Do you still send Christmas cards? Each year it seems like less people are mailing them. Probably due to the cost. Maybe the time involved. Perhaps we just don’t appreciate the practice anymore. Are we lazy? Is it time for this tradition to die? I hope not.
December 9 is Christmas Card Day – did you know that? In my house Thanksgiving weekend is when the cards come out though and I begin organizing them, signing them and jotting quick notes. I get out a basket to gather the new ones I receive in the mail. I tenderly reread all of them after Christmas with the practice of saying a new year prayer for each of the people who took the time to remember our family as I remember them once again. I do love this tradition.
Christmas cards bring back memories. My mom would put them on our mantel and tape them on the door frames. Sometimes we would take family photos for our cards marking the various growth of each child and passing of major milestones. Still today I love to carefully chose next year’s cards – selecting the picture on the front and the message within to send the message of hope and love I would want to say in person if I were with that family.
For many years I sent a card to college friends that we hadn’t seen and just two years ago we finally got together for lunch – after almost 50 years we re-met in person! It was delightful and we have continued to meet once a year! If we hadn’t stayed in contact with each other through the annual Christmas card habit, we may not have reconnected.
I know some of you are rolling your eyes at me. Each year I wonder about the expense. Yes, I do trim my mailing list occasionally. Yes, I do send cards to some who never respond – some of them just need to know they are loved no matter the reason they never send a card back.
We are so disconnected and in an epidemic of loneliness – this practice seems more important than ever. These cards say – Hey I am thinking of you. You are remembered. You are seen. You are loved.
And isn’t it nice to get something other than ads or bills in the mail?
I have a friend who sends out New Years cards when she is less busy. And it is fun to get that card in January after the big rush. The date doesn’t matter. The connection does.
I am being sentimental today as I write this as I know many people no longer send cards, but this is one ritual I think I will hang onto a while longer. Maybe it is a dying art. But it is one way I stay connected. Communicate. Love. And I guess just be me.
I didn’t send cards last year, but did this year. I’m not consistent. ha. I do love receiving them though! I hope they will never disappear altogether.
interesting you began again this year to send cards out. Sometime I am tempting to quit sending them to people who don’t send them yet still do and then get them again the following year. I do love getting them too.
I started last night writing notes on many of the cards. My goal is to get them in the mail next week. I try to get at least 10 done each night so my hand doesn’t cramp too much. LOL
Oh I love this tradition you’re carrying on, Jean. Sadly, this is a dying art. I’ve stepped up the hand-written notes and continue with sending birthday cards but switched over to my online home to send out Christmas greetings the past few years.
Your purposeful dedication and all those sweet memories of cards and stamped envelopes are a lovely invitation to remember and cherish . . . and hope for!
Advent blessings to you, dear one.