O Christmas Card, O Christmas Card

O CHRISTMAS CARD (sung to the tune of O CHRISTMAS TREE with apologies to whoever wrote the original)

O CHRISTMAS CARD, O CHRISTMAS CARD
SENDING YOU IS JUST SO HARD
GOT YOU ON SALE WAY BACK IN MAY
BUT I’M A SLUG SO HERE YOU STAY
O CHRISTMAS CARD, O CHRISTMAS CARD
SENDING YOU IS JUST SO HARD

I do love Christmas cards. Going to the mailbox from Thanksgiving through the end of the Christmas season is a joy. It’s the one time of the year I know I’ll get something other than bills or junk mail. Sort of reminds me of the days before texting, which is still the quickest way to be ignored or rejected. Receiving a letter is special. There’s the mystery of what information it might contain and who sent it.  I still marvel at the idea that for just a few cents, you can hand someone the letter and they’ll take it to the recipient. It’s Uber for information.

O CHRISTMAS CARD, O CHRISTMAS CARD
I’M JUST A BIG OLE TUB OF LARD
I’LL SEND YOU OUT FOR ALL TO SEE
BUT FIRST I THINK I’LL WATCH TV
O CHRISTMAS CARD, O CHRISTMAS CARD
JUST HOW WORTHLESS CAN I BE?

The thing about sending Christmas cards is just that: you have to send them. Otherwise, you’ve purchased a lovely box of stationary that is only useful during one specific time of the year. It’s like clipping your toenails. You need to do it, but wouldn’t you rather watch “White Christmas” again? After all, you might have missed something the first million times you saw it.  Bring back thoroughness, I say.

Christmas cards are really just reverse thank-you notes. You send them to people because you think they’ll send one to you and you don’t want to seem impolite. At least with a thank-you note, you know why you’re obligated to send one. With Christmas cards, it’s a gamble. Not receiving one from the people to whom you sent one is unrequited  guilt.

O CHRISTMAS CARD, O CHRISTMAS CARD
I WOULD RATHER DECK THE YARD
I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO YOU SEE
I’LL JUST WAIT ‘TIL EPIPHANY
O CHRISTMAS CARD, O CHRISTMAS CARD
I WOULD RATHER DECK THE YARD

Eventually the cards do get sent. Eventually. One year we didn’t get them in the mail until after Christmas. The way I figure it, that’s just fine and endorsed by the church…well sort of.  Many Christians (my family included) observe the four Sundays prior to Christmas as the season of Advent. It’s a time of waiting. Christmas is the season that follows, beginning on December 25th and running for twelve days. Hence the Twelve Days of Christmas. (And you thought that carol was just something kids sang on long bus trips before “100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” was written.)

The twelfth day is Epiphany, also known as “Little Christmas”. It’s a day for celebrating the arrival of the wise men. So sending Christmas cards that arrive by January 6th is theologically sound. At least that’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it.

The way things are going lately, the Christmas cards may not even get sent by then. That’s cool, too. After all, don’t most people say they wish it could be Christmas every day? Elvis did and that’s good enough for me.  Just think, procrastination could make that wish come true.

My mother was much better about getting the Yuletide cheer in the mail. She started in summer. That’s usually when she would pen the poem for the card. Yes, she made her own. She had them printed on cream-colored stock. The front would have a small star sticker like the ones I would have gotten on my report card in kindergarten had I behaved at nap time. How can you sleep in the middle of the day when there’s a perfectly good playground outside the window?

The poem appeared on the inside of the card. Opposite the verse she would often write a brief, personalized note to the recipient. I saved every one and I’ve discovered that many of those who got them did the same thing.

We’ve tried to revive the tradition but some years our schedules get in the way.  I don’t write the verse. I still leave that to Mom. Even though she’s gone, she left plenty of poetry behind. Sometimes we’ll pick out a new verse. Other times we'll reproduce one of her original cards. We still use the star stickers.

My mother passed away in 2003, but if she were here today, this is what she would say.

We run out of words
     trying to express
What came to pass
    in the birth
    of a child
When there is only need
    to rejoice
    in the wonder
    of His birth
And rebirth of hope
    in our heart.

Emmanuel, Emmanuel
He is come to be with us

       Betty Maine

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!