Card Exchange

Christmas cards are one of my top favorite, most loved, very exciting, Christmas tradition. One year I left the cards up until June. That was the year I was on the Obama’s Christmas list, purely by coincidence.

Having been self employed for the last ten years, our Christmas budget swings harder that my moods. Some years we are scrimping to buy the kids gifts. Other years it’s an orgy of paper fit it family, friend, and strangers. In the years since my pregnancy knocked me out of the workforce it’s been all scrimp, all the time. Christmas cards are the first budget item to get cut when things get tight. The real down side of this is that, in my experience, having to cut the cards means being cut from the lists of others. You have to give to receive.

That means that for the last couple of years, when I needed Christmas cheer the most, I got dropped from the lists of friends and family. I totally get the logic. Sending cards is expensive, and gets more so every year. Postage costs go up. Photo cards are very popular and cost three to five times more than the boxed sets you pick up at Walgreen’s. The list of recipients grows every year. Even though I know this, every year when Christmas passes and I find I’ve been dropped from a list I get a little sad. I’m sure some just didn’t send out cards the last couple of years, but I do visit the houses of others, and see the Facebook updates about their cards, so that’s not the case sometimes.

This year we are scrimping again, but I made room in the budget for cards. It’s the longest list we’ve ever had. I’m sending cards to peyote I haven’t spoken to in person for years. I’m sending cards to people who haven’t sent cards in years. I’m sending them to people who don’t send cards. I had to order a second pack of them, and on Wednesday I’ll be sending out more. I didn’t check my list carefully the first time, so some people might get two.

Christmas is about giving, and that’s what I’m doing. It’s not about who sent me cards or didn’t, it’s about the giving. It’s about sharing my love of the holidays. It’s about sending love. It’s the one time a year that we still do this, an annual check in. When you make your list for next year remember that your list is about who you send the love to, not who sent it last year.

#Christmas #Christmascards