I Want Real Paper Christmas Cards

I want REAL Christmas cards. I want REAL Christmas cards made from paper with stamps in paper envelopes in my real mailbox beside a real road. And it doesn’t matter whether you paid 50 cents or $5 for the card - or even if you made it on your computer. I just want real Christmas cards.

I received only four real Christmas cards last year in real paper envelopes with real stamps in my real mailbox beside a real road - not on the internet superhighway! And I still have those four Christmas cards.

Tragically, emails and technology have taken over the personal meaning of sending paper Christmas cards. On yes, I enjoy those singing, dancing, live action figures of pigs and cows singing “Silent Night” and “Grandma got run over by Reindeer” but you know what? As soon as I read them, I look for my delete key and BINGO-they are gone into computer heaven (or hell).

But overall, I can only say to this new technology -BAH HUMBUG!
Why the big deal? When I was a kid, Christmas cards did not just contain holiday wishes, they became part of our Christmas decorations. Cards were gifts themselves, to be saved, cherished, and displayed throughout our little mill village home in Five Points. We taped them into wreaths and trees on our doors and kitchen cabinets. And when we made what mom called the Holy Tree on the living room wall, there was always a card with the star of Bethlehem placed reverently at the top and the cards with the Wise Men right below, in worshipful submission. Special cards, however, were never mutilated with tape or stick pins.

At our house, there was a difference between the regular Christmas cards and the Special Cards. These special cards were not just the pretty ones, or the expensive ones, or the newest ones. These special cards came from special people in our lives; they bore the scribbled handwriting of Uncle Gene’s rough hands after years of laying asphalt, of Aunt Lizzy’s 80 year old arthritic hands, of cousins who lived in Arkansas and Texas. These were the special cards from special people, still living and passed away. These special cards were displayed free standing on the mantle among the cut cedar branches, or around the Nativity Scene, or on top of the television, and even in our bedrooms on night tables.

And as we unboxed these special Christmas cards every year, we studied each one, reflecting on each one, and when someone would say: “Hey, do you remember when Grandma….” Or “I sure wish mom and dad were here to see you kids? My sister Carol would say, “I forgot I remembered that!” Then someone would put a pot of coffee on the stove .

After Christmas, these special cards weren’t deleted like email messages, but reverently placed in storage in a box, in a drawer, with other special birthday, anniversary, and valentine cards from years past…saved for a special rainy day’s perusal.

There is also something else special about real Christmas cards. When I receive a card from my 80 year old cousin Ken Boone, I know he has personally held that card, sending me his own personal warmth, reminding me to visit soon. I also know that he faced the cold weather to put it in his mailbox and lift the flag. Now that requires effort and love.

Maybe, someday, after I’ve gone to meet the Big Santa in the sky, someone will be looking at a Christmas card they received from me. And maybe they will put a pot of coffee on the stove and reflect fondly on our times together.