It was really tough this year writing Christmas cards. I got really busy
\nas Christmas approached (who doesn’t?) and I was hard pressed to find time
\nto write cards.
\n
\nBut still, I did it. I resisted reading, shopping, sleeping – and managed
\nto get all my cards done. I almost ditched the effort. I almost gave in
\nto despair and blew it off.
\n
\nI’m glad I didn’t.
\n
\nI got a few Christmas cards this year. Most had pictures of family and
\ntheir kids, or just their kids. It’s great to see how the kids have grown.
\nInside, I found well wishes for good holiday cheer and a happy new year.
\n
\nI think it’s great that people find the time to send cards. It shows that
\nthey are thinking of you during the holiday season, a time when you’re
\nsupposed to think of others.
\n
\nHowever, ever since last year, I have taken a slightly different approach
\nto sending holiday cards than the sending of cards with only the holiday
\nwish in it. I chose to personalize each card with a special message to
\nthat person or family based on my relationship to them this last year.
\n
\nIf you try this, you’ll find your mailing list will lessen considerably as
\nmine did. Over these last two years, I’ve only managed to really keep in
\ntouch with a small close group of people. And I’m really thankful that I
\nwas able to do so, given all my personal upheavals, my travels, and my busy
\nschedule.
\n
\nAnd so to thank them, I have written a special, personalized message to
\nthem in each card and have found the time to do so. I thank them for our
\nrelationship and our continued friendship.
\n
\nUnfortunately, this method does leave out a whole bunch of people, like
\nextended family whom I unfortunately don’t keep in close touch with. And
\nthere are other friends whom I haven’t seen in a long while and they won’t
\nget a card from me either.
\n
\nPerhaps it is good to send a mass mailing to everyone, in that people whom
\nyou wouldn’t normally keep in touch with would also get to hear what you’re
\nup to.
\n
\nBut I chose to use my limited time to send a personalized message to those
\nwho took the time over this last year to interact with me. Somehow I just
\nfelt that this would be better and more full of value and care than if I
\nsent out a generically messaged card to everyone in my rolodex…?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was really tough this year writing Christmas cards. I got really busy as Christmas approached (who doesn’t?) and I was hard pressed to find time to write cards. But still, I did it. I resisted reading, shopping, sleeping – and managed to get all my cards done. I almost ditched the effort. I almost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dshen.com\/blogs\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dshen.com\/blogs\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dshen.com\/blogs\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dshen.com\/blogs\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dshen.com\/blogs\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dshen.com\/blogs\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dshen.com\/blogs\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dshen.com\/blogs\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dshen.com\/blogs\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}