now how about you?).
Rachael also helps in the children’s ministry at our new church, the Church at
Brook Hills. And, as a first grade field trip chaperone, she’s fixin’ to go see
her childhood hero, Slim Goodbody (remember this guy? Very odd caucasian afro
and spandex unitard painted with human inards? Is it coming back to you now?
You’re welcome America). Nobody else here knows who Slim Goodbody is. But to
Rachael it’s like meeting Jon Bon Jovi. Rachael blessed her first heart this fall
and is adjusting to teachers’ official parent instructions arriving in the form
of notes urging us to ‘fuss’ at the kids to do this or that (fyi, that’s a
total of four southern colloquialisms in just this paragraph. We like to
occasionally point out things like this in case you’re not paying enough
attention. Our egos demand that we squeeze every ounce of glory from such
things).
Matt
is glad to be out of his bachelor pad apartment, back home to see his kin. He
had a great year first full year as the Executive Vice President of the Greater
Birmingham Association of Home Builders. He’s really “putting on the dog” there
(that one might be our favorite). He got to the meet the Governor, which is
good, because in Birmingham, they love the Governor. And also because the
governor’s true. Matt coached Alex’s little league team, and is adjusting to
watching the Cardinals play in road grey uniforms when they visit Atlanta.
As
we wrap up, we feel obliged to acknowledge that this MFCL feels a little long
on family update information, and a little light on the satire you (and we)
like best about the MFCL. Please understand the government websites we normally
use to conduct much of our research crashed every time we tried to use them.
Apparently all government web resources are very busy not delivering health insurance to millions of Americans this
holiday season. Luckily, you likely have
your own binder of archived issues of past MFCLs (but if not, there’s always
the online archive at http://morrowfamilychristmasblog.blogspot.com). So our 2013 Christmas
pledge to you is this: If you like last year’s MFCL better, you can keep it!
We
are so grateful God has blessed us with wonderful friends, family, and loved
ones. This year, in particular, we’ve been reminded of how blessed we are to
love and be loved by you. Our prayer for you is that God will pour out grace
and mercies on you and your family, as he has ours. We pray He will use this
Christmas season to remind each of us of the precious and purposeful gift He
gave us more than 2000 years ago in His Son, and of how we are called to
respond to that gift. Merry Christmas from the Morrows.
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