Sunday Night With John: Sunday Night With Cynthia

I asked my fiancée's mom to write my blog this week as I was on the mend from surgery on my teeth this weekend. Here it is

Sunday Night with Cynthia, The Santa Letter

Cynthia (Anne’s mom)

When John asked if I would be his first guest blogger, his Sunday night with Cynthia, I was in shock and totally pleased. I know how important his website, especially his weekly blog, is to him.  I have seen the time he spends keeping in touch with his business and the people he cares about.  I have heard his message of loss and recovery.  I know how passionate he is about his speaking career.  To trust someone else to send his message, in and of itself, sends a message to you his audience.  So…here goes…

Tonight’s message is entitled “The Santa Letter” in February

The “Santa Letter” began in my house probably twenty years ago when my children were little.  It was a classic gesture by Santa (me) to respond to my kids about what they had received for Christmas.  No big deal really except that it was never ignored or thrown in the bags of used wrappings.  Since I was the one who had written it and my kids were too young to read I took it upon myself to present the letter first thing every Christmas morning.  My family was polite yet slightly annoyed but they put up with me.  And then I saved it.  As the years went on I began to write a little more, information about each family member, what exciting family events had happened, a little humor, and a couple of tears... an annual diary so we wouldn’t forget…a moment to remember together our challenges and our blessings.  The letter has remembered parents and grandparents, sickness and health, good times and bad.  Since those early years the Santa letter has become a much-anticipated event.  Nothing happens on Christmas morning until the letter has been shared.  I have been accused of not being able to make it through the reading without crying but often I’ve noticed each of them tearing up as the stories unfold their pleasure in hearing about their own lives and it pleases me.  My family has grown but in the last couple of years we have included new people on our Christmas morning and each new person expects to find themselves in the Santa letter.  They want to be remembered too.  This year, for the first time, our son was missing from Christmas morning.  And although he was absent in the room he was not absent for the reading of the Santa letter thanks to FaceTime.  The friends that were with him had heard of this event but had not experienced it.  They weren’t quite sure what to make of it.  When the letter was read, the laughs died down, and the tears were dried one of his friends commented to me that now she got it.  She felt the connection our family had through this letter.  She heard us share emotions.

John Derryberry has heard and been included in the Santa letter just twice but it was him who has challenged me to do something with this family history.  John thinks others would enjoy reading about my family and our lives.  I’m sure the first Derryberry Christmas will have some version of a Santa Letter too because he knows how important it is to build a bond by nourishing relationships and cherishing those you love the most.  We, my family, are the lucky ones.  We have each other’s love always and we know it.

You know, it’s really not all that much about “The Santa Letter” it’s so much more. The letter is simply a way, as John says, to “share emotions…emotions matter…” He believes, and I do too, if one person encourages someone else who encourages someone else pretty soon you have community of people who care about each other and then you can change the world.  Through his tireless work with troubled youth, the love he has for his family, old and new, his loyal commitment to friends, and his passion for life he challenges us all to step up and make a difference.

John, thank you so much for the opportunity to share my emotions it feels good.

How I looked most of this weekend