Welcome to the Christmas Cards I Write

I am, however, not dreaming of a white Christmas. I hope any and all snows stays far, far away from the Old Dominion for the next two weeks.

I freely admit that I love letter writing and having pen pals. I’ve had a few over the years and currently maintain regular corespondents with three people. It’s fun to read up on what people are doing with their lives, how things change, and (most important) what they are reading.

As the holidays draw close, though, I compile a list of family I am unlikely to see and some close friends (whom I have addresses for) to send Holiday cards to. Many of them are Christmas themed, but some of the recipients don’t celebrate that Christmas, so I try to include more winter themes.

This year I decided to punish challenge myself by hand painting all of the cards I sent out. The last batch will hopefully go out tomorrow. Normally, I buy cards (after the holidays so there’s a discount) and include a painting that I created over the year as a small gift. Since I started doing this, a few of my cousins felt that the paintings themselves should be the cards.

Well, I wasn’t all that thrilled by my miniature paintings this year. They weren’t festive enough for this time of year. Or I didn’t think they were good enough to send to other people. Or I liked them too much (that happens sometimes).

So I got out the paints, bought a bunch of envelops, and set to work.

It’s been a relaxing way to spend the run up to the final holidays of the year. I’ve even gotten a few cards in return.

Though card and letter writing has mostly fallen out of fashion, I find it a small treat to open my mailbox and find something from a friend rather than more advertisements. There’s some thing relaxing and intimate when it comes to writing letters of any kind - which is why I still enjoy writing my Holiday cards.

It’s one way to remind someone that you’re thinking of them.

Do you enjoy writing letters or sending out Holiday cards? What about receiving them? Have you ever had a pen pal? Do you still keep in touch with them?

It’s the season for togetherness and sometimes the only way to do that is through a small note or card wishing someone a happy new year.

See y’all in 2023. It’s only two Sundays away.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.

Welcome to Holiday Cards

Call me old fashioned, but I love getting snail mail. No, not bills. I mean snail mail from friends and family. There's something about getting home after a long day and finding a letter in my mailbox.

I have a few friends who write me letters (and I write them back). We usually include a quick update on our lives, a few plans for the future, and the latest book we're reading. We still try to stay connected via social media and texting, but I love the feeling of pen to paper.

I like sending holiday cards to my family, especially the family I haven't seen in a while and I know I won't see before the end of the year. I include a quick update about my life. Sometimes I add in a few details about how my family is doing.

As I write these letters I start to realize how much has stayed the same and how much really has changed. Time seems to be slipping more and more away from me as I'm getting older. There are many days where I think that it was only last year that I was still at school, but really it's been nearly four years since I graduated.

I'm not going to lie, I can't wait to see what the future holds, but part of me can't let go of the past. Maybe it's because the adult world is a lot more complicated than young me ever realized. Time always seemed to move so slowly when I was a child. It felt like things would always be as they were. I don't think I knew any better.

"Time waits for no one." I don't remember who said this, but I remember it was in the movie Girl Who Leapt Through Time. The movie is about a young girl who suddenly discovers she can go back in time. Instead of using this power for anything heroic, she uses it to eat the pudding her sister stole from her and avoid awkward conversations with a boy she likes. In the end she realizes that she can't keep leaping through time and has to accept the past and move towards the future.

The past is the past and the future is going to show up sooner rather than later. As the years go on, my list of holiday card recipient is going to change and likely shorter. Nothing in life is preminant, even if I wish it was.

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season so far. Now I need to finish these letters, before I realize it's 2017.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week.