Dear Auna and Ben,
I don’t know about you guys, but the older I get, the more elusive the Christmas spirit becomes. As a kid, it was always automatic; Christmas morning was the most exciting day of the year by default. Now I have to work for it. I put in my best effort this year, though. Sure, there was rain instead of snow, but there were also Christmas lights in downtown Provo, Christmas concerts and choirs, Bible readings, gingerbread houses, parties with friends new and old, gift deliveries to neighbors, and cozy hours with family. A picturesque holiday, all things considered. Young adulthood is weird.
Okay, but have you seen the movie Klaus? I recognize that I’m four years behind the times on this one. My friends were all saying “This is the best Christmas movie ever made,” and they finally sat me down to watch it. And you know what? It is the best Christmas movie ever made.
2023 felt like four years packed into one. Maybe I need to start counting the seasons instead of the years. I can hardly even remember this January. Spotify tells me I was listening to lots of The Killers and The Airborne Toxic Event at the start of the year, so that’s the main thing, I guess. I took plenty of linguistics classes during the winter semester, survived some drama with an ex-girlfriend and the Celtic folk band, and went through all-around character development. Emotionally, I’m definitely in a better place than last year.
The big flashy highlight of the year was my summer travel to Tonga and then to France. I’ve done summer school every year since I started school, so I finally gave myself a break. Tonga was for some ethnographic research with anthropological researchers from the University of Utah (I wrote a little about it in this essay), and France was to play at some folk music festivals in the southeast (you can read about my nap in Charles de Gaulle here). It reminded me of how much I love traveling. So if I vanish next year, just assume I’ll turn up as an Irish sheepherder sometime in 2030.
What else did I accomplish this year? I asked out a really cute Walmart cashier (!) and we went on a date (!!). I found two new favorite books from opposite sides of the genre spectrum: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli and the Wolf Hall series by Hilary Mantel. My Japanese got good enough that I can finally read simple texts (and more importantly, play Fire Emblem: Three Houses in Japanese). I bought jewelry and subscribed to journalism for the first time. My old crush told me that I’m fun at concerts. I got a lot better at singing! I took a creative writing class and got a lot better at that too, and I started writing a novel (!!!) that I promise I’m actually going to finish. No, seriously. Hold me to it.
I’m serious about watching Klaus. It’s a fantastic movie. Let me know your recommendations, too. I’m always in the market for good movies and music.
Love you guys. Keep in touch,
Eric
