Christmas Cards

My Christmas card a few years ago when my fur baby Bogart 
was still alive.

I grew up with many old-world traditions, some fun, some different, none of which included the lovely gift of card writing at Christmas time. 

In my adopted country, I learned to love the simple gesture of sending a card during Christmas, to remind friends and relatives that they matter to us, that we are family, perhaps through friendship or through acquaintance. 

Sir Henry Cole, the founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, is credited with the invention of the first Christmas card in 1843. With the help of the Penny Post, everybody could afford to send greetings to loved ones.

In 1875, Luis Prang made the first American Christmas card in his Boston print shop. Today Americans send 1.6 billion cards annually and who knows how many electronic animated cards. I get at least a couple every year and they are delightful.

As a writer, it gives me joy to send cards, to remind in writing to the few left in my family that we all matter to each other, and celebrations like Christmas are not just to decorate a tree, have a party, get an ugly sweater, be ”merry” and drink, eat a lot of special foods that moms, sisters, aunts, grandmas have prepared with love, but to let one another remember that we matter, that we live, and that we still exist in this world that nobody truly understands and appreciates.

My mom left this world six months ago. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about all the wonderful people, things and memories she created on this earth and left behind. It would take another lifetime to remember them all.

As I get older, I have fewer and fewer relatives and friends left, and this year, so far, I got four cards, but I am happy that those four are alive and doing well.

Merry Christmas and Healthy New Year 2023!