O Christmas Card, O Christmas Card
I’ve got something to say about Christmas cards. Basically, I think fewer of you are sending them, and I’m worried.
I base this on the fact that it feels like I’ve just gotten fewer Christmas cards so far this year than I normally do.
Of course, the Harkinses’ arrived on schedule and in my mailbox about the time the turkey was being cleared from the Thanksgiving table, and the VanKoevering newsletter was as punctual and meticulous as one would expect. But from there, the drop off has been noticeable both at home and at the office.
I suppose there are a few theories as to why this could be happening. One, maybe fewer of you like me. I like to think I’ve tried to stay positive throughout these years of pestilence and plague, but I very well could have fallen short.
Or, it could be that our own family has dropped the Christmas card-sending tradition, and our lack of holiday outreach has led to a mass deletion of our address from Excel spreadsheets across the land. In our defense, we stopped sending cards long ago, after a beautifully produced card with professional glamour shots of parents, children, and a dog sat boxed on our kitchen counter for an entire year. It was a daily reminder of our failure that was just too much to overcome the following year when we actually discussed whether or not we could just send the card a year late.
“It’s not dated.” “At least you and I look the same.” “Not everyone knows the dog died.”
My third theory is what I’m kind of hoping is closer to the truth.
I’m willing to bet that people are tired. People are spent. People are ready to receive because it’s been a whole lot of giving of late.
Christmas cards can be hard. They take time. Planning. Money. Address Googling and texting. “Hey, what’s your new address again?” One friend of mine has had her family Christmas card photo shoot rained out twice. I get it.
Each year, Resch Strategies commissions a cartoon poking fun at the signature issue of the year in a holiday theme for the cover of our company card. Over the years, we’ve worked with three or four different amazing cartoonists, and their drawing skills have routinely outperformed my joke writing skills. But trying to be funny in 2021 is a miserable experience, and doing the card just isn’t what it once was. So, yeah, I get it.
While this festive fatigue might explain the drop in my holiday mail, I sincerely hope it is a curable trend.
Christmas cards are great.
They’re a real-life Facebook post from your friends and family that you can hold in your hand, and their popularity is tracked in smiles rather than emojis. They trace your friends’ and family’s growth, and mark proud accomplishments. They let people know that, at the very least, they were thought about long enough to be put on a list and worth the time to stuff, seal, and stamp an envelope – and that’s not nothing. They share one’s faith and offer holiday blessings. And, sometimes they tell a joke.
All good things.
Christmas cards are great, and we should send them every day!
Or, at least once a year.