I want to share something super special with you all today. For as long as I can remember (and even before I was born!), my Mom’s Mom wrote some pretty epic Christmas newsletters. (Actually, to be more accurate, she typed some pretty epic Christmas newsletters. On a typewriter.) After my youngest uncle went away to college, Bingie uprooted her life and moved from New Jersey to Maine to start a new chapter, and the newsletters were a favorite way to keep in touch with her wide circle of friends and family. They detailed her year as well as the happenings of her three children’s families with humor, wit, and candidness. Taken together, they’re a surprisingly detailed recording of our family’s highs and lows over 25+ years. For Christmas, my aunt and uncle compiled all of the newsletters they could get their hands on into a simple book and made a copy for all of the cousins. What a treasure! I love that they used her familiar signature on the cover – Mom to her children, Mombo (short for Mom Bogart) to her in-laws, and Bingie to her grandchildren. We immediately started flipping through the pages, and soon were making each other squeak with laughter over certain entries and lines, reminiscing about famous (and infamous) episodes in our family’s history. She was a great writer, and her dry sense of humor and unique way of seeing the world really shine through in her yearly narratives. One of my favorite moments below: As a lifelong secretary and correspondent for countless beloved organizations and associations, her writing and her handwriting are two of the things I associate most strongly with her, so this is an extra special memento – it really feels like having a true piece of her to keep. Makes me