Christmas Card Wishes
Correspondence of all kinds have been the bane of my existence for just about as long as I can remember. The heart is willing but the focus just isn’t there. In fact, the more dear the person is to me, the less likely they are to actually hear from me. Email has done little to remedy my affliction. When I receive an email from someone with any kind of VIP status (family, dear friends) I immediately postpone responding until such time that I can give them the level of attention that they deserve. Well, guess what… that moment rarely arrives. So instead I neglect the most beloved most horribly. Sigh. The holidays is usually the time where I think I will make up for this terrible state of affairs through the cultural tradition of the Christmas card mailing. I’ve done the individual cards. I’ve done the letters printed off the computer. I can’t remember a year in which I finished the project feeling that I had redeemed myself. Most years range from completely blowing it off, getting a “new year’s/winter” issue out after the holidays, or managing to get a smattering of Christmas cards out.
Since I managed to get sick right at the time that I would usually be panicking and getting some mailed, this year is not looking good. Every time a Christmas card arrives in the mail, I grimace with guilt. Oh, the good people have done it again and I am a most incorrigible failure. Drat. How could this month have gone by so quickly? The same lament year after year. I always thought of my mother as setting the standard as a devoted Christmas card sender. One year, she even had to go to the emergency room because the finger she pressed up against her pen became swollen with infection and had to lanced. This is the kind of dedicated example that I have had to live up to. Although, I’ve noticed in some of those flashes of insight into your parents you get when you are an adult and discover some of the mundane truths you never realized as a child. Christmas card sending seems to be a bit more of a challenge for my mom than I thought. I think she is tormented by it too.
i guess maintaining relationship with ppl who matter is always good and should be done..try to send them a card back..an electronic card can do wonder..even i do send ecards..
Ahh, yes. The ecard. I do sometimes send them, but can be quite stricken with the guilt of the lazy corresponder. I imagine the recipient’s disdain when the satisfying envelope in the their mailbox is replaced with a request to click on a link.