Today as I entered my local Post Office to mail off some paperwork for Hoss, I was greeted by my friendly Postman. Nice fella, always helpful, but today he inquired if I needed stamps for my Christmas cards that I send out every year. He commented on how I normally have a stack of them to go out. I informed him I was not, you read that right, I was not sending cards this year. He said, "well I'm sure some folks will be disappointed. People love Christmas cards!" I just shrugged, thanked him and walked to my truck.
In the days since Thanksgiving ( all 7 of them) , I have had 3 separate phone calls where I have been asked why the person on the other end hasn't received a card from me yet. Well, I have thought about this and have complied a small list to help everyone understand why there will be no cards this year. (like I should even have to explain) Here is that list:
- Every year I include a picture of my beautiful family. Every Year. However, this year I seem to be unable to wrangle all 5 of my children & my husband long enough to get a single group picture. Last years card had the only picture of my kids together I managed to snag all year on it. I am thinking this trend will likely continue as they are all growing and have their own things to do and places to be. As much as I am sure 6th cousin, Sally Mae would love to see how they have changed in the 12 months since the last picture, it just ain't gonna happen. Am I thrilled by this development? No but it is what its. Kids grow up, they move on, life continues even if we never get another family picture for a card! It's the Circle of Life people, haven't you seen the Lion King?
- Postage is insane and my cards always cost a little more than just a regular stamp. I have tried in the past to send out the generic cards in an effort to save some money. All that got me was call after call after call from people complaining because it wasn't my "normal" card. Lets not even talk about the cost of the actual cards themselves because they are not cheap either.
- I'm sorry if people are under the impression that we must not like them anymore because they don't get a Christmas card. This phenomenon perplexs me greatly. Folks get seriously wigged out if one year they don't get a card. They call and act like some major injustice has been leveled against them. Never mind the fact that we haven't seen a card from them since, oh I don't know, 2004? I sent out nearly 60 cards last year that I put a lot of time and thought into. We got a grand total of 7 Christmas cards from others last year. Do the math, I sent out roughly 8x more cards than we received.
Please understand, I love, love, love getting Christmas cards in the mail this time of year but I have realized that its yet another thing that is dying off. In our culture of instant gratification, spending time on something like a Christmas card is just too much to expect of people. We all want it but not if it means we have to make an effort on our end.
It's sad and it hurts my heart to not be sending cards this year. I cannot recall a year I have not sent a card. When I was little, I would "help" my Grandma and she would let me send my own out to our family. I miss those days and maybe that why I have tried so hard to hang onto this one thing for so long. It's time to let it go though. I am spending money we don't have to spare on something no one but me seems to care enough about to make happen.
So,Mr. Nice Postman, to answer your question, no, I will not be needing any extra postage this year.
