Christmas Cards

The December days could be cold and damp in rural Tennessee, and occasionally there would be snow.  The old farmhouse had drafty windows and doors and no heat outside the fireplace, so the rooms were also cold and drafty. Winter was for slowing down, quilting, telling stories in front of the fire, and planning for spring.  But, for a kid, stories were boring, and winters could be lonely, particularly when school was out for Christmas vacation.     

Christmas was not celebrated very much as there wasn’t money to spend on unnecessary things, and decorations and gifts were considered unnecessary.   We did have some old glass ornaments in the attic and a few strings of the big lights that were hot when you touched them.   Sometimes, an ornament got dropped and shattered into a million pieces.  That was disappointing because it was one less than what we had, and we couldn’t afford to replace it.  When I was old enough, I would take the axe upon the hill and cut a small cedar tree.  The tree was put in a bucket with some rocks and water, decorated, and put in its honorable place in a corner of the living room.   I loved the cedar odor, and it’s still my favorite tree.

The lack of celebration is why the Christmas cards were so special.  The mail carrier became the highlight of the day.  I would faithfully watch to see if he would stop at our mailbox and leave any mail.   I loved taking the cards out of the box, looking at the return address to see who the cards were from, and bringing them in for Grandmother to open.  Each card was more than just a greeting. It was a doorway to friends and family who lived away.  The cards brought news of their lives, good news/sometimes bad news, and occasionally a picture.  My grandmother kept all the cards, and we would take them out from time to time from their special location in a drawer and reread each one.  It was as if we could find some different piece of news if we read them over and over.  We didn’t generally hear from the family at other times of the year, but every December, we could count on getting a card.

I still send Christmas cards, and I look forward to getting the mail.  I’m not into e-cards, and I don’t consider a Facebook post an actual greeting.  There’s something about thinking of the person, writing a note, addressing the envelope, and putting it in the mail that brings back fond memories. 

This year, after rereading my cards, I decided to use them to make my own.  It was a way of sharing the love from friends and family and passing the love on across the miles to someone else.  I’m still working on them, but it is giving me a feeling of joy to bring back a tradition that, as a little girl, was a big part of my Christmas celebration.

I hope that whatever you do for your Christmas tradition also brings you joy and allows you to pause for a moment and think of those in your life that you’d like to hear from or who would like to hear from you.

Blessings to you and yours.