There is Still Time

I saw yet another year-end statistic the other day.  The words held a certain sadness, but it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to me that Americans today do not send as many holiday cards as they used to 25 years ago. I do not pride myself in being part of this numerical gauge of days gone by, but I am guilty in not sending out as many cards as I used to.  Specifically, make that 7 cards I will dispatch to loved ones this year (as in, I still must do this) compared to the 112 that I have sent in previous years evoking the requisite holiday spirit.  Okay, the truth is that I purchase exceptionally good cards because I usually buy them the year before when they are half price, it justifies this habit of mine to shop the day after Christmas.  In the past, I even took the time to write a small ditty (specific to each recipient), and posted it with a licked (another relic of bygone days) holiday postage stamp.  And the kicker, I had them finished and popped in the mail by the first of December.

That was then, this is now and I haven’t found a really good excuse for why I don’t take the time and effort.  I could blame modern day electronic gadgetry and email, the price of postage or my lack of time, but honestly none of these could be used as pliable rationale for my foible.  There must be a logical explanation, less the fact I have gotten lazy over the years in not sending out holiday greetings, I just need to find it.

The thrill of December mail is priceless.  The feel, touch and look of a special holiday card can make you warm and fuzzy inside.  I love getting cards, especially the ones from friends who enclose pictures of their children.  It is fun to see these kids grow from year to year and know they are the only ones getting older (can’t be me!).  I look forward to little hand-written notes from my “only-seem-to-connect-once-a-year-at-holiday-time” friends letting me know how they are and what they have been up to. I like all the cards; I ponder the religious ones and chuckle at the Santa stuck in the chimney cards,  I get mushy over the sentimental and wonder about the humor of some of the others.  I am not particularly fond of the cards that have the sender’s names embossed under the already printed “Happy Holidays”… loses any personal touch, then add that the envelope probably has a preprinted label and you have to wonder why did they bother?  The typed and mimeographed copy of the sender’s encapsulated past year, if it goes longer than a couple paragraphs, has an adverse effect on my holiday spirit.

When I was a kid, I remember one year when my parents received 519 holiday cards.  I know, I counted them over and over and still couldn’t believe what a banner year it was.  We had moved 3,000 miles away from family and friends when calling someone on the phone “long-distance” was considered a luxury.  Writing cards and letters was the one way everyone knew how to stay in touch.  My mom must have read and re-read these cards and letters over 10 times each.  By just holding the cards, I know she was thinking of every person that they had come from and mentally willing them a happy holiday.

It isn’t too late to still send a Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/holiday card.  Heck, some stores already have them marked down in price as an incentive for us on the fence to get ourselves in gear and do a little something for someone else during the holiday season.  Even if we only send out one card, to a recipient who may not be expecting it and it gets there a day or two after the holidays, the effort will have been worth it.  And next year? Let’s all get started a little earlier – this is one tradition that we shouldn’t let go of.

Cynthia A. McClelland, curious observer of the obvious with interpretations of the oddities of daily life.  Mother, wife and lover of the furry, resides in the north Lake Tahoe area.

Cynthia A. McClelland © 2003-