Like clockwork, on the day after Thanksgiving my friend’s Christmas card has always arrived.  Like Black Friday, its appearance heralded the real beginning of the holiday season for me.  Throughout the years her cards featured pictures of her son and his hobbies, vacation trips and sometimes cameo appearances of her and her husband.  I felt like I watched her child grow up through this annual ritual.  This past November I didn’t receive her card.

After a few days had passed and still no card, I sent her a message inquiring as to the status of her health or if I was on her naughty list and for that reason had not received a card from her.  Her response included her frequently used messaging abbreviation LMAO.  She explained that she usually had sent out 160 cards and had decided to take the year off.  Whew, I was relieved and completely understood.  That’s a lot of postage and prep time in addition to her already packed lifestyle.

Her cards always reminded me of our time spent working together at the Tile.  She is a fun-loving, spontaneous and creative person with a heart of gold.  I have pictures from the olden days of our office area decorated to the nines for Christmas, complete with a cardboard chimney and stockings hung with care for each member of our department.   She likes to remind me that I was prone to bursting into a song, particularly during the holidays.  In her memory there was an occasion when I stood on my office chair, using a fake microphone which was probably a phone handset, and sang a Christmas carol.  I have no recollection of my performance but it makes me feel good that there was a time in my life that I could actually stand on an office chair.

It got me thinking about my own Christmas card experiences and traditions.  I remember my mom sitting at the card table that my father had set up in the dining room, specifically for the task.  She was surrounded by stacks of cards and envelopes and stamps and pens.  Mom had beautiful handwriting and her finished product was something that I hope made her proud.  I always wanted to get involved so my job was the stamps.

I know the task of sending cards can be tedious, especially when there are so many other holiday chores.  As the price of stamps has become astronomical, it is also quite expensive.  While I can’t do anything about postal prices, I have found ways to make the job less time consuming through the use of stored address labels.  I usually buy boxes of two different card styles.   As I am preparing my cards, it’s a simple joy for me to decide which of the two cards suits the recipient best.   I love sending Christmas cards because they are my way of checking in with people I don’t see often and also a way to show my family and friends how much I care about them and how grateful I am to have them in my life.

I have the perfect ending to this story.  Guess what arrived in the mail on Friday?  It was a Christmas card from my friend featuring her son, a big red bow and a giant Merry Christmas scrolled across the top of the card.  It truly made me smile and LMAO.  Thanks for keeping the tradition alive, Beeve.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy healthy New Year❤️