I love this time of year.
As a parent, as a spouse, as a daughter, a sister, etc. There is just so much excitement and magic in the air.
One thing I always enjoy about the holidays is sending and receiving Christmas cards.
Chris is in charge of thinking up and executing our family card, and he always knocks it out of the park.
As I sit here on my couch addressing the cards, herbal peach tea in one hand and a pen in the other, I feel a great sense of love and gratitude. Every address and name I write makes me smile as I think of that person or family and what they mean to us.
It’s easy to feel alone sometimes. Motherhood can be especially lonely. Life gets busy, you don’t get to see your friends as much, even having a 5 minute conversation with a girlfriend can often take 2 months to make happen.
But addressing these cards and seeing all these names is such a sweet reminder that even if I don’t get to see them or talk to them as much as I’d like to, they’re still there. And they’re in much the same situation that I am.
But much like Christmas, this feeling of loneliness and sometimes isolation is a season.
I know that I will miss the boys wanting me to read them stories and snuggle with them every night. And I know that dinner might not always be as long because they won’t care to jump up on chairs mid-way through and give us a Christmas concert.
This season is temporary, for all the good that it brings and the bad.
As I sit and think about my family and friends I wonder how I can be more intentional during the other 11 months of the year to try and fill that loneliness that sometimes creeps in.
One thing we’ve done in the past and we’ll do again this year, is to keep all the Christmas cards we receive and use them in the following way:
I rubber band them all together, and keep them in the kitchen in the same cabinet as the cups we use. (We open that cabinet multiple times a day so it makes this activity front of mind without any effort at all.)
Whichever card is in front is the family that we will think about and reach out to during the first week in January. This is not an opportunity to try and do something over the top – it’s just wondering how their Christmas went, maybe sending them an email to ask them. If it’s a close girlfriend, I’ll shoot her a quick text to ask how her day is going. If I tell myself I’m going to send a handwritten card, I won’t, and then I’ll feel defeated and won’t get any further in my stack than card 1.
So I keep this super, super simple.
The second week in January, I move on to the next card in the stack. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I find this is a good way to 1) extend the utility of the love and attention others put into sending us a card and 2) to remind myself during the year of all the love and support we have, even if we might not see or talk to our close friends for months at a time.
Even though Chris and I aren’t big on keeping a lot of “stuff” around, I do have a special place in my heart for Christmas cards. I have stacks from last year and 3 years previous.
Looking at how families grow and how quickly they change is my special reminder to enjoy this season with mine.
I hope you’ll do the same.
* Note – due to Christmas being next Thursday we will not be posting as usual. We will be enjoying time with family and friends but will be back the next week with another new Parents Who post. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
I, too, love Christmastime in part because of the additional mail that comes to my mailbox. I love sending and receiving Christmas cards and especially the pictures and letters that accompany them. I’ve been a bit lax the last couple of years in sending my own card. This year it WILL happen. :) I send a lot of mail throughout the year and enjoy it tremendously. I’m on track to send 365 pieces this year. This is the 2nd year I’ve set that as my goal. It’s really fun and also “freeing” to know that mail to be sent can be as simple as a couple of sentences. No need to write a loooooong note or even one that digs deeply into a topic. Thank yous our “it was great to see you” are easy and fun and quick. Anywho, thanks for your blog…..I’m new to it and look forward to checking it out further.
Hey Melanie! Thanks for the comment. I’m curious how you prep or prepare or stay on point to send so much mail each year? I would love to send more. Seems like I mostly send thank you’s and birthday cards but I would love to send a random “how ya doin” just to surprise friends. ;)
Sarah, I love that you send out Christmas cards and I like even more your process of enjoying the addressing, stamps, all that goes into mailing the cards. I too absolutely love sending Christmas cards, in fact, I am a die-hard snail mail fan at any time of year. I especially love your idea of remembering and being grateful for those who sent you cards during January by keeping them in the cupboard. I bet if I put them in the fridge I would do it even more! Merry Christmas to you.
Thanks for the comment Barb! So nice to know I’m not alone! Do you send snail mail at other times of the year? I always say I’m going to keep a stack of cards to mail and make it a goal to send out the whole stack by the end of the year (just random hello’s and miss you’s and such) but I never do it. Let me know if you end up putting some cards on the fridge! Happy New Year!