Dear Friends and Family,

After receiving so many scintillating holiday newsletters this year, I wanted to chime in with our humble family news!

First of all, our kids are doing great! You know our son has taken up the electric guitar? He got so good after six months that he actually opened for the Rolling Stones when they played the Garden, and from that ONE performance he is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We are so proud! Unfortunately, he will miss the induction ceremony because he will be running with the bulls in Pamplona at that time.

Our daughter has been busy, too. She decided to take a break from triathalons and make this the year she was going to conquer the seven summits (the highest peaks on the seven continents)! She got through six of them when an avalanche partially uncovered a 2000-year old city buried under Mount Aconcagua. Her group decided to delay their climb up the seventh peak so they could excavate the city, alone, by hand, with plastic spoons, for five months, until archaeologists could reach the site. What a thrill that was for her!

We all had a fantastic time on our vacation this summer! While we were following the Emperor Penguins on their migration across the Antarctic, we discovered a frozen caveman that they say is the missing link between men and apes! It was quite an exciting discovery. “Adam” will be on display at the Smithsonian for a month in April. Don’t miss it!

Of course, not everything was a piece of cake this year. You know my dear husband is building us a new house completely on his own in his spare time and there have been some complications with the indoor waterfall and lagoon. He did such a fantastic job with the luge run out back, though, that we’re confident he will work out the kinks with the lagoon. The good news is we’re still on track to have the whole thing done by the time he has to go to Stockholm to receive his Nobel Prize.

And then there’s me. You know I’m just happy to be a plain old, stay-at-home mom and bask in the simple accomplishments of my family. I’ve been busy doing laundry, making dinners, etc. In my spare time, though, I did happen to invent a toilet paper dispenser that changes the roll for you whenever it is empty. I thought it was kind of a silly thing, but the people at Charmin bought the rights for 2.2 billion dollars, so I guess it’s a worthwhile invention!

Anyway, I’m sure you and your family have had an incredible a year, too, even if you didn’t discover any ancient civilizations or get published in the New England Journal of Medicine (we are so proud of our daughter for discovering the cure for hair on your big toe).

Wishing you and yours and a wonderful holiday and a happy new year!

Warmly,
Tracy Beckerman

P.S. Thanks to everyone for your get-well wishes to our dog Monty. He got a little singed when he pulled our neighbors out of their burning home last month, but he’s doing fine!

— For more Lost in Suburbia, follow Tracy on Facebook at facebook.com/LostinSuburbiaFanPage or on Twitter at @TracyBeckerman.