The Return of the Holiday Card

I love sending out Holiday cards.  I mail it out to every member of my family and many friends, averaging about 80 cards annually.  It's a big part of the Season for me, and it's usually the task that gets me into the spirit of things. 

Years ago, when I first started sending out my own cards, I would just buy the familiar ones you'd often find at the big box stores.  Several years later, when my husband and I got engaged, we started sending year-end missives as well, which were well-received thanks to our tendency to live our lives unconventionally and my husband's uncanny way of turning the most mundane activity into a captivating story.

Then, when the kids arrived, we started taking family pictures and designing our own cards.  And because we now had offspring who were, lo and behold, as quirky as us, our missives became even more humorous and entertaining.

Before we knew it, our Holiday mailouts became popular, much-anticipated little packages.  "Hey, we just got your card yesterday, and OMG, I LOVED it!" and "You guys are a hoot! I look forward to your update letter every year..." and "This year's letter was even funnier than last year's!" were common among the unsolicited praise from friends and family.  I was thrilled!  And the positive responses only motivated me more to make an even better card the following year.

Then last year, something changed.  Suddenly, the idea of putting together our annual Holiday Card package was as appealing as tattooing half my body and prancing about in -40C windchill wearing only a thong.  I'm not sure what caused it.  Perhaps it was my personal campaign to be more 'green' and environmentally responsible, my growing desire to simplify my life, having my creative juices already poured into my blog, or maybe a combination of all three. 

All I know is that I didn't want to write another story about my life that I'd already written on my blog.  I didn't want to corral my spirited little kids for a picture they weren't interested in taking.  I didn't want to use up 80+ sheets of paper that many of my older relatives would only unwittingly send to a landfill.  I didn't want to go through the stress that, until then, I'd been denying feeling every year from the second I started typing out the missive to the second I dropped the cards into the mail slot at the post office.

So, I didn't do it.  And you know what?  It felt odd.  It felt like something was missing.  I felt out of the Christmas loop.  I felt Scroogie.  I even missed the stress.  And no one else appeared to care.  Our friends and family still adored us, even without the cards. 

That's when I realized that I really didn't send out cards for others -- I really sent them out for me.  To share the joy I felt during this Season of love and giving.  To reach out to those I wish I can see at other times of the year, but can only greet right now.  To show my kids another way to give without expecting to receive, and have fun doing it.

So, this year, the cards came back, complete with quirky family picture and missive.  But I took a few shortcuts by having the card designed by the local mall's photo store, instead of doing it myself.  Also I wrote a shorter-than-usual missive, posted it online on our private blog, and wrote the post link on each card.  Easier and much more fun.

I will admit that taking that break last year was a great idea.  I know I needed the breather.  But it also proved to me that my Christmas isn't complete without them.  As long as I keep the process simple and the reason in focus,  I can continue to share my greetings -- and the Holiday Spirit -- via Holiday Card for many years to come.

This is an original Canada Moms Blog post by NenetteAM who also writes about her favourite people, places, and things at Life Candy, tweets at @NenetteAM, and is right now staring lovingly at the family picture taken for this year's Christmas card.  The photo session was chaotic and took forever, but it was TOTALLY worth it!

Image by St0rmz