Lyrics: When you’re down and troubled and you need a helping hand/and nothing, whoa, nothing is going right/ Close your eyes and think of me and soon I will be there…
I love getting mail, real mail from friends and family delivered by a real person. Our mailman, Jim, carries doggie treats in a separate pouch in the mail bag and Poppins could spot him blocks away. Jim even stopped the mail truck one time to give Poppins her treat. He misses her too.
Aside from special occasions, the only thing found in the mailbox most days are bills and requests for donations from charitable organizations. I do what I can. I want to save the children, the veterans, wolves, polar bears, all wildlife and the environment they (and we) live in, and I want everyone to have turkey on Thanksgiving and presents on Christmas.
Along with the requests for money and more money, every organization is sending Christmas address labels intended for Christmas cards. Someone should alert these organizations that few and fewer people these days are sending out Christmas cards using, instead, the social media to convey holiday wishes. Many people can’t afford the cost of postage and some have decided it’s not worth the time and money.
I love getting Christmas cards especially those with notes and photos. I don’t care if they are bragging about their kids/grandkids, or go on at length about their trip on yaks to Outer Mongolia. I once received a four page Christmas letter that covered a myriad of books the sender had read that year. I have a friend who lives across the country and sends out a newsletter with news and pictures of family usually after the holidays. What a treat. When my mom got to the point where she couldn’t write her annual notes, we put heads together and I wrote her news and printed her letter. All she had to do was sign her name. Her baby sister, now in her 90’s, is facing the same challenge.
Christmas cards may be an artifact of the 20th century, slowly burning out in the 21st. I’m sorry to see it go. Christmas cards offered connection in relationships, helped to bring closure to the year just lived and the anticipation of something personal to be held in your hands and enjoyed. The Rose Man never wrote on a Christmas cards but he was the first one to the mailbox.
Lyrics: Close your eyes and think of me and soon I will be there/ to brighten up even your darkest nights. Ain’t it good to know you’ve got a friend. JAMES TAYLOR
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