Top Ten Thursday - Christmas Cards

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Welcome to Top Ten Thursday!

Today's task was to send 10 Christmas Cards to people who have touched your life throughout this year. Even if you don't send actual cards, just create a post that includes a few words about these wonderful individuals. 

Here we go, in alphabetical order:

Annie, my Seattle Starbucks friend who's actually a California girl in the meantime. We reconnected in 2016, and I wish we would not live nine time zones apart and were instead able to go out for dinner after work! 

Beth, my long time Facebook friend. We “met” about ten years ago when we were both playing Sorority Sisters. And that’s how we felt, or soul sisters even. At times we would “talk” daily, other times not so much, because life gets busy, but at any given time we knew there was somebody at the other end who exactly understood our everyday struggles. This year we finally met in person! I wish it wasn’t just lunch and coffee, but hey, I’m glad we managed to do at least that. I’ll be back – or you will!

My dear son Colin aka Hockey Guy - I don't think he cares much about Christmas cards, he does, however, care about gifts. His wish list was long and contained stuff I disapproved of for various reasons. I went ahead and ordered some spacious toy anyway. I figured he's only ten once, and Christmas is suppose to be magical, and if it makes him happy, I'm happy. On top of that I hope I am able to give him confidence and inner strength as he's going through a rough time at school. Some of his mates resent the fact that he gets great grades without lifting a finger, and they are giving him a hard time calling him a dweeb. The glasses he's recently gotten don't help.

Doris, my local fellow working Mom friend – actually she’s recently added “single” to her title. Single full-time working mom, let that sink in for moment. I count myself lucky that we still manage to get together every once in a while. She’s rocking her days with admirable coolness and patience. Keep on rocking!

My Grandma. She'll turn 99 in a few weeks, and even though she's weak and at times confused, health-wise she's in decent shape considering her age, and she always recognizes me and remembers what great friends we were when I was a little girl. She's tired of life, though, and wishes to just doze off. Selfishly I don't want this to happen, but I can certainly understand her situation. 

My fellow Hockey Mom friends: Claire, Conny, Janejira, Jeannine, Kristin, Manuela, Monika, Pavla, Petra, Sheena, Sibylle, Tatjana - enjoy a full two weeks' break! No laundry, no packing gym bags, no driving back and forth to the arena! 

Monique, a local lady I met through the women’s charity I worked for until a few years ago. She tragically lost her 20 year old son Louis to a mountain accident. Louis, a medical student, was one of Colin’s most liked and respected boy scouts leaders. The entire village was shocked and at a loss of words when we learned that he fell off the cliffs. The only – tiny – comfort was the thought that he died doing what he loved. 

I met her at the grocery store the other day, and we talked for almost an hour. Monique, here’s to taking one day at a time and to finding joy in the little things!

Raphael Diaz, captain of our national hockey team and super valuable defense player at our team where Colin plays. This summer he and a couple of buddies organized a hockey day for ten year old kids. They practiced skills, had lunch together and played a tournament.

At the beginning Raphael took us parents (make that 80 something people) aside and told us about his foundation. Basically he organizes a golf trophy to raise money to not only pay for this kids hockey day, but more importantly to financially support family who can’t afford their kids’ hockey gear or costs for camp, you get the picture. “My parents were struggling, and growing up I certainly haven’t had the fanciest skates, so I want to make sure that youngsters out there who are talented and working hard have the possibility to join a good team!” Right then and there I wanted to cry. I remembered Christmastime a couple of years ago when he pleaded that people donated pre-loved toys to families who can’t afford to buy gifts for their children. Raphael, I want you to know that we keep supporting this charity – this year I missed the deadline at the local drop-off point so I drove 70 minutes each way to hand-deliver them to the head of this charity.

I can only hope that your warm-hearted nature rubs off on our kids! (Of course we won’t say no if some of your hockey skills are transferred as well!) 

Steffi Buchli, the sports reporter who made it possible for Colin to attend kids' career day - I love that he has a female professional as a role model. I mean, apart from his own Mom, of course. Not sure if he perceives me as a professional at all, though ;-) Steffi had to take a lot of criticism for coming back to work full time after giving birth to her baby girl. You wouldn't believe the endless comments by chauvinistic morons and internet trolls, it made me so mad. 

Number 10 is a collective thank you shout-out to all the people who work retail and related jobs, especially at this time of year. I am in awe of everybody who remains calm and cheerful around bat-s** crazy customers!

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December 27 it's time to wrap up 2018. What ten highlights of the year will you put into your time capsule? Sign up here.

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I haven't made up my mind about Top Ten Thursday in 2019 yet. Participation / Interest has been dropping for quite a while. Let me know your thoughts!