Christmas Cards

It’s Christmas card time again and, I just have to be honest, it’s my favorite mail time of the whole year. I just love getting mail and what is better than seeing sweet Christmas cards in the mailbox on a daily basis? It is all I can do not to run down to the mailbox as soon as I hear the mail truck up the street. If you ask Mickey, he’ll say I’m that way on a normal day, but when you add Christmas cards to the mix – I’m practically a mail carrier stalker. I adore getting mail and I just love Christmas cards.

Every year, we send Christmas cards to family and friends. (If you haven’t received one and want to, please message me. I love sending them as much as receiving them.) Invariably, every year I stress over which cards to pick and use. Do I go with one photo, two, MORE? Just the girls or the whole family? Stick to red and green colors or branch out into something else? Where will I order from this year? How many? Stamps are HOW MUCH now? There are many decisions to be made and, honest to goodness, sometimes I have to remind myself that this is fun and shouldn’t be a stress. When I adjust my focus on this being fun and a wonderful tradition, I always get into the spirit when I create, order and send the cards. It’s just that those first decisions are daunting even though they shouldn’t be.

This year I went with three separate card designs. Yes, I know…I took the express train to crazy town on that one. It came down to me liking three very cute designs, getting a really good price (thank you, Walgreens Photo!) and having a ton of cards to order. When in doubt, get them all. Am I right? I’m going with a yes on that one. So, anyway, I ordered three sets of cards and picked them all up in one afternoon.  This was all the last week of November. Somehow, everything aligned just right for me to actually be ahead of the game. Shock! I worked for two days (in my spare time) addressing and stamping the envelopes. The out of state cards were mailed on November 29 and the in-state and in-town cards were mailed on the 30. I was a woman on a mission  to get those cards outta here and into other mailboxes. Guess what? Only one came back returned for postage. The one to Mickey’s parents. D’oh!! But, at least they could find the humor in it. 😉 Pretty much as soon as our cards were mailed, others started hitting our mailbox. Oh, happy day!!

All this rambling to say that I am super happy that it’s Christmas card season. It’s only December 5 and we have already received some really great cards. I look forward to collecting them throughout the season. And, then, I look forward to saving all the photos that are sent. Last year, I started something cool with our Christmas card photos. I cut out each photo and put magnetic tape on the back. The stairwell leading to the basement has magnetic paint on one wall, so I arranged the photos in a collage on that wall. We walk past those photos several times per day and it’s always nice to see the faces of friends and family. So, I’ll be adding this year’s photos to the collection and every day that I see the photos I’ll be reminded to be thankful for the precious blessing of loved ones near and far.

Blessings,
Kelly