'Tis The Holiday Card Season

(750 words)

One of my favorite things to do over the Holiday Season is to check the mail for new holiday cards that have arrived, sit down in front of our Christmas tree, and enjoy reading the family updates and seeing the pictures. Then the cards (and letters) are put in a basket on a coffee table in our living room. It is a simple pleasure that never gets old, and for me it is a tradition that has profound meaning.

My parents sent and received Christmas cards every year and my wife’s parents did the same. So when Christmas rolled around during our first year of marriage, we decided to send cards too. We probably sent out about 25 cards or so that first year and the number has grown since then. We’ve been sending/receiving cards for 53 years. People drop off the list for various reasons and new people come on the list. This is the natural ebb and flow of living a long life while trying to stay connected as best we can.

The basket of holiday cards is not just any old basket; it holds the updates and pictures of our most cherished family and friends over a lifetime. I’m sure millions of people across America have a similar basket in their homes. It’s hard to put a value on the collection of Holiday greetings and well wishes that arrive year after year. The fact is, the memories and the love of these forever relationships are what is most important in life and that truth becomes clearer as each year goes by.

You might think of the basket of Holiday cards as a kind of time machine whose clock “ticks” once a year every December. Each family card in the collection triggers warm memories of good times shared back in the day, what is happening today, and maybe some thoughts for the future.

The nearly 300 families and friends we send a card to each holiday season is basically our “village” of people we try our best to stay connected with. I appreciate that maybe Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, et al, are on a path to obsoleting the old-school “card in the mail.” So be it, but until then we’ll continue to enjoy leaving the card basket on the coffee table in the living room all year, available to anyone who wants to browse. When our kids and grandkids visit, they always go to the basket and enjoy seeing the cards and pictures which inspire them to retell some favorite stories. When the next Holiday Season rolls around and we start receiving new cards, we toss the old cards in our recycle box and the ebb and flow of card sending/receiving begins anew, and the time machine “clicks” one more time.

The narratives and pictures of our “village” tell a story that has chronicled each family’s history and the social evolution we have experienced across America. Our country has grown more diverse (and the richer for it) by the continued integration of immigrants from all over the world and the growing acceptance of the LGBTQ community. Our village is a hopeful reflection of who America is today. Each time we see a holiday card from a young couple who just got married that joins different racial or ethnic or religious lines, we know a new story has been created and woven into the immense tapestry that is the American melting pot.

Each year we see more same-sex couples who are marrying and raising a family in a responsible and loving way. And we see families supporting and raising transgender kids. You can see the pride in the pictures of these families who by their strength and courage make it possible for their kids to thrive and be happy and find their place in today’s American milieu. I am humbled and inspired by families whose resilience, courage and love sustains and drives them to do everything in their power to hold a family together and move forward in a happy and healthy way.

In a fractured world that is challenged by potential existential threats and change that accelerates every day, the old-school tradition of sending/receiving Holiday cards heals the fracture and slows things down if only for a month or two. It’s an opportunity to say to each other, “I hear you, I see you, I love you, let’s all live together in peace.“

Not a bad way to hang on to our humanity, one card at a time.