December 13, 2009 | about me
I have written no Christmas cards. None.
And this probably makes me a bad person, or maybe it just makes me a person who has had a toddler with an on-and-off fever since Monday, and so has barely left the house and therefore hasn’t bought any cards yet. I’ve only bought one gift, too. So I’m just generally crap, and I should at least be shopping online or making handmade cards or something instead of doing stupid things like voicing my opinion about the Harlequin Presents writing contest (which several writing friends and visitors to this blog have entered, and to whom I say: Hurrah, You Rule!).
But I’m not. I’m carrying on as if Christmas weren’t coming like an inevitable juggernaut flattening all in its path, and as if in fact Chanukah weren’t here already, which it is (Happy Chanukah!!). But I do have to say, in my defense, that at least I’m not like the couple I saw whilst waiting for a delayed train yesterday. They were both in perfect clothes, with perfect hair, and they were sitting at a table in the cafe part of the indoor waiting area. He had a stack of written cards in front of him, applying stamps. She had a plastic folder full of cards, and a printed-out list of names and addresses. They were going through the list with ruthless precision, discussing each person and debating which card they should send for each—the large-ish, more pricey card in the white envelope, or the smaller charity card in the purple envelope. I’m not quite sure what the criteria were for choosing the cards, especially as I could see that the woman was writing exactly the same message on every single one, and signing for her partner, who was sitting right across from her. Then she passed it to him, and he stamped it and put it on the pile.
It was just about the most joyless operation I’d seen in a while.
So I haven’t done my Christmas cards yet, nor my shopping, but I am telling you this—when I do get a chance to do them, I will damn well do them with JOY!
EDIT: I’ve now bought my Christmas cards. And I had a really nice time doing it—browsing, selecting, getting little gifts while I was at it, chatting with the lady in the shop. I meant to write them out tonight. But I’m so tired after being woken up every three hours last night by feverish Fecklet that I’m going straight to bed.
Maybe I’ll rediscover my joy tomorrow…
Xuxana says:
Wow, how absolutely anal retentive of that couple.
Funny, there was a couple like that at the grocery store yesterday. They rammed themselves up against the xmas cards shelf (isle 10), and I couldn’t even squeeze my pinky in to quickly grab a £1 box of cheapo cards on the fly. Don’t they know mum’s are always in a hurry?!
Anonymous says:
Joy is not in the christmas card operation you saw
Joy is not in the personal vitriol and spite directed at people on the I heart Presents blog – that is just petty and mean. I’ve posted my own response on my own blog. The I heart blog has just got too poisonous and too petty and point scoring for me to even want to be there.
Joy was seeing you and the on-off-fever toddler in my not at all tidy, not at all tidy home last weekend and none of us caring, all of us loving it.
Happy Chanukah! Happy Christmas – Happy whatever my dear. The joy is in knowing people like you. And who the hell neeeds a perfect card for that? I don’t
Love
Kate
Kristen says:
I have to be honest and say that there’s no joy for me in addressing, sealing, and stamping cards. That’s just all necessary. The joy for me is in the writing of the generic Christmas letter (mine is all sarcastic and fun rather than a standard brag and gag). So if I want to write it and enjoy the reactions I get, I have to do the tedious stuff. Oh, and I decide which card goes to which person based on which holiday they celebrate since I’m such a cosmopolitan and wordly soul with varied and various friends. Bwahahaha!
P.S. I don’t think it was creepy that you were hanging around waiting to see what I thought of your book at all. I probably still won’t read any comics since the one time I tried it made me cross-eyed with frustration but I’m just as happy to understand my husband and oldest son’s obsession that little bit better.
Lacey Devlin says:
I don’t send Christmas cards anymore :O Come over to the dark side Julie!
Jan Jones says:
(((hugs))) for the Fecklet. And more ((((hugs)))) for you.
There are still days and days to to until Christmas. All will be well.
Lorraine says:
Hi Julie. I haven’t written a single Christmas card either. Jan’s right, there are days and days to go…Or, if not there are always e-christmas cards, it’s not really cheating, it’s saving the planet or something. Except you have to use your computer to do it.
P.S. I think the rambling must be catching
Julie says:
Xuxana, I hope you showed the true spirit of Christmas and elbowed those rude people out of the way!!
Julie says:
We did indeed love being in your home with you, Kate. What a wonderful, generous weekend it was and I’m glad we fitted it in before the virus really struck! (And I thought your home was perfectly tidy)
Julie says:
Kristen, I love Christmas letters. I wish I were together enough to write one.
Thank you for stopping by (and letting me know I’m not unduly creepy). I’ve really enjoyed your blog and have taken some book recommendations from it.
Julie says:
Lacey…I may end up on the dark side, perforce!!
Jan…there are days and days but we take off for the States very soon. So only a couple of days left really. Oh well…who can be superwoman, huh? (Er…most everyone other than me, it seems!)
Lorraine…I like the idea of saving the planet. Yeah, that’s what I’m doing. Yup, definitely.
Kate Johnson says:
I reduced my Christmas card list last year by at least half. I cut out all the people who hadn’t sent me cards for years, or who hadn’t replied to my request for an updated address. Nuts to ‘em! My UK ones are usually fairly timely, but this is mostly because I panic about getting my overseas ones done in time (usually, I don’t!).
Happy Chanuka-stmas!