Every year, it’s the same thing – it’s always a mad dash to get our Christmas cards in the mail in time to be received before Christmas. 😊 This year was no different. Actually, I nearly forgot ALL about the Christmas cards. This entire year has just flown by, and December seems to be going at warp speed. So a couple of Saturdays ago (the day I remembered I hadn’t done our cards yet!), I began to panic because we hadn’t taken our traditional Thanksgiving family picture. Augh! What was I going to do? Oh wait. How could I have forgotten the family picture we took in Deadwood? Phew! Saved by the family vacation. So I began designing our card and then proceeded to NOT get the cards printed until yesterday. Ah. The art of procrastination. I definitely get 1st Place!
So, yesterday, with the cards in hand, I began writing the return addresses on the envelopes while waiting for Kindrey during dance class. And tonight I am determined to get even more of the the 3+ hour Christmas card assembly saga complete.
I had opened up the Christmas Card list I had used last year, and felt a twinge of nostaglia. It’s the list that was first created when Jake and I sent out our wedding invitations – but now it’s a slightly different version.
Over the years, some names have been removed, some names have been added, addresses changed, etc. Every year, the list changes just a little bit. And by the time all of the cards are mailed this week, and all of the holiday cards (with new return addresses from friends and family!) have been received by US, the list will be updated and “complete” for this year – the summary of the prior 12 months will have been finalized.
The Christmas card list is such a bittersweet reminder of the year’s happenings. You go through the list, checking to see if anyone has moved or if some significant life changing event has occurred that would require a modification. Some are good. Some are not. It’s so sad to have to remove someone from the list because they’re no longer with us. Or to separate a couple or family because they’re “no longer together”. Those are difficult changes to have to make each year, and I’m happy when none of those things have happened. But then there are exciting changes, like adding the word “Family” after a couple’s last name because they’ve had their first child! Or adding “Mr. and Mrs.” because they’ve gotten married this year. Or adding people to the list because they’re finally old enough to get their own card and have moved out of their parents’. 😊 Or just adding new friends to the list because you were fortunate enough to have them enter into your life this year. And then – and this is kind of bittersweet - there are those names on your list that (I hope) you’ll never remove. Those are the people on your list that you haven’t seen or maybe even talked to in years, but you still send them a Christmas card anyway because at one point in your life they were a key component and very involved, and no amount of passing time can take away their significance. 😊
I have a few more cards to put together this evening (okay....several, and I think I need to order more), but when all is said and done, by the time the last Christmas card arrives, I will have made the changes I needed to make to the list - “2018 - a Year in Review”.
Comments