From Where I Sit

By Pat Spilseth, Columnist

Each year I look forward to reading Christmas cards that friends from all over the country send telling about their families and activities of the past year. It’s a great catcher-upper with folks I have no regular news from. If I get a card with only a signature, I’m so disappointed. I’m a news junkie.

If you’re on our list of holiday greetings, know that though I may not communicate often, you do mean alot to me. I don’t want to lose track of you and what’s going on in your life. I still communicate with my first grade teacher,  friends who read my weekly column whom I’ve never met in person, college and high school friends and former business associates. Dave is wonderful about taking the responsibility of writing our Christmas letter and takes a family photo: our list of folks we send to has grown to over 150.

When cards arrive right after Thanksgiving, I applaud their timing and spend more time on their news. The closer the holiday comes, the cards increase in frequency. Photos go up on the reindeer wall sculpture which holds at least 40 family photos; greeting cards go in a wicker basket under the reindeer to be read more carefully after the holiday’s frantic schedule. The hand painted cards often are put in picture frames to go on the wall or in the book cases. These hand made greeting cards are especially special.

We have several friends who send a photo and note after the holiday; we count on at least one pal who sends their card on Valentine’s Day. What a treat that is! There’s lots more time to savor the words and photos during the long winter months. I save the cards for several months to reread and enjoy.

Last week’s Sunday paper had a column on holiday greeting cards by Laura Yuen. Her card history details are as follows: “Did Henry Coe a British civil servant, have any idea what he started when he invented the first commercial Christmas card in 1843? Cursed with too many friends and too little time to write each a lengthy personal letter, he commissioned an artist friend to instead design a card for him to mail. In the Victorian era, it cost just a penny to post a card. Now a U.S. Forever stamp costs 60 cents, and popular custom family photo can easily sell for $2 a pop. Hanukkah, New Year’s, Kwanzaa and Lunar New Year are all reasons now to send old-fashioned warm wishes through the mail.”

I love getting news from friends that they’ve had a family wedding or new baby, traveled to some new destination, kids graduated, got a job, etc. This season we’ve learned that two friends who have found love with high school friends at a reunion. We’re thrilled! Perhaps it’s my age as a senior citizen that several of this year’s greeting cards told me of a cousin’s and a college friend’s death. Sad though the news is, I’m grateful to know that news. When an expected card doesn’t arrive, I wonder what happened…was there a death or some other tragedy that caused the card’s absence? When the news is sent, it’s time to send another card with good wishes.

Happy, healthy Holiday wishes to all readers of “From Where I Sit” from my family to yours.

   

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To contact Pat, email: pat.spilseth@gmail.com.