Christmas Cards

I love Christmas cards.  I love getting the mail and seeing the envelopes that I know contain holiday greetings.

I love cheesy annual newsletters that fill me in on what is going on in another family's life.  I love the cheesy ones, the boring ones, and even the ones that seem like oversharing.

I love the snapshot cards so I can see how families and friends are changing and growing and aging.

I love that someone thought of our family when they made that list and bought those stamps and mailed those cards.

However.

I stink at sending Christmas cards.  Really stink at it.  I maybe get around to it every couple of years.  I did a newsletter the first 2 years of Teagan's life but then I had a second kid and all that potential for being organized went out the window.  One year, I bought the cards and just never mailed them.  For several years, I obsessively bought boxes and boxes of cards on clearance for the next year.  But never sent them and sometimes couldn't even find where I had stashed them.

This year, I have cards to send.  I don't have a lot but they've been getting a very positive reaction so far.  I purchased these last Christmas from Usborne Books and I need to find out if they still sell them because I want to do this every year.

My kids colored these cards.  I've had the delightful experience of handing a card to a friend (twice now, actually) and watching their face light up when they read what's inside:

Merry Christmas!
Jeff, Liz
Teagan & Zach
Colored for you by Teagan (age 6) and Zach (age 4)

It's a card that is also a keepsake, a gift.  I'm going to have to keep one for myself.  They are all sealed up in envelopes and I think I might pick a random one, write the year on it, and store it in my cabinet and never open it until I'm old and gray and my kids are grown and I have grandkids to share them with.

I think I found a new Christmas tradition!