A Lost Art

Vintage Christmas Card

How many Christmas cards did you get last year? Not too many, huh? Yeah…me either. Maybe it’s because I lived on the road for a couple of years. Maybe it’s because Mr. Virgo died. Maybe it’s because the “old guard”…the older generations…are passing on. Maybe it’s because I stopped sending them. Whatever the reason, the giving and receiving of Christmas Cards seems to have fallen to the wayside with the likes of the “Thank You Note” and the “Handwritten Letter”.

I remember it being such an honor for Mom to let me open a Christmas Card when it arrived. I slowly opened each envelope, being careful not to rip the return address. We ooohed and ahhhed over the picture on the cover marveling over the glitter or the crystals of “snow”. We read every word. We pored over the newsy letter that was enclosed in the cards of those who lived far away. These weren’t “brag letters”. These were informative bringing us up to date with the news of the year because phone calls were expensive and this may be the only way to catch up.

My mom knew a man named Mr. Pancake. Really…that was his last name. One year, he had Christmas Cards made. They were cutouts of a pancake with a smiley face on it. Inside, it said “Merry Christmas from the Pancake House.” We kept that card forever. I think it was still in Mom’s treasures when she died. I don’t know if I kept it or not. That was my most memorable card.

I love the photo cards that you can look back on and see how children have grown and the older folks have aged. I even love the “brag letters”. Getting a piece of mail that isn’t a bill or an advertisement is such a joy that I don’t care what’s in it or on it. I just appreciate the thought.

I was shopping the other day and came across the Christmas Card display. I browsed through them, smiling over Santas and Snowmen and Reindeer. My heart warmed at the Nativities and The Wisemen and Angels. My fingers and hands were sparkling with glitter when I chose a small box and took it to the register. When Mr. Fixit got home from Florida, I showed him my prize. He smiled and took my hand and gave it a squeeze. “I’ll get my address book.” he said. I smiled back and said, “I’ll get mine.”

Next, we’ll make one that is “ours”. ❤️

“You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭3:2-3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

 

10 thoughts on “A Lost Art

  1. I love Christmas cards and still send them. My list seems to get shorter every year though. An email or text isn’t the same as being able to display , hold, and re read them even a year later.

  2. Yep, I still send cards but my list gets shorter & shorter. I’ve always sent cards to all the older folks but most have passed on….I’m the old folks now. The younger generation 30’s-40’s don’t bother sending cards or doing much of anything except staying glued to their phones. Sad!

  3. So true! I have just finished making 80 cards! Maybe that is enough! Still send to several old friends…the only communication we have which each other all year! Look forward to the letters! Have received one with a collage of pictures from summer weddings of gr children. Mine will be abbreviated this year…just a few facts. Oh well, have to get busy on that I guess! Just the truth that’s all!

  4. I still send out a dozen or so cards. Used to send a lot more, but sadly as time goes by, people have passed on or stop sending one back. Often wonder have they gone on too? Or have they just decided in this day of computers and E-Mails to just stop sending them? It is a tradition that I sorely miss, as I too am now in that older category and miss the beautiful cards, and newsy letters often received that once a year.

  5. Email and texts will never have the weight of value that hand written letters and cards have. It’s unfortunate that along with the demise of teaching cursive in many schools, writing in general is not emphasized or taught. I doubt very much that children are taught, as I was, how to write a letter properly. It’s very sad. We are losing so much, and they won’t even know what they don’t have.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *