You're all correct. We have no idea what goes on behind closed doors, or whether these people are mortgaged to the hilt, or hate their spouses, or whatever.

Those stupid Christmas letters are another thing that I hate.

You know the ones I'm talking about. The people brag about all of their accomplishments for the year.

I felt like responding with:

Purple finally got back on meds to control bipolar disorder. Went through a period of being a zombie while taking a medical leave of absence from work. The good news is after many meds, she feels somewhat better and was able to return to work. The bad news is she got fired. Again.

Son still hasn't returned to college after dropping out. Never mind the fact that he has a high IQ, was in the advanced track all through school, and graduated early. He's washing dishes at a cafe, is quite unhappy, but refuses to return to collge so he can make a better life for himself.

Son began **cking this year. Good for him. Yes, he got his first girlfriend and Purple gets to hear the sound of his bed walking across the hardwood floor while they get it on.

But that will all be over soon because he is ready to move away from home, breaking his mother's heart and leaving her all alone at the second-most vulnerable and unhappy point of her life (with the most vulnerable and unhappy point being when Son's father kicked her out many years ago).

Purple has carved a nice path from the front door of the house to the couch, where she sits and spends most of her time in front of the TV and computer at the same time. On each side of the path you will find debris from many phases of her life, with much of it depicting this past year and the trials and tribulations we survived. There are papers about her being put on probation a couple of times at work, her paperwork for short-term disability and for getting fired, paperwork for getting unemployment benefits, paperwork from being in a wreck that wasn't her fault but resulted in more expenses due to buying a car to replace the one that was totalled.

Son and girlfriend have left many a lovely mess in the kitchen after they cook their meals. How delightful that they have jobs which can afford them the luxury of buying vegan and organic food, as evidenced by the wrappers and packages that never make it into the trash can and are, instead, lying on the floor for days without the two of them even noticing.

Merry Christmas to your family, and we can only hope that 2013 doesn't suck as much as 2012.