It’s the time of year for harmony and happiness, guilt and gluttony, sharing, caring and unfortunately for some, loneliness.
The holiday season stirs quite a bit of emotion on many fronts – sometimes positive, other times not so much – but the intention typically is one of love and elevating spirits to happiness and glee. Depending on your religious beliefs, the meaning goes even further, but often the little things can cause us to stumble up this time of year:
Should we go to my husband’s or my relatives for the holidays?
What holiday greeting should I use for friends with different religions?
Is it bad to shower my kids with gifts?
Okay, okay, so those items are not so little, but one that seems to plague so many is the annual ritual of sending holiday cards. As of December 21st, I had completed all of my cards weeks prior. Priding myself on writing something inside each one, and even hand addressing all the envelopes, I began right before Thanksgiving and finished in just a few days. So can someone tell me why they still sit, neatly arranged in a basket by the front door? Four days until Christmas (the holiday I observe), and still I haven’t purchased stamps to mail my precious, yearly reach-out to family and friends.
A friend of mine – a busy executive with a husband and a household bustling with two young children – is riddled with shame each time she receives a holiday card in the mailbox. For, instead of the intended uplifting, she feels a tug of embarrassment having not sent cards of her own. Others advise: “All the cool kids are sending New Year’s cards,” “Send an e-card,” “Use a photo of the kids, it requires no writing,” and “Send them now, it’s not too late.”
I agree with the last piece of advice – Send them now. Or send a brief letter to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new. I know for myself, it’s just the fact of receiving that correspondence from an old friend, something tangible I can read, hold, display on my mantle — a remembrance that you’re thought of and cared for. Personally, I prefer when someone writes a little something so I know it isn’t just happenstance that I made the computer-generated list with pre-fab labels and digitally printed generic sentiments, but given the choice between that and nothing? I’d rather get something. I love seeing how friends’ kids have grown or the holiday letter bragging of achievements and highlights. It’s nice to know what’s going on in others’ lives when busy schedules sometimes make it tough to stay in touch.
Some may bristle at late card and tardy sentiments, but you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing your intention of spreading love for the holiday is usually met with open arms, even if it elicits a “Bah Humbug!” or two. Doing our little part to lessen the sense of loneliness that some may feel this time of year, one card at a time, we each can lift a heart. Speaking of which, I’m off to buy stamps…
Doni Luckutt is a lifestyle expert who believes by enhancing interpersonal connection, we can stop simply living, and become Simply Alive! If you have a suggestion on what brings you to life, connect with her on Twitter @SimplyAlive, via email Doni@SimplyAliveWorld.com or on her blog: www.SimplyAliveWorld.com/Blog.
