Part 7: Second Intro: What in the world is Part 7, Intro Part 2 and why does it come before Part 1 or the first Intro. Like most of this letter I didn’t know it would exist when I started or finished writing this letter. For the past few days I’ve been proof reading and today was different. I was at the gym in the hot tub with just my phone thinking it was done. Just one last read through. The result was the experience I’m going to share with you today:
Hot tub Christmas letter read through
I shared that with Andrea and she stopped it after less than a minute saying the bubbles drover her nuts. So I re-recorded it without the bubbles.
Bubble free version for Andrea
After finishing the draft and proofreading it I made the last version which you may have clicked on above which includes this introduction.
For me this experience was a lot like when I first started using a computer phone. Everyone else wondered why this crazy guy would want anything other than a flip phone or pager. I knew they would be amazing. I opened the draft on word in my phone and I saw it, the big beautiful button, “Read Aloud”. I put in my bluetooth ear peace, did a few AI chats and figured out how to record the screen, then I listened to the story for the last time.
The voice was a lady, her bright cheery voice highlighted the lack of intelligence that existed at this awesome phase of technology. I left it in there for added character. As the words ran through my head I put my hands in the water. It was wonderful. Usually, I struggle with a wet hand on the phone or towels to press buttons. Not this time, hands free!
I looked out over the water and viewed 6 adults in the tub with me. Each one had their eyes locked on their cell phone screens inches from their heads. They were the younger version of me using the phone. Today I was the new version of me who could talk and listen to a computer instead of using the keyboard and touch screen. Nice.
So I hope you’re driving or taking a walk and now that you’ve seen the letters being read on the screen of your device I hope you can put it in your pocket and imagine you are in the hot tub like I was enjoying the first machine read version of this long draft. It’s not perfect, but that’s part of the fun.
Merry Christmas.
Intro: Who would have thought a Christmas letter could be this long? Turns out it’s more of a tiny Christmas book. Grab a cup of something warm and settle down into your favorite place to relax and read. I hope you enjoy this Christmas gift for you.
Dear friends and family,
We hope you have a truly delightful holiday season, looking back on 2025 with pride in what you’ve accomplished and forward to 2026 with joy for the dreams and goals that lie ahead.
This letter is very different from those of previous years. I’m deeply grateful for all the love and effort Andrea has poured into crafting our family letters for the many years she has done it. This year something happened that caused a change: my older brother took his life. So this Christmas letter is different.
I am drafting this letter sitting in a tree stand dressed head to toe in blaze orange. My older brother had always been a hunter. He connected with my Uncle Chris who passed away young, then with my Uncle John. If it weren’t for my older brother, I probably would not be out in the woods right now. I can feel him here with me today.
Life brought many hard things for me in my youth, and lately I’ve watched many of the same things repeat for my family. My younger brother David recently had surgery after a terrible accident with his hand very similar to the one I had in college. Every person in my immediate family has now felt the pain of divorce, I remember the pain of losing that relationship in my life. I was the first to deal with uncertainty with my kids, with my brothers passing where will we be with his kids? We’ve all shared the heartbreak of saying goodbye far too soon and the sting from disagreement about how things should be going forward.
To my left, a high-powered rifle loaded with ammunition from my Uncle Bill. I have so many fond memories of time spent at Aunt Barbara’s house. Our two families were so different from each other. Going to their house was like going to another world. Uncle Bill was a big, jolly, direct man, everything about him felt different from my father. My mother and Aunt Barb were cut from the same cloth, but the worlds they lived in couldn’t have been more different. I grew up without pets longing for a dog; Aunt Barb’s house was full of them, and those dogs were family just as much as her three wonderful kids were. When we lost Uncle Bill, I had no idea I would carry him and those memories for the rest of my life. His bullets are in my rifle today. He is here with me.
To my right is a thermos filled to the brim with hot coffee, the word “BAHR” on a permanent label across the top. Uncle Bob Bahr died when I was still young, but he lived just long enough to pass on his love for the woods and this quiet. I wish I could have known him as a man. He is here with me today.
Above the thermos sit two mason jars full of food. My very first memories of mason jars come from my grandparents’ kitchens. It feels fitting that there are two—one for each set of grandparents. Both couples died still married to their original partners, yet their stories and their endings were so different. They are here with me today.
I am exhausted, this year I’ve slept better than any other in my life due in large part to my AI sleep study. Last night was different, ideas rushed through my head like a freight train, impossible to stop. Everyone else turned in early for opening morning, but I was still awake when this day began. Before I finally closed my eyes around 2 a.m., I set down my favorite instrument in the world: the red Fender guitar that Uncle Tony helped me acquire. Tony, passed from cancer, and I shared a passion for music and guitar. He is here with me today.
This year I’ve learned more and accomplished more than ever before. I’ve lost many companions along the way, yet I’ve gained a new one—born of science and technology—unlike anything that has ever come into my life, Artificial Intelligence (AI).
My perspective of deer camp this year is one of diversity. Maybe it’s just Matthew not being here that more people have been able to share than they have in the past. At lunch yesterday I talked with Aunt Patty about my youngest son. I have not been allowed to speak to him for over five years. The pain of that is its own kind of death, yet the hope of seeing him again burns just as bright. He is here with me today.
This Christmas, as I sit surrounded by so many I’ve lost, I want to pass on this message: Be kind and patient. I challenge you to meet people where they are, step into their worlds, the things that light them up. It is a great way to share your life with them. We can gently invite them into our worlds, our music, our woods, our chaos, our quiet. They get to choose whether they step in. A “no” is not rejection of us; it is them showing us how different they are from us right now.
I met my brother in his world again and again. Near the end of his life, from time to time, he stepped into mine. This is a message about connecting with people and I hope you will find yourself connected next year in ways you are happy about.
We love you. We are grateful for every one of you.
Best wishes for happiness, love, and gentle days with those who are still here in 2026.
Brian and Andrea
Part 2: It Continues
I did not expect to write a part 2 of this story, nor a part 3 or 4. I thought I was done when I finished part one. The next morning, however I saw the trail marker for Mike’s stand in the faint sunlight as I headed out to a deer stand. My Uncle Mike was with me. It’s been so many years now, but I have so many great memories of this kind, patient caring man. I’m sitting in his stand this morning and I can’t help but write more. I’m sitting in the woods with Mike’s kids, Andy and Chris who I’ve hunted with for years. I text them the same words my Aunt asked me yesterday, do you want me to take one for you if you don’t get a good shot at a deer?
Mike lives on through his children and like my lost son Jacob I look forward to the days when I can again be with Mike’s daughter Rachelle. Rachelle, the sister of the two cousins I hunt with today, lives far away and hasn’t been with the family for years. In our youth she was the one closest to me in their family. There was a period when my two oldest children were far from me too. Them being back in my life now brings me hope that Jacob and Rachelle will be in my life again. I am with them.
Sitting in peace hunting this morning just led zeppelin in my ears. I feel the urge to draft again. Share about what took place after I finished the letter…
Part 3, The Hunt
Having finished my first draft out here in the woods, it’s time to celebrate! Send it to AI, have AI read it to me (while I watch for deer), tell it how I want it changed, listen to some of the fictional ideas it adds. Talking to the machine to see different perspectives of the letter until I feel the words on the page represent how I feel. Done! Send it to Andrea. Time for a treat! Just my thoughts, chocolate, black coffee and nature. I am here by myself, having cleared my mind of all my drafting thoughts I’m ready for a little alone time…. Unless there is a deer right there!!!
Is it a nubby buck? Grab my gun and take a scoped look through the magnifying glass. Wow, this is not a close shot, zoom in with my scope, no antlers. I’m all good, wait, that’s wood, this thing is going into the forest, I’ve got to get a shot off now!
BANG!
It’s weird to pull that trigger and feel totally at peace. My phone starts vibrating with the hunting crew asking if I took a shot. I am no longer alone. Now I’m starting to get the jitters 😊. Nice.
After taking off a few layers of clothing, I make my way to where I took the shot. After sitting for hours in my no movement tech research hunting world, it’s time for a little something different, music!
Usually I dread tracking, but today the sun is shining, it’s 50 degrees and the leaves are crackling, it’s beautiful! Blood, right where I remember, just a few drops. Where did it go?
There were two. Another larger deer followed right behind after I squeezed the trigger. Maybe I didn’t see the deer I shot bounding around in the thick cover of the woods. Maybe that was the 2nd deer? As my frustrations grew, I remembered unsuccessful times I shared tracking with my older brother.
People will be here soon. I have no deer; only a few drops of blood. Even my tunes are starting to lose their ability to keep my spirits high. I slowed down and went back to the first blood drops were found. Just step forward from that spot, can I find any more blood close? Yes, just a tiny pin drop but that is surely blood! More and more…
By the time they arrived I’d connected about15 yards of blood. The deer I saw bounding in the woods was not the deer I shot, it was most likely the small buck that had been too small to shoot the day before. My deer headed north away from me. At least I had something to share with those who came to help.
Kelly and John jumped right into tracking through the woods. I think Kelly could sense my frustration but it wasn’t possible to rain on her spirit. She was so positive, so experienced. She loved tracking, my least favorite part of hunting. I slowly crawled inch by inch of forest floor. Kelly was out moving swiftly through the woods. I did that earlier but came up with nothing. It wasn’t long before she had located the trail a good 30 yards away. As John followed her closely, he yelled back to me that I should grab my gun and move ahead of Kelly to be ready in case we kicked the deer up.
She was incredible, so positive and excited about the journey. More and more blood was found. The pin drops of blood that seemed like a lost hope were the exact opposite for Kelly. As she repeated the words, where are you girl? We’re going to find you! I shared in her love for tracking. That same adrenaline I remember from the first years of hunting with my Uncle John when I first saw a deer after hours of waiting in the cold. I’ve arrived back there in my mind.
We’d gone about a hundred yards from where my bullet pierced this amazing creature from the woods. The blood trail was now large pools. I could feel the life energy draining from our pray and it coming into us. As we passed between marshes on my left and right the small strip of forest land forming a bridge I expected at any moment the deer would pop up in the field ahead of us.
But that didn’t happen. There was no longer worry we wouldn’t get her. The isthmus coming to an end, we’re approaching a large marsh. Soft grass is all that lies ahead. No longer is my prospect the distance ahead of me. She could be under our feet as we trample through the tall grass we cannot see through.
“Here she is”, Kelly says softly, “laying in her bed.”
Part 4: Progress
I felt the urge to draft that story while sitting out in the dark the next day. Robert Plant, the lead singer from Led Zeppelin in my ears says, “this is a live concert in Paris, we’d like to feature our Drummer John Bonham”. For years my favorite musician was Buford Carter, the drummer in the Dave Matthews band. I found comfort in the band Led Zeppelin when my brother was lost. The drums were so different, bongos, timpani and a gong! My oldest boy DEK is a drummer, which only made my connection to John Bonham stronger, then I found out he died. Working very hard on my guitar and music theory this year I came to feel Led Zeppelin is now my favorite band. My favorite drummer, John Bonham and my new favorite musician, Jimmy Page. Song writer and lead guitar player in Led Zeppelin.
I hope for a future where the many times I’ve shared with many people can be remembered forever. With millions of people having technology added to their body, this dream is less crazy than you may think. Perhaps a future exists for me where I will be able to remember with memory chips when my body starts to fail?
Is it really that crazy? Can you imagine what the first person to climb on the back of a horse felt like? How the Wright brothers felt as they drifted in the air? I imagine it was like the feeling I get each time I start a new technology system that takes on a life of its own. There are dangers with many of the systems we live with today, but benefits move us forward.
I’ve been altered. I can only see this dimly lit marsh because of the 64 focal lenses that replaced the laser removed lenses that I lived with for the first 40 years of my life. Led Zeppelin and Uncle Tony in my lithium powered, wireless headphones that stream my tunes over the internet sent via cellular technology. Next year I plan to transition to satellite stay connected while I cross Lake Michigan!
Part 5: Feelings
Uncle Bob and Coffee in my bag, I’m sitting in Uncle Mike’s spot, I am no longer alone. I am here with them all. I want to share this feeling of togetherness, of love. Mike may no longer be with us but as I approached this place he hunted, I thought of Chris the night before handing me those tattered dollars we all put in for the deer jackpot. The smiles on everyone’s faces. All the lessons I have learned. I am not like anyone else; I am unique. I look forward to many more days with those I love being a part of their journeys. Sharing with those interested the ramblings running between my ears.
On this icy morning the sun is coming up minute by minute the light creeps over the horizon I’m transported to a faraway place…
Part 6: Mexico!
Who would have thought a Christmas letter being written in the icy woods of Wisconsin with bare hands at 36 degrees would end in Mexico?
In my mind I’m alone on a balcony 3 stories up on the Island of Cozumel in Mexico. This is how I liked to spend the mornings when I was on my vacation with Janet. As I look out over the horizon I’d see enormous cruise ships coming in to dock. They look so tiny when they’re so far away. It was only a year or two ago I was on one of those boats arriving on this island for the first time for an Andrea adventure. She plans fantastic trips.
While I was on the Island with Janet, I learned so much about her husband Bob and the many vacations they enjoyed at Cozumel. Like Bob Bahr, Bob Kempiak and I only shared a sliver of time together. I’m learning to love those who are loved and lost by those who hold on to their memories. So strong are these memories that they suspend the time we have left on earth and hold us in their past.
I got to know and love Janet through her music and leadership at our family reunions. In Cozumel I shared my memories of her begging Bob to come play by the fire. It was rare, but at times he would show up and perform Tequila Sunrise by the Eagles. That memory and mixing Tequila Sunrise drinks in the morning are warming me as I wait for the sun to pup up above the horizon.
We can share those we’ve loved and lost with those we love and share time with now. Being able to remember the times that helped us shape our choices for who we want to be now. Memories like those Janet shared about her time with Bob. I want to share memories with my children and show them that I love the way Janet loved Bob.
May the love that overflows from my heart this cold fall morning warm yours and the hearts of those you can touch.
The final words in this letter. Those I expect will bring me peace and joy someday when I lose my parents. The words I can still share with them when I see them while they are alive.
Paul McCartney:
Here comes the sun.
Merry Christmas
Brian and Andrea