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Lindsay Metcalf
on May 22 2013 - 06:00 AM
When that tornado siren sounds, I'm in the basement
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mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
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I feel like Charlie Brown.
No, nobody has pulled a football away from me just as I was about to kick it. And I haven’t paid a therapist a nickel to help straighten me out.
But I have come up empty at the mailbox this Christmas season. Just like Charlie Brown -- no Christmas cards.
I mean I used to get tons. From friends, people I barely new. My dentist would always send me one. A few colleagues. My dad always sent two or three.
But each year we got a few less. I figured as we moved three times from 2003 to 2006, some cards got lost in the mail.
Then last year, there were only about a dozen. As for this year, one finally came late last week. Just one.
“Our first Christmas card,” oldest said excitedly as he held up the red envelope.
“Our only Christmas card,” I thought to myself.
Gee, we know which one of us is half-empty, don’t we?
Here’s the thing. I love getting Christmas cards. It’s so great seeing what people picked out, what they have to say. And then I just put them all through the house. A couple years, I hung red yarn and draped them along a way.
I don’t think I realized my love of the holiday card until we stopped getting them. Now I’m just hankering for them. Lots and lots.
My dad used to count the ones he received each year and then declare the amount every time I talked with him.
“Up to 25,“ he’d say around the middle of December.“ To him, getting a lot of Christmas cards meant he had a lot of friends.
Let’s just say this year, I’m not faring too well.
I just think it’s my bad karma catching up with me. Last year I made fun of the Christmas letter, you know those long often braggadocious letters that make you feel like you’ve done nothing with your life.
Make fun of them one year, get none the next. Oh how I wish I would get one of those letters now.
Just as I was whining about no one liking me enough to send a Christmas card, a dear friend pointed out to me that I haven’t sent any out for three Christmases now.
Uh, good point. But I actually made some two years ago, I just never sent them out. Doesn’t that count?
But then my sister pointed out that she isn’t getting as many this year either. Times are tough and many people aren’t doing cards.
Could she be right? The economy is the problem, not me?
I blame most bad things on the economy so that definitely works for me.
That feels much better than being like Charlie Brown.
I've heard so many people say they aren't doing cards this year. I'm usually one of those have them ready to go out the day after Thanksgiving people. Mine are ready and still sitting on a table. Facebook seems to have cured my need to receive cards. A lot of my old friends are on FB, so I see what they're up to every day now instead of once a year.I know just how you feel! Next year I'm not sending to anyone I didn't get one from this year! I love Christmas and I always look forward to getting the mail this time of year! This year I think it's more bills then those nice pretty Christmas cards! If you give me your address I'll send you one if you send me one!!!Six! I'm up to six so far! OK, I'm trying to stay optimistic since I sent out over 40 of them. I think some people just don't send them out or see them as a waste of money. I love sending them out and love the letters though I don't write my own since it would really show just how boring my life is! haha It may just have something to do with the fact that you don't send any back too. I know I took some off my list that never sent me one, some of them I can forgive.I'm thinking e-cards this year. SHOULD be faster than addressing and mailing real cards. I send out cards every other year, but this is supposed to be a SEND year. Might make cards every 3rd year. A friend says a family member sends out cards every Kansas day (end of January.) Maybe I should send out "Super Bowl" cards.......I used to be fanatical about sending out Christmas cards, with a short personal note in each one going to people I don't see often. But postage being $.42 per card (or more, if you send big cards), there's no way I'm sending them out this year. I'll do e-cards, and if people are offended by that, I'm sorry. Times are tough and I have more important things to spend money on. As it sits, the kids aren't going to spend much time opening gifts this year. Breaks my heart.oh my gosh, I feel EXACTLY the same way! I miss the Christmas cards with the handwritten letters, and yes even those braggadocious letters. We moved several times in a few short years too... and I think people decided that we were just hell on address books and they were done trying to keep up with our nomadic ways. I admit I have pared down my own Christmas card list in the last few years, but I love sending and receiving handwritten cards. I'm still watching the mailbox very closely... any day now... I hope, I hope!stupid technology... i only got one too. come on guys buy the cards, support your local Hallmark, hey... my mom works there! or at least buy supplies from Hallmark and make your own.We've gotten 3. I stopped sending cards about 6 years ago. Those who send them to me has slowly dwindled down to almost nothing. Doesn't bother me one bit.I know how you feel I have got 2 this year. One from my mom and one from my sister! I talk to them on a weekly if not more basis. I sure do miss them too. I make sure I send them to everyone I do not see regularly. This year it was 30 cards for $3.00 and $8.00 for stamps, OH boy $11.00 just to say Merry Christmas and Happy new year! I do not think it would kill anyone! We seem to be getting farther away from talk to our friends and Family and more with a text message or email. Technology is killing us!I gotta send cards. And even the letter, at first I tried not to be braggadocious, but the letter was so boring, so I tell lively stories at the risk of being braggadocious, but the reading is much better! So if I receive fewer letters, or cards, maybe it is the newsletter I send out... hmm. Anyway, I save all the photos I get and really do enjoy the catching up. But I don't do FaceBook, so...I love Christmas cards. I display them proudly as part of my decorations. I have noticed that we keep getting less and less each year. I refuse to stop - I am "cheating" this year and sending out some of those picture cards. I usually like to write a note on each card and find the pictures somewhat impersonal.I love getting them all, ecards included. We've received ONE real card. Not even my sister-in-law, who is always the first, has sent any so far. I've gotten none of the usual from businesses, either. I truly think it's the economy. But Kidlit_Kim has a point about Facebook. I know lots more parents/grandparents who are on FB for the first time. Maybe I need to at least work on an ecard...I don't do Christmas cards ever. It's just not my thing (I don't really do birthday cards, either, unless I have to). It's fun to receive them, but I don't get my nose all bent out of joint if I don't. My sister gets very offended if she sends one to someone and they don't send one back. To me, cutting someone off your list b/c they didn't send you one is sort of missing the point of Christmas... you don't give to receive, right?! Anyway, usually we get one from the Chiefs since we're season tix holders. But so far this year... nada. Hmmm... you'd think a card is the least they could do! LOL!!!We have several Christmas cards that are still in the envelope and they will be staying there! They have glitter on them! I love Christmas cards, but only if they are glitter free!!I know what you mean about getting less. We have only gotten about 8. I think it has something to do with people waiting until the last minute. I love getting them and knowing people you don't see or hear from all year are thinking of you during the holidays. A couple of people send letters, one who tells everybody everything about her whole family. It is a bit much. We also get school pictures of their kids. It is always nice to see how they are growing up. I create mine on the computer. I make something different up every year and and add the name of the recipient in the text. Which I think makes it more personal. Most of the time I use the left inside of the card to write a short note, that I can change depending on who it is to. Then sign our names. Since I have Fibromyalgia I really can't handwrite alot so all this is printed. I did fifty three that went out Monday. Toward the end I kept thinking, I might not do this again. It was pretty tough. I do keep track of who sends us a card. Some good friends just don't do cards so we still keep in touch. Others are old co workers that after 3 or 4 years, I figure they aren't really interested in keeping in touch so I stop. If you aren't getting cards in might be because you don't send out any.
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