Each year I trim our Christmas card list of people who we haven't heard from in over two years. This year was the first to be done when I received one marked Return To Sender. The line under that is what sadden me -- Deceased.

We have a number of older friends and I thought it would be one of them. But when I got a closer look at the envelope, I was shocked. It was one of our military friends who was only a year older then me. I thought was odd we didn't get a card in 2018 as he's always sent us one, but knowing how sometimes folks don't always get cards out in time I figured we'd hear from his this year. To say it was a shock is an understatement.

Just the other day Geo and I were commenting on how much shorter our card clothesline has become over the years.

Hopefully this is the only one I'll get marked this way from what I've sent out this year.

Know it's a fact of life, but it saddens me. Also lost another cousin in the summer and then just before Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law. She fell at home, hit her head and was in the hospital at first and then rehab. While in rehab, she started to fail. Doctors said there was nothing they could do as she hadn't taken their advice and stopped drinking and smoking.

Not the most cheerful ending to a year I've had.