In this age of near constant and instant communication, Christmas Cards seem a little out-dated. I can chat with friends all over the world any time of day or night now and a Christmas Card is no longer necessary, or is it?
Certainly before email a Christmas Card was a great way to touch base with people all over the place that you did not converse with or see regularly. Now thanks to All Gore, Facebook and Twitter we are all thoroughly sick of one another. That is not stopping me from sending Christmas Cards.
Because they are so old-fashioned the act of writing out Christmas Cards forces me to slow down and think about the people I am writing to, to remember holidays past with them and reflect on what they mean to me. Even people I talk to and see all the time.
I love the whole process, selecting the cards (often done right after Christmas to get a good bargain), updating the addresses (who has moved/gotten married/had kids this year), waiting for the holiday stamps to be unveiled, choosing a good pen and finally sitting down by my tree with a cup of tea to write.
I have a Christmas Card address book that I have used since 2001, it has the history of my loved ones in it, friends and family who have passed on and new additions to life in the past decade. It is a journal of my beautiful cast of characters.
The Christmas Card experience is not cheap, cards and stamps add up, but I now will factor it in to my holiday budget, one fewer gift for mom or dad will cover the cost of reaching out to those who make life so sweet.
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