2009 Year-End Balance Sheet

Maximum Lincoln Safari Stops in a Single Day: 6

Trips to Colorado: 3 (Setting an All-Time Record)

Most Unexpected Holiday Guest: A blizzard.

Favorite Read (nonfiction): The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR'S Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience By Kristin Downey

Favorite Read (fiction): The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller

Naomi’s Least Favorite Realization: The existence of the Ku Klux Klan. Editor’s note: Yesh, try explaining that one to an empathetic, fair-minded, open-hearted seven year old!

Injustice Naomi Expects Me to Fix Immediately: She insists I single-handedly abolish any legislative measures which preclude gay marriage.

Favorite “Twilight Zone” Moment of the Year: Realizing my lucky life that inspires friends to travel from a great distance to Lincoln, Nebraska for the holidays. My friend, Melissa Akin, for instance flew in from Moscow. Becki Roberts descended from Morocco. (sigh) I know such interesting people with fascinating travel dockets!

2009 Resolution Realized: Running more often and a little faster.

2009 Resolution Kicked-to-the-Curb: Penning the McKibbin family holiday letter. It just didn’t happen this year. Sorry, folks.

Favorite New Recipe: Mulligatawny Soup

Favorite Race of My 2009 Season: The Colder Boulder (5K)

Linguistic Crutch of the Year: The word landscape.

Number of Babies Welcomed into the World by Family/Friends: 5 (It was like the Baby ka-Boom around here!)

Favorite Advancement of a “Green Energy” Agenda: Prioritizing Clean Energy Projects Applying for Federal Stimulus Monies.

A Shortlist of Local Enviro-Outcomes of the Stimulus Funds:
1. Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department received $1 million to retrofit diesel engines with oxidation catalysts, and install other equipment that is designed to reduce pollution from diesel engines.
2. Lincoln shares in the state's allocation of $5 million to upgrade wastewater treatment facilities.
3.The District Energy Corporation received $5 million to construct a geothermal facility.
4.The City of Lincoln was awarded $261,985 to hire 24 AmeriCorps members heading up a Recovery Go Green initiative tasked with advancing environmental projects in the community.

All-in-all its been a good year, I think.

It Helps Me Remember Just, You Know, Who I Am

Eighteen inches of snow. Fifty mile an hour winds. Everybody stayed home for Christmas this year. The news fell hardest to the under 10 years of age cohort at our house. No cousins. No grandparents.

But after her tears dried we had a dance marathon in the living room, strung some popcorn, played board games, watched movies and ate breakfast food for dinner. By Saturday my folks were game to host a get together. McK delivered homemade cookies & candies to his mom and sister. Sunday brought a small brunch gathering at my Aunt Carol’s house. Naomi got to wear her holiday dress.

Last night I was outside shoveling (hopefully) the last of the snow and considered my grandmother. The image of her at the dining room table for brunch. Even with the small group of six she was often confused as to who everybody was. Who’s married to whom? Who are your parents? Do you have kids? At one moment though Gracele teared-up and said it's so nice to see all of you here. It helps me remember just, you know, who I am.

I’m not often moved by merriment during the holiday season. The busy schedule, the shortened daylight, cold weather, expectations, the crush of consumerism…it all makes me pretty moody. But something about the snow storm, how everybody’s plans got jumbled up and the trimmings of the season fell down with the snow. It lightened my stance. Helped me enjoy the faces of my familiars.

Under the streetlamp shoveling snow I felt an unfamiliar urge to sing. Christmas carols. To no one in particular. So I did.

Mid-December

The snow piles outside have all grown gray and gross. My front porch steps have iced over. So Naomi & her grandparents kicked this cold climate to the curb and flew off to Florida.

With finals complete I packed her up for Florida last night and they flew out this morning. As I pulled out of the airport I realized I still have a tree to trim, presents to wrap, a holiday letter to (hopefully) pen. The holidays have a lot of accouterments. Some I appreciate. Some not so much. The bright spot on the horizon, though, is to consider my weekend calendar which filled with friends I don’t have the occasion to see often.

It’s a nice time of year to live in my hometown. I enjoy the spillover effect of seeing friends and families as they are in town over the holidays. I like having a wide sense of people we’ve grown into, the lives we lead.

The occasional coffee or late night conversation with some of my familiars makes it less difficult to embrace the trimmings and cold weather that come with the season. My hope is that your calendar is similarly filled with those you love.

What the McKibbins Did With Our Snow Day Vacation

1. Cleaned House
2. Lingered in Pajamas
3. Walked Three Blocks to Meadowlark Coffee & the South Street Shops
4. Hot Chocolate
5. Scrabble Apple
6. Read Books
7. Grocery Run
8. Haircut
9. Taught Naomi How to Sew Buttons onto Her Coat
10. Spun Tall-Tales Playing "Pretend Second Grade" with Granddave
11. Became Instantly Obsessed with a TRON-eque Computer Game
12. Snowball Fight
13. Home Pedicures
14. Shoveled 10 Inches of Snow
15. Cooked a Decadent Dinner
16. Watched a Movie
    

Hopefully Lincoln Public Schools will resume classes soon. We're exhausted.