Ah, it is that time of year again. Christmas card time! I love Christmas cards. I love the brag letter, the cute family photo, the warm wishes for a Merry Christmas.
Christmas card sales aren't what they used to be. People have switched to the simpler photo card and the form letter. Worse yet are those that have switched to the electronic holiday greeting. I am just not down with that. There is something so very wonderful about going to the mailbox and flipping through that stack of cards. I often have them read before I ever get my coat off. But I love letters and cards in general so Christmas time letters and cards are a feeding frenzy for me!
Growing up, (yes, another trip down my memory lane) my mom had quite a Christmas card system. It seems like she had a separate address book just for Christmas cards. And she would keep track of what card she sent to whom so that she didn't repeat two years in a row. Every card she sent had a personal letter in it. Hand written. And every letter was personal to the recipient. I would always prod her to do a form letter, but that was not her style. Many evenings she sat there at the dining room table, coffee cup within reach, writing and writing and writing. I remember at her funeral that so many people commented on her Christmas letters.
I am a form letter kind of girl. I can only be so clever each year and I feel like when I get something decent, I better mass produce it and stick it in envelopes. Along with the witty letter is a photo of our family at some exotic location smiling prettily in matching shirts! Actually, we have been very fortunate to take some pretty fantastic photos, but we usually look like some rag tag group that was kicked off the train!
My mom, in those pre-computer days, hand addressed the envelopes, but had a trillion preprinted address labels from every charity on earth. I don't remember who sent her the stack of labels made out to Ritz Snow, but they were not to go to waste, so on the envelopes they went. I, too, am starting a collection of charity address labels. Whereas Mom felt that she should send some money to the charity in thanks for the labels, I think not. And for many of the labels, I will be cutting off the offending charity. Seriously, I don't want people thinking that I support some human rights watch organization. But World Wildlife Fund, they get my money and I don't cut the hippo off the label!
So here I am, with address book in hand. To send or not to send, that is my question. Each year, I think that I will only send to those that I received from last year. But I want to share my holiday wishes with one and all! I want to brag about the kids, the dog, the husband. I want to send out the photo I so painstakingly photoshopped. I want to think that people are eager to rip open the envelope and devour my elegant prose as they walk from the mailbox. Because I am so excited to get the holiday wishes, happy family photos, newy letters.
Optimistically, I will address around 50 envelopes. I will stuff them with some magnificent prose, include a Life Magazine worthy photo, stick a charity label on the outside of the envelope and send out my sincerest wishes for a Very Merry Christmas and Much Happiness in the New Year!
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