Thoughts on Christmas Cards

Christmas cards? Bah humbug!

This year we had our first, and to date only, Christmas card in mid-November. It was from a friend who lives a few doors away and when I thanked him for it his response was along the lines of, ‘I just wanted to get them out of the way.’ Ours in response may be a little while yet as writing such cards is not one of my favourite tasks.

What we have noticed as the years go by is the reducing number of the cards we do get. When I was an active church minister we would get cards from pretty much every member of the congregation and from many of the local clergy in Churches Together. These days, with active church involvement a matter of history, most of the relatively few cards we do receive are from family and old friends, but as time goes by so the old friends get fewer in number and the address book gets thinner and thinner.

This sounds a touch depressing, though it isn’t meant to be. It is just how things are and the memories of good times with old friends happily stay with us.

David Parkin

As a young mum in the mid 60’s the excitement of receiving lots of Christmas cards was immense. I eagerly awaited the twice daily post when a flurry of white envelopes cascaded through the letterbox. There is nothing like the thrill of receiving a hand-written card or letter and mail addressed to me was rare.  An added bonus was when the card contained a note, an insight into what the last year had held for others.

I carefully displayed the cards on a string across the lounge wall. To begin with they were well spaced at equal intervals. As more arrived, they were pushed closer and closer until they had to be piggybacked, making sure the prettiest ones were most visible.

As Christmas drew nearer, the meagre gifts purchased with scarce funds had to be wrapped. I soon realised that I had forgotten to buy gift tags. I sorted through the string of cards selecting appropriately sized images that could be cut out in a neat circle, square or oblong. To and from was then written on the back and a tag sellotaped to each parcel. The butchered cards were returned to the string and placed so as to hide the gaping holes from view.

Carolyn Wheatley