Christmas Cards

There is a box in the newsroom right now with about 50 Christmas cards in it. Which means of course that again this year the cards are going out late again! So some friends, acquaintances or sources will be ripping open envelopes after the first of the year and saying, "What gives?."

I wish I knew the answer. You know the famous quote from Ben Franklin, "Nothing is certain but death and taxes." With Mike Walter there are two certainties he forgot.

1. Getting a late start on sending out the Christmas cards.

2. Getting a late start gathering the tax documents.

Both happen right about the same time of year. After Christmas I vow never to let it happen again.

With the help of my wonderful wife Kate we've come up with a system. I write the yearly note on what's happened to us. That way relatives and friends spread throughout the land can get an update. Kate then comes in and re-works it, and adds all the bells and whistles. We've got all the addresses in our computer so that we can print up labels. So when we actually attack it we are pretty effective.

I like doing the cards because it shows you how things change in a years time. You have to assess your life in the last year and distill what's important into a page. So every year we add a new page to the history of our family. It's also interesting because you learn about the history of the people you are writing.

I learned that as Kate was pasting the stamps on the cards I had labeled .

"What are you doing, they're divorced!"

"You're kidding me, when did that happen."

"A while ago."

A while ago didn't seem possible. It didn't seem that long ago that we made the trek to the beach to watch the nuptials. The bride looked resplendent in her white dress. Okay she didn't, I mean who really ever looks resplendent? But you are supposed to say that aren't you.?

Everyone seemed so happy. The women standing in the sand dabbing tears as they slowly rolled down their cheeks. I've never quite understood that. Is it that they are reliving that special moment when they were married? Are the tears because it's just so romantic? Or are they crying because they know the secret? They know the groom may look so dashing right now, but before long he'll be fat, lazy and drinking a beer oblivious to anything as he watches the Sunday football games. Of course that's the shocking thing about this marriage, it was over even before the husband could become the fat guy on the sofa.

I asked the question that seemed like a natural.

"So which one do we send the card to?"

"Let's just skip them this year."

Good! It's one less person opening a late Christmas card in early 2008 and saying.

"Guess what honey their card is late again this year!"