Holiday Ramblings

The last couple of days, Todd and I have been receiving holiday cards in the mail. I have no qualms with this, except that it reminds us of our own inadequacies in the card department. Year after year we promise that we really will send out cards. And then, all of a sudden, the holidays are over and we never got around to it.

Last year we even bought some cards in the post-holiday sales. We figured that it would help us get our butts in gear this year. Nope! The boxes sit unopened in a drawer, safely underneath address labels and envelopes. You know, the very things that we would use if we were actually sending them out.

It seems we have a block in the holiday card department. We can do birthday cards. We can do thank you cards. We even send cards congratulating people for things like giving birth. (Which certainly deserves congratulations. And strong drugs. Unfortunately, we are not authorized to send drugs in the mail. Sorry.) Maybe we are just becoming immune to the pressure of the holidays due to overexposure. After all, the Christmas decorations go up in stores around Halloween these days, so by the time Christmas actually rolls around, it feels like it's been going on for 2 months. And 2 months of red and green and glitter and Chia Pets is a long time.

So maybe we just need to stop trying to send holiday cards. Perhaps we should consider sending cards after the holidays, when the bleakness of January has set in. This card could be a little pick-me-up that says "Hey, I know January is hard. Please don't make any New Year's resolutions that will torture you because you cannot possibly keep them!"

And don't even try to tell me that January is not bleak and in need of some snazzing up (with a card from me). The festivities are over, you can't fit into your clothes, you get no more time off work and, depending on where you live, it's cold. And if you live somewhere that is not cold in January, I don't want to talk to you unless you are inviting me to your beach house in Australia.

And in this case, I will send you a card.