christmas cards

If there’s one thing I miss about Christmas of old, it’s sending closest friends Christmas cards. For the longest time I’ve been wanting to but never got around to doing it. Hopefully this year could be it.

As a UCCP kid in Tago, I used to look forward to seeing beautiful Christmas cards arrive from USA even before the start of the Season of Advent. In sizes like bond papers folded in quarters and in halves, these “stateside” charmers came in good quality card stock and embossed with Yuletide images in colors that glowed and glittered, making them totally superior to those sold locally that came with dull images stamped on cheap paper.

But these cards were pre-owned.

And so I held a card in midnight blue with nothing but the golden silhouettes of three magi and their camels following a star distant and solitary. Velvety to the touch, the card was visually powerful it would transform me into one of my favorite Bible story characters: a shepherd awaiting the birth of the Messiah. But then I would flip the card and get teleported back to the present with these words: “To Scott” and “Mr. and Mrs. Leivobitz”.

Looking back, it seemed Americans were lazy to write words on the card other than their names and the recipient's. Or it could be that they knew these cards would find their way to Tago for reuse of Protestant families that they made sure not to do so much scribbling. Either way it was a good thing because all we had to do was cut strips of colored paper and superimposed them on “Scott” and “Mr. and Mrs. Leivobitz” before giving the cards to our elementary teachers and some really special friends.

While technology makes it easy for people to send e-cards now, there’s nothing like receiving something that you can read over and over again without having to push a button and click a mouse. For a tactile person like me, I need to touch and smell the card.

Being the world’s greatest procrastinator, I’m really hoping I could send beautiful cards with equally beautiful messages of gratitude and appreciation to special friends before 2011 bids adieu. And knowing I only have few special friends, that won’t be too hard to do. Still, wish me luck. And you don't have to be a special friend to do that.