Have yourself a very early Christmas

The first Christmas card entered the Fibro two weeks ago. Two. Weeks. Mr7 smuggled it home in his school bag, more interested in the lollipop that came with it than in the card itself. Until he realised that he had the first card. The only card. Which, as far as he's concerned, pretty much makes him the most popular member of the household.

He may have a point.

Personally, I think that the first week of November is a little early for Christmas cards. Mr7's card has hung, in splendid isolation, in the acreage of the living room venetian blind (see image), for nearly 14 days now. It looks very lonely. We have all fully appreciated it from every angle.

Longterm readers of this blog will know that I am a fan of the Christmas card. I like to send them. I like to receive them. I have already bought some splendid examples from Leaf Journals. But there's no way I'd send them before the first week of December. Maybe the second. And I don't tend to give them to people I see all the time. I don't do The Exchange.

What do you think? Can you peak too early with Christmas cards? When's the optimum time to send (and receive)? Oh, and where do you put yours?

Where do you stand on Christmas cards?

Yesterday I bought two packets of Christmas cards. Lovely, they are. Sweet illustrations, all decked out in silver glitter. Still blank. But I've made the first step.

I'm going to put myself out there and say that I love Christmas cards. I love sending them. I love receiving them. Writing them, I'm not so fond of, but I make time for it every year because it's sometimes the only hand-written note I send all year*. Thank you notes are also hand-written, but not all my friends get one of those every year. All my friends get a Christmas card.

I have one friend who told me that I am never allowed to stop sending cards. Mine is the only proper, actual, hand-written card that she gets. If I stop, the only cards she'll receive are from real estate agents and her bank. One year I toyed with leaving her off the list just to play with her mind, but I resisted. It didn't seem to be in the right spirit, you know?

It's true that I don't always receive cards from people I've sent them to. In fact, many people don't write back. It's also true that I receive cards from people whom I suspect would never have sent me one had I not sent one to them first.

I don't care.

I will continue to write and send my Christmas cards, ignoring the insta-pleasure of the email card, for as long as Australia Post is still around to provide a snail mail service. It's a big part of Christmas for me.

But I will never send a family Christmas letter. Sorry. If you want to know what's going on, you have to actually speak to me. Or read my blog. Which, come to think of it, is one big family Christmas letter.

What about you? Do you send Christmas cards? Do you love them? Hate them? Light your Christmas candles with them? And what's your position on the family Christmas letter?

*It is worth noting that my handwriting is so appalling that it is probably a good thing I only drag it out once a year. There are people all over the country puzzling over my Christmas cards, wondering who the hell they're from.

{image: oldsweetsong.com}