I’m not great about sending out Christmas cards. Some years I go all out and send 40+ cards to family and friends. Other years I don’t do any, it’s all or nothing I guess. Well this year I had consigned to just not sending them at all again. But as I was packing away the leftovers of Christmas decorations I found a small stash of leftover cards from years past. I counted and there was just enough to send to our immediate family. Hmm, not a bad idea, but how many stamps do I have? Just enough! Ok, I’ll take the hint and do it.
I sat down and proceeded to address the whopping eight cards then to sign them. Because I didn’t have a huge stack of cards to do I actually sat there and put a little bit of thought into each card, rather then just signing “The Deans.”
It felt great. This Christmas I am having such a hard time getting into the Christmas Spirit. Well no not that necessarily, but I am just not excited about all the stressful details. Homemade gifts to our families are going to be late but I’m not too stressed. Yeah, it would be nice to be organized, on the ball, and motivated but I’m not and I feel OK with that. I don’t want to be angry with myself for not getting EVERYTHING done. I want to just enjoy the happiness and joy my little ones are feeling. I want to appreciate the joy my older boys have because they get to help create the “Spirit of Santa” for the little ones. So I don’t care that Hattie was too scared to sit on Santa’s lap and now I don’t have a picture. I don’t care that we didn’t stress out and go to the Redmond Lights. I’m just going to lazily enjoy my family and our tree and the lights in our own house and make goodies whenever I feel like it or someone begs.
So to anyone who might have gotten Christmas cards from us other years, know that we love you and wish you a very Merry Christmas. We pray that you will have a happy and blessed New Year. And just be happy that I didn’t contribute to the destruction of our rain forests, give myself writer’s cramp and spend way too much money on postage stamps. Oh and to our brothers and sister, if the card you get is a duplicate of past cards, just laugh and fondly say, “Oh, that Keli.”
MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, HAPPY HANUKKAH, HAPPY KWANZAA EVERYONE!!!!!! (Did I miss one? I’ll have to ask Jyoti what India celebrates.)
Not Listening to Christmas music, Last.fm playing: The Decemberists- The Crane Wife- Shankill Butchers (so festive!)
Little known fact: Christmas cards are the 3rd largest source of paper-cuts. Think of all the potential anguish you have averted! ;) :D
LOL, that helps Derek!! ;)
No problem. Always available to stop by and spread some validation cheer!
I’ve never sent out newsletters or cards, except a couple cards to distant family. I feel like if I start, I’ll feel like I have to do it every year because people will wonder why they didn’t get a card from us. Also, I like to write personal messages to people, which would just take way too long. So I try to spread the love through the year so as not to drive myself crazy.
Good idea Sarah.
Your blog has become one of the few I check each day and a favorite with posts like this one.
Thanks Brett. I must admit I am behind on reading blogs. I’m sure you have a few good ones that I need to catch up on.