family holidays: christmas cards

This is the seventh in a series about enjoying the holidays with your kids or in this case, the friends and family who you may not have seen in a long time.

I’m a little late on this post. If I had it together, I would have posted this in October when I was trying to decide which Christmas cards to send out. But that is ok because this post is not about what Christmas cards you should make or buy. It is about why you should make or buy something, anything, and send it right away.

This year, on that day in October when I asked each of my older kids to approve the photos that I was using in our Christmas cards, one of the kids asked me what the big deal was. Why keep sending these cards year after year? They are expensive and they just get thrown away. She looked positively baffled. I was so shocked that any of my kids would consider not sending Christmas cards that I had no immediate response.  

Yes. Christmas cards can be expensive. And yes, they are most likely recycled almost immediately. But I will tell you why I send Christmas cards every year. I send cards because Christmas is a wonderful time to reflect with gratitude on all of the people in our lives who have helped us become who we are today. It is a great time to reconnect, if only briefly, with family and friends who have been a part of your life but who you may not get to see all the time. It is a great time to let others know that you are thinking about them, however far away they are. A card in the mail is not a Facebook post. It is not a broadcast of good cheer to everyone you’ve ever met. I’m all for that too when it comes to Christmas greetings. But a card is more personal. Even if you don’t write on it (which I used to do on every card and sadly do not make time to do anymore), a card is reminder that you are singling someone out of the crowd and taking the time to wish that person or that family a Merry Christmas.

Let’s not kid ourselves. I love to open my mailbox and see a Christmas card or four in there with the bills and catalogs. I hang each one up on the back door for the remainder of the Christmas season. I love that the kids want to know who everyone is. How do you know that person? How old are their kids? Where do they live? Sometimes, we pack the Christmas cards away with our ornaments so that we can see how much people have grown when we unpack them the next year.

It’s not too late to order some Christmas cards. Include a photo, even if you don’t have kids. It doesn’t have to be complicated or ornate. It doesn’t even have to arrive in time for Christmas. Start small. Send to a handful of people. You can send more next year. And don’t forget what a lovely feeling it is to open your mailbox to find personal mail. Wouldn’t it be nice to have that feeling more often? 

(Cards above via Tiny Prints, Minted, and Hello! Lucky.)