The dogs start barking because our mailman is tossing a package up on the front porch.  Had I not heard the dogs barking I would never have known…UPS rings the bell and runs but our mailman does the close enough to the porch toss.

There it is, Christmas in a box from Amazon.  Done.  So if my package landed on my porch then there must be mail in my box.  Saddle up the girls and off we go for the evening walk and mail pickup.  There’s all the usual stuff and many many Christmas cards.  Somehow I always forget about the cards. I’ve long ago stopped sending them so it’s such a pleasant surprise to see them piled in the mail box.

There are all those wonderful greetings and good wishes and then there are the ones with the year in review letters.  Then there is the one in particular from my dear friends Jan and David Riley.  David’s been trying to pass the job along for years but there are no takers.  Partly because he keeps such a fabulous calendar through the year, I know because I provide it to him. But mostly because he is a wordsmith, a wonderful writer who can bring you through the year in all its joys and woes and come out the other side with gratitude and love.  He wants very much to be a curmudgeon but no one’s buying that either.  Well maybe Jan is.

When I see the typed page drop out of the card I immediately put it aside for savoring with my morning coffee.  I am lucky enough to see David and Jan regularly throughout the year, our lunches at Davies and dinners at one another’s homes always bring us to tears of laughter and enriches our friendship even more if that is possible.   But still, sitting down with David’s year end letter brings me back through the year with them and I enjoy every word, I can see every nuance, and yes I know like I know that this will indeed be grist for his “ordinary legacy”.