Christmas cards to some seems a thing of the past. In the hustle and bustle of the holidays sometimes preparing, ordering and addressing Christmas cards to many seem like a waste of time and money but for me they are priceless.
My feeling towards holiday cards has evolved over the years, every year it excites me to send out cards more than most other Christmas traditions. It started as wanting to share a piece of my family with others over the holidays when time doesn't allow for a face to face gathering but for years now with each card I send I pray. I pray for the recipient and their family for health, peace and good fortunes. I pray for their circumstances and maybe for a friend, relative or pet they posted about in need on Facebook that I happened to see. I stop and think about that person and wish them well and hope their New Year is exciting and brings new opportunity. The same holds true to receiving cards in the mail. When the mail can sometimes be daunting with bills and junk mail throughout the year, a chore to check the box, the month of December is exciting to me to see the cards that may come. I hope that getting our card in the mail will bring a smile to the face of the one who opens it as we like to try and provide some sort of comic relief to the cards and maybe that will make their day a little brighter.
I think about each family as I open and look at the cards I receive and I pray for them and thank God for their friendship. I save cards over the years, I love to see how families change adding new little ones and watching babies grow, sometimes the cards (or parts of them) even make it into my scrapbooks.
We have had to scale back over the years, we sent a couple of really cool accordion cards with tons of photos for a couple of years but the cost was higher in paper and postage and we could send more cards by going with a flat card so that is the route we take. It is fun to choose designs and personalize them to our family and pick the photos we want to share, choosing photos that show each of our kids personalities.
So the next time you think that sending cards is a waste, maybe it isn't valued to some but there are people who truly appreciate the sentiment of a Christmas Card and this girl is one of them. If you happen to see this blogpost and made holiday cards with photos I took this year or in years past it would make my day to receive one in the mail:
Dana Marie Photography
9925 Stephen Decatur Highway E2
Ocean City, MD 21842
