Got Christmas Cards?

It looks like we finished 99% of our Christmas cards and they are heading to the nearest mailbox sometime today.

I am HORRIBLE at writing Christmas cards. Thank goodness my Better Half is so good about getting them done and mailed every year.

Christmas cards seem destined to be a dying tradition. Does anyone really care about them anymore? It's sad, isn't it?

I remember as a kid how Christmas cards would cover our mantle and then the spill-over were taped alongside the fireplace. So many cards. Did we really know THAT many people?

And they were all different, in a way representing the personalities of the people who sent them. There were the Frosty the Snowman cards, the Christian cards, the Happy Holidays cards. But they were all vibrant and crisp and I loved rushing to the mailbox to see who had sent one that day.

This year we sent off a simple greeting on a glossy picture stock with all the kids smiling to friends and family.

I hope Christmas cards don't go the way of the soda fountain. They symbolize a day before
e-mail and Blackberries, when people used to have to sit down, take out a pen, write down a message, write down an address, lick the envelope AND the stamp, and send it off.

When was the last time you received an actual LETTER from someone? An actual personalized greeting?

In an age of spam and junk mail, it would be nice to open up that mailbox and find something just for you, wouldn't it? But for most of us, if we threw out all the junk mail, the bills, and the sales pitches, there would be literally nothing else for us to bring into the house.

So send those Christmas cards out and keep the tradition alive. And if you never have, what better time than now to start?