Card stock

Due to sickness, work and general laziness, I've not gotten around to addressing Christmas cards until today.  As usual, I ordered my cards and stamps in late October, but I knew finding addresses would be a chore: I've finally decided to change platforms for my contacts list from Apple's MobileMe application (to which I had just about - but not quite - finished loading all my contacts) to gmail, which already had a partial list.

When I went to find last year's cards (I keep the unused cards, cards I've received for the year and the prior years' cards sent list together until I send out the next year's cards), I discovered I had been extraordinarily efficient the year before, as every leftover card from the last three years had both my signature golden angel stamp and a clear return address label already attached.

Hmm.  I hadn't planned on this being a year to use leftovers, as I didn't think I had enough.  But if all works out, the return address sticker on those cards will be out of date by next Christmas.  I didn't really want to throw out thirty plus cards. so...this is now a leftover card year.

Gosh, that sounds odd.  I really spend time looking for cards I like each year, and it makes sense to use the store of extra cards that accumulate over the years - it is not that my friends and family aren't deserving of new cards.

I'm digging myself deeper here, aren't I?

Anyway, I headed off to Panera with plans to update gmail's contacts and write out the cards, mailing them on the way home.

The cards ran out as of the letter "N"; I only brought the extras with me, so the rest will have to wait until I get home and break out the new ones.  And take stock of the stamp situation...I don't have enough Christmas stamps for the dozen or so cards that are left to write, but do have other stamps.

In spite of all the delays and oddities of this year, I do enjoy sending Christmas cards.  It's a reminder to pray for people I don't necessarily see very often - the cousin with cancer, the friend forging a new career path, the couple who have moved far away from family.  Not many people send snail mail anymore; sometimes, it's really nice to know someone took the time to actually address, stamp and mail something tangible.


(Totally unrelated - I'm looking out the window at a Porsche Boxster (ragtop, and a fairly recent model year) that just pulled into a space here at Panera.  We got three inches of snow overnight, and the roads are covered with slush and salt.  Is this guy (it has to be a guy) nuts?)