Christmas Recycling

I bet you thought you would read this post and discover all kinds of ways to be earth-friendly this holiday season. Not really.

This here is pretty much a recycling of a post from last year. I had a post-Christmas rant and I'm going to rehash it here. It will probably upset some people. Not too many I hope. More than anything, it is meant to be humorous, not hurtful.

Christmas cards. Or for many people, Holiday cards. Winter cards. Whatever. Is anyone offended yet?

I like to get them. I'm always excited when the first one arrives, even though that is usually from our realtor (who sold us our house 11 years ago), and comes with a small calendar. Regardless, this card is usually attractive.

Here's the thing about Christmas cards . . . . .

they are supposed to be beautiful. They should have glitter, elves, candy canes, santas, stars, engraving, three French hens, bells, stripes, swirls, ornaments (or be an ornament themselves), reindeer, flocking, dribbles and drips (if the kids have made them), silver and gold, wise men, sparkles, etc., although not all at once. I want to admire it. I want to say, "ooohhhhh". I want to put it in the front of my Christmas card basket until another beautiful card comes along.

Tomorrow my husband and I are taking the day off and are going out for lunch and boutique shopping in downtown State College. It's gonna be cold. We're gonna freeze parts off. And we're gonna have a darn good time. We are going to buy Christmas cards. I do believe they are going to be just lovely and the recipients will say "ooohhhh." And just to make the card a little bit better, we will tuck a photograph of our daughter inside. INSIDE.

Here's the hurtful part. For those who are going to send us a card, we most definitely want a photo of your children, dog, or the whole gang. If we know you well enough, we will probably take this photo and stick it to our fridge until next Christmas. If we really like you and the photo is exceptional, we will frame it. But if you could make this easy for us by slipping the photo INSIDE the card, we would appreciate it.

I know your family is beautiful. That's why your lovely faces will gaze at us from the fridge.

Just don't make the photo the card itself. If you like us as much as we like you, we really want you to send us a lovely Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, etc. card. With a handful of the lovely items mentioned above on the front. It's the gift that keeps on giving. A card of great beauty AND a separate photo of your smiling cherubs.

And if that card is lovely enough, I will do my earth-friendly part and recycle it, perhaps make a beautiful gift tag from it.