Saturday, December 14, 2013

Christmas Cards - Love 'em or Hate 'em?

Holiday cards. They used to be one of my absolute favorite things about the holiday season. I love hearing from folks we may not have been in touch with over the past year, or who live too far away to keep up with on a regular basis. I love the photos of everyone's growing children, I love to see what people choose for their designs... I love the sparkles, the glitter, the humor that some people choose to infuse.

In the past, I've created photo cards some years, but more often order prints and put them inside a glittery card I've chosen at the store. Some years I've sent out multiple designs as more than one caught my fancy and I couldn't make up my mine, so some people got one, others got something different.

And yet... this year, it started feeling like an overwhelming black cloud looming over me - one more chore I had to work to complete. None of the cards at the store appealed to me... and I looked at multiple stores. A few were almost okay... but I put them back. I wasn't ready. Not in the mood.

Part of it was that I injured my right index finger early in November. It was horribly swollen for a week and painful to write or type. Hunt and peck became my norm, and without the index finger, it was slow. Using a pen? Painful, even after the swelling went down. It started feeling better last week... so I tentatively bought a few boxes of cards, but even then, not motivated.

And then the first few Christmas cards arrived in my mailbox.

Almost 2 dozen have arrived by now, a mix of photo cards, and boxed cards, and 2 from relatives in Ireland with the "Happy Christmas" greeting that you just don't find in the U.S. Some with sparkles, some glitter, one with little gems that poked right thru the envelope during mailing so that when I took it out of the post office box, the envelope felt like a braille message in red and blue.

A few had personal messages scrawled on the insides, catching me up on recent vacations and news, who started high school this year, who went to Hawaii...

I started writing cards last night.

How about you? Do you exchange cards with friends and family? Do you find it fun or a chore? Photo or boxed, or a combo?

Either way, Merry Christmas to you all - I need to sign off and address some envelopes!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Go ahead - leave a comment! You know you want to! But don't be Anonymous - that'll just get you deleted. And who wants that?