Our Christmas message (with names removed)

I wanted to send a quick update from our little corner of the world...

First item:
We moved! We are now living in our new house, and the new address is

XXXXXXX

Everything else remains the same.

Because we built new, the post office will not deliver mail to this address until we complete some paperwork with the Department of Public Works to indicate that this is now a safe address to deliver to. Who knew that they actually work together ?? Anyway, if you send something here too soon, it will be returned by the post office until all this is done. Safest to use the old address (XYXYXY) until maybe January 1.

Second item:
I was recently diagnosed with colon cancer. The good news is that it doesn't appear to be in any scary organs, but I had surgery and am moving ahead with chemo and radiation, as well as, of course, accupunture, nutrition, and anything else I can try. (Any suggestions are welcome!)

If all goes according to plan, my treatments start next week (the week of Dec 17th).

Third item:
I'm feeling great; actually, we are all doing pretty well. My husband is doing well, Our four-year-old is at a super-fantastic beyond-amazing more-than-we-could-ever-dream-of school which provides an invisible but strong safety net for him along with an enormous daily dose of FUN, and our one-year-old is incredibly focused on learning to talk, eating everything in sight, and doing everything that his older brother does. So, things are good.

But I'm told that I will likely want some help from time to time. I'm not yet sure what our family may need, but many of you have very generously offered to help.

is coordinating any offers to help. If you can send a message to her, she will keep you on the list, and whenever we figure out what we need, she'll send out a request. Feel free to pass along this message, if I missed anyone on the list.

Fourth item:
If you want to come along for the ride, I'll set up a blog (so that I am not inundating you with e-mail updates). I haven't yet set that up, but I can let you know when that happens.

Finally:
I decided to skip sending Christmas cards this year. I can hear all you eco-friendly folks giving a big cheer! But, keep us on your list, and you'll hear from us next year! I may send an e-mail message with a photo before Christmas.

That's about it from here. Keep sending good vibes whenever you are so inspired!

BIGGEST ITEM OF ALL:
A huge thank you and hug to everyone who has done so much already to help us out.

Marie