Christmas Cards

Christmas cards- yeah, I know. A lot of people love them, a lot of people hate them. They're "just another thing on the to-do list," a "waste of money," a "keeping up with the whoever's"....
But, I don't just sign "Merry Christmas from the Thomases" or some such thing. I try to jot a note to make it personal to each person. My kids hate when it's Christmas card time because I pass the cards around and make them sign all of them. When they were little, even when their "signature" was just a scribble, I made them do it. Only then it wasn't a chore for them, more for me who had to start way early to get them all done. You know little kids can't do 30 in a night. :) Now, though, it's a "tradition" with me that we all sign our own names.

This year, I have been making our Christmas cards; they're not much, but I have had fun doing a few here and there, fitting a few in before bed or between errands and school work and running kids around.

I stayed up WAY TOO LATE last night making the last batch of cards since it is the 20th and probably too late to be mailing them now, but there are a lot of people I wanted to send them too and just didn't get time to make a card for. So now I'm trying to get it all done and in the mail before it is really too late. I mean a Christmas card in March might be considered odd. :) I guess I could have just gone out and bought some, but I wanted to do these home-made ones for some weird reason.

As I sit here, it starts to make me a little sad, missing all these people I'm trying to jot notes to, to tell about the kids and all the things in our family's life since I last saw these people (most two years or more ago).... But then it hits me--- Silly, Rebekah, instead of being sad because you miss these people, you should be happy that you have had so many people come into your life and bless it. I have all these people I can call my friends. So many, in fact, that I have to stay up late to be able to make all the cards for them and have to write until my hand aches to tell them all that I love them and think of them and remember them and miss them.

That's really a blessing!!!! I could have just one or two people in my life to send a card to, or I could have nobody to care for or who cared for me. Instead my life has been filled with lots of people that I care about. How blessed I am! So, I am not going to be sad, but I am thankful for all the "old" friends I have worked with who still remember me and send me a card at Christmas or a note to tell me about their lives. It means I am still remembered, and even after a couple years have passed, they still love me and miss me and think of me too. I am thankful for my "old" friends that I got together with to talk about work, children, women stuff, and mostly laugh with. I am thankful for family that I adore and who love me and for all the shared history we have- good and bad.

Yeah, I am blessed to be able to remember so many people that I care about and that I have been important to at some point. Thanks, God, for letting me have so many Christmas cards to make that I have to stay up late to get them all done. :) That's cool!