Christmas Cards

One of my joys at Christmas time is the sending of Christmas cards. In today's world of Facebook, My Space, IChat, Instant Messenger, telephone texting, email, beautiful greeting cards like Jacquie Lawson's amazing animated cards, sending physical cards through the mail may seem quaint.
But I'm not ready to give it up. For one thing, not all of my friends have joined the Facebook crowd. Some I hear from only once a year. But I enjoy that moment of catching up with people from my past - people who have been important to me. I even like the Christmas newsletters, because they keep that sense of connection that I think is very important. I send cards to people I've known since I was very young, to people I met in my junior high school years, my high school years, my college years, my Girl Scout years, my Boy Scout years, and friend whose children grew up with mine. And, most important of all, I send cards to our family members who are scattered from the east coast to the west coast now. Some of my card recipients live far away . . . two live just up the road from me.
But it is my way of saying each year: "You are special, you are remembered, I hope all is well with you!"
By the way, occasionally, I get to see some of these folks in person. It is amazing how often we are able to pick up right where we left off - catching up on what our families are doing, what we're doing, etc.
Whether you send snail mail cards, or e-cards, or emails, or text messages, I hope you take time to remember those special people in your lives.

Christmas Letters

In my morning reading:The Plot Lines of our Lives.

Being a self confessed hoarder (I'm working on it . . .) I save Christmas cards. Occasionally I do go back and read them and these Christmas letters provide a lovely history of the joys and struggles we've all faced as we walk through life.

While I can understand why some people may not like these letters - I have found over time that I do, because it allows me to keep up with what is going on with people I care about who live far away.

(P.S. The talk of mimeographed letters in the article - I now do mine using photoshop and a faded version of my Christmas card-hoping this adds a touch of elegance and specialness to my Christmas letters.)