TIME TO REMEMBER
It may be hard to think that we are just a couple of days away from Christmas while the sun is shining and it feels more like fall than winter. The last few nights have been really frosty and car windows need scraping but by mid morning the sun has been urging us to get outside and do something physical.
However, looking at the calendar a few weeks ago, tells us that Christmas was indeed almost upon us and it was time to knuckle down to writing cards to long distance friends. When we first came to Canada in 1974, I really enjoyed doing this and started my Christmas card list early, however, over the years it became less enjoyable and turned into a chore.
It seemed that Christmas correspondence had just turned into an inventory of what our children had achieved during the year, with similar reports coming from overseas. At that time I re-evaluated the importance of some of our acquaintances and decided to cut the list down to real friends, not just someone who had happened to live nearby.
Over the last few years I have sent and received many Christmas letters via the internet, this may seem a little impersonal but the time saving means that I can send a more interesting, heartfelt letter to everyone I really care about instead of trying to come up with clever, poorly written messages on a card that may or may not arrive at it’s destination. Friends who live alone always get a real, hand written card as I feel that it is important to make them feel loved, people who live in the heart of the family have lots of emotional support and I feel a letter, via computer, is sufficient.
If correspondence is becoming a chore then why do it? Christmas should promote good feelings and if writing is a chore, it does not do that. Does it really matter if a greeting arrives in the mailbox or in your lap-top, isn’t it enough to know you have indeed been remembered?
Whether you send your greetings by email or snail mail, I hope everyone you love has sent and received loving greetings.
A very Merry Christmas to all.