12/10/08 Christmas Cards

I’m a little later than usual this year, but Christmas cards are officially in the mail! We always do the photo cards with a picture of us and the cats on it, and this year we had so many cats that I needed a few photographers and cat-restraining assistants. (The boys do NOT appreciate formal sittings). You’d think they’d get used to it by now…we’ve done the same sitting every year for five years.

Sometimes I wonder if people get bored with the traditional “us with the cats” pose, but then I remember how much I enjoy getting photo cards of other people with their families for Christmas, so I’m hoping that they appreciate getting the card and forget that it’s the same pose as last year. (In our defense, we did add two more cats this year, so technically it is different).

Christmas cards seem to be a dying art. Each year we see less and less of them in our mailbox. (Although it suddenly occurs to me that maybe we’re just not very popular. Hmmm). Still, with the price of stamps and the cards and the photos and time it takes to address each one and write a little note, I can understand why people get busy with all the other holiday stuff and just ignore the cards. I think that I’ll always do it anyway though. I know how much I love getting a Christmas card in the mail, and I assume it’s the same with other people. We have a card stand that I display the cards on every year. I’ve even been known to keep them from previous years so that my card stand is full even when I first set it out. (Tony calls this cheating…I call it sentimental). But even more than getting cards, the best part for me is sending them out. My favorite is when all the cards are sitting in their little envelopes, addressed and stamped and ready to go into the mail. It’s nice to look at that pile and remember all the people who are important to us. Some of them we see every week. Some of them we haven’t seen in years. But I still send the cards because those little ties, no matter how infrequent, keep us together.