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In the Race
Now, here, you see, it takes all the blogging I can do to keep in the same place. If I want to get somewhere else, I must blog twice as fast as that! You see, I'm in the Red Queen's Race...
Christmas Story?
By Janet Evans
Thursday, Dec 13 2007, 05:05 PM
 Who hasn’t gotten one....
I’m talking about one of those Christmas “newsletters.”
You know, the one that comes tucked inside a Christmas card folded in quarters (or sometimes in a long red envelope all by itself). When I see that folded piece of holiday paper, I just cringe.
I think to myself, “Now, what wonderful, happy, exciting,
better-than-you-can-imagine news was this family fortunate enough to have for the past year?"
Some of the letters aren’t too bad. Others are just over-the–top. We get one each year from a distant relative who lives down-south. Their letter is actually a piece of Christmas comedy for me. They have the most picture perfect family, have traveled to the most exotic places; even bad health and illness sound like an adventure for them. I just roll my eyes at this letter. It’s like I don’t want to look at it, but I just have to....like a bad accident. One year it came with pictures of exotic animals all over it from their African safari.
In over 30 years this family has had the best of all possible fortune in their Christmas letters. They just plain flaunt it. When we get together with family at Christmas we say, “Did you read “the” letter?” And we just shake our heads in disbelief.
I’ve been tempted to write my own letter and send it out. My own dose of reality letter. Filled with the real life story of my year. All the boring, everyday c-r-a-p that goes on. The bad health, any sad times, money matters, the tax audit, how much I miss my kids, work is drag, etc., etc., etc. But I don’t. I figure “most” of the people I would send it to wouldn’t think of it as a joke, because in reality, most of us know our lives are not those picture perfect Christmas letters we receive.
I wonder why these people can’t just write a note in their cards though? Just a short one. Are their lives REALLY that perfect? Am I supposed to believe this “Christmas Story?” And what happened to calling people once in a while during the year? Or writing a “real” letter, handwritten, in your own penmanship sometime other than at Christmas?
So, I’ll open the Christmas letters, read them, and just continue to shake my head in disbelief. I guess if it makes the sender happy that's all that really matters. After all, it is the season of giving!
Merry Christmas!
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