Free The Christmas Letters by Lee Smith

recipe for
    ORANGE-MINT SHERBET
4 cups orange juice
¼ c. chopped mint
Blend and freeze in ice cream freezer.

    Dec. 18, 1991
    Merry Xmas! to Ruthie and good friends —
    1992 will find all the Copelands busier than ever, heading off in a million different directions. Those hard years with Sandy and me working all day long, and then poring over the books together at night, seem almost like a dream to me now. And speaking of dreams, Sandy and I had a real “dream vacation” in Scotland, though I feel like I have scarcely seen him since, he has been so busy putting in “Plantation,” Copeland Construction’s new multi-million-dollar coastal “village” and golf complex. They are paying special attention to the environment, trying not to disturb the fragile ecology of the marsh or diminish the wild charm of the island itself. So Sandy has been down at the coast a lot, while I have been struggling with chemistry and loving Twentieth Century Lit., especially a seminar on “Images of Women” that I took this past semester. I plan to do my Senior Thesis on Virginia Woolf.
    I also took an extremely interesting and challenging American Studies course this past semester. One day I was in the library doing research on “The Sixties” when another person from the same class, a young woman, turned to me and said, “Why, Mary, I’m surprised to find you here. You
    were right there during the Sixties, weren’t you? I shouldn’t think you’d need to do research.”
    “Listen,” I told her, the truth coming to me even as I spoke, “I was alive, if that’s what you mean. But I missed the Sixties entirely, as a matter of fact. I was just too busy having babies and Tupperware parties.”
    She stared at me blankly for a moment before she shrugged and went back to her microfilm. She didn’t get it.
    But you get it, right? You know what I meant.
    I must admit that virtually all my assumptions have been seriously challenged in these past two years—I highly recommend going back to school for anyone who wants to have a more open mind! I have come to actually like Melanie’s tattoo now, for instance (a vine around her ankle)! And I’ve decided it’s definitely a good thing for young couples to live together before taking the (drastic) step of marriage—although I can just imagine what Mama would have had to say about that! We are very fond of Melanie’s friend Bruce, a musician, and (once we got used the age difference) of Claire’s young lawyer, who is raising his two children by himself, apparently. (Can you imagine? He seems to be doing a pretty good job, too.)
    Everybody will be coming home for Christmas, including Andrew who is bringing a friend from California. And I’ve got to finish one late lab report before I can even begin to cook! Though we may be “ships that pass in the night,”you have to admit we’re heading off in some interesting directions!
Love and Peace,
Mary

    Tuesday, Dec. 10, 1993
    To Ruthie and My Very Special Friends,
    A REAL CHRISTMAS LETTER, THE FIRST EVER
    First, my apologies for not writing a Christmas letter last year (for not returning calls, for not returning letters, etc.). The fact is, for a long time I couldn’t do anything. Not a damn thing. Nothing. I was shell-shocked, immobilized. This was followed by a period when I did too many things. Marybeth, who has been through it, wrote to me about this time, saying, “Don’t make any big decisions”—very good advice, and I wish I’d followed it. Instead, I agreed to a separation agreement, then to a quick no-fault divorce, then to Sandy’s plan of selling the house P.D.Q. I just wanted everything over with —the way you feel that sudden irresistible urge to clean out your closet sometimes.
    Listen: if this ever happens to you, resist that urge. Go slowly. I didn’t even get a lawyer. Sandy and I used thesame lawyer, at his suggestion. Now I know how dumb I was! Well, I don’t intend to go into that part of it. But the point is,