Thoughts on Christmas Cards

Family and Friends -- I am calling you out!!

So here's my thoughts about Christmas Cards....

[Begin Rant]

Back in the "old days" when my mother sent Christmas cards, it was a simple greeting card, signed by my mom, on behalf of the family. Sometimes, she would write a short note in it to the recipients. In the early years of my marriage, my own Christmas card list was derived from the wedding invitation list, albeit edited to a do-able number that we could afford to buy and send in those days.

Then, Christmas cards (ours included) soon began to include a newsletter from the family regarding their year's activities and achievements. The best ones also had photographs tucked into them. That evolved into printing photos ON the newsletters, and making the letters oh-so-cute and clever.

My newsletters were never as clever as I wanted them to be, but we did go through a phase when we sent three-dimensional pop-out "cards". They were rubber-band triggered, and when you pulled them out of the envelope, they would instantly pop out to their design. They looked something like this, but different designs. We stopped sending them when the price went up and beyond our budget one year. Maybe some of you blog readers remember those.

Some people love to send homemade Christmas cards. If you're one of those -- kudos to you! I'm pretty sure my life would have to slow down a LOT in order for me to do homemade cards. Alas, it's store-bought for me!

The next evolvement (is that a word?) was that people would send a 1-part family Christmas photo-cards, which also had an included newsletter. I've never been organized enough to do that. An organized family photo, with a holiday theme, two months ahead of time? NOT!! But newsletters began to be filled with proud notations of childrens' honor roll status, outstanding sports achievements, amazing talents, and exotic vacations taken by the family. It was getting to be rather trying to read some peoples' accounts of their all-too-amazing lives. I dislike the one-upmanship that was happening with a simple thing like Christmas newsletters. To that end, I tried to keep our letters less of a brag report and stuck to more basic news of the year.

There is one more evolvement that brings us to current times, and it takes various forms. All of them make me sad. Some people send their greeting via email, with an attached file version of their newsletter. Some people have just turned to only social media, posting their family photo and holiday greeting there.  And some people simply seem to have given up, and they apologize and don't send anything at all as a Christmas greeting. Sadness!!

One of the things that I look forward to is cards and letters from loved ones. I would hope that if they aren't sending anything during the rest of the year, that I could plan on something for Christmas. So it does make me sad when I don't get many cards in my mailbox.

For those that send their greetings in an email, I do have a soft spot for those who are living out of the country. Mail for them is not practical on a large scale, so I do understand sending an email back to the States. I get that, and I understand. But if you live in-country, and have the monetary means to send snail mail cards, I'd prefer those any day of the week. I know..... I'm old-fashioned, bordering on troglodyte.

Posting a family photo on Facebook -- while I'm not a big fan of that as your only greeting, I will say that it's better than nothing. And giving up entirely --- makes me saddest. It makes me want to run to their houses and see if they're ok. Check up on them! Maybe they've fallen, and they can't get up?  So sad!!

And I am no shining beacon of Christmas Card Perfection, by any stretch of the imagination. This year, I was completing my letter on the Friday afternoon before Christmas. Todd (thank you, sweetheart!) dashed down to the post office to drop our cards off at the absolute end-of-day on the Friday before Christmas. He couldn't go to the nearest drop box, because it was over-filled. I hope they arrived before Christmas, but I can't be sure.

I still do the newsletter thing -- mostly because many on my card list don't see me all the time, if ever. I haven't done photo-cards. In a weird way, I kind of wonder if that's the latest version of the bragging newsletter: how cool can your Christmas photo be? How professional does it look? And the thing that nags at me is that it almost seems like a narcissistic way of putting oneself before Christ. And after all, isn't He the real meaning of Christmas?

To that end, my cards in recent years have become more religious than secular in tone, with this year's card being the three kings. I kind of have a thing for the three kings -- almost enough to start collecting them, but I'm pretty sure Todd would faint if he thought I was starting yet another collection of something!!

Anyway.

I will continue to send Christmas cards. I will continue to watch my mailbox for cards from my friends and my family. If you send the kind that I've ranted about here, don't let it stop you from sending to me: I really want your card!! And if you're one that didn't send any this year -- that's ok. But do me a favor, and make it happen next year, please? My mailbox is lonely.

[End Rant]

love you guys!

2013 Christmas Season, ..... Part 2

Pardon me, but this will be a bit long.
So, here are a few of the things that kept us busy this month......

First, our regularly scheduled life came to a halt when we got a snow day. Despite being in Northern Idaho, snow can be hard to come by because of our low elevation. We often get rain instead, when everything around us gets snow. So a few inches of snow meant sending the kids (the only two at home that day) out to play!

Emma loves making snow angels, and..... throwing snowballs.

Then came building the snowman. Emma thinks she did it herself, with Darcie. Let's just say that Darcie was a major constructor this time. But Emma helped....

We won't talk about the part when mom broke part of the grill while retrieving coal piecesfor the snowman's features. Whoops. Sorry, sweetheart!

 

(only baby carrots were in the fridge -- guess he has a small nose, huh?)

 

 

We tried a number of hats, but ended up with this one. Taking photos made me late for work that day, but it was totally worth it.

 

This season, we also had a cold snap here that was pretty intense for our little valley. No snow with that one, but it was bitterly cold. Single-digits. So, we delayed the familytrip to our lighted park because we didn't want to be miserable there. It was still cold, but not knock-your-socks-off cold.

 

 

(I love that picture of Cameron!)

 

Here's Emma, ringing the bell on the train:

 

(Emma loved the park. I love the wonder in her eyes.)

 

Darcie explained to Emma [again] about how the pressure-sensitive lightpad works with the lights on the tree in front of them:

 

 

.... under the arches...

 

And we always stop at the nearby McDonalds for eggnog shakes and ice cream.

 

 

Emma's preschool is sponsored through a local Lutheran church. It's a very good program, with a very energetic teacher, and one of the nice bonuses is that since it is through a church, the Christmas program also features the nativity story, acted out by the kids. It's not just Santa and winter and ho-ho-ho.

 

Here's Emma waving at us during one of the songs:

 

 

The "Reindeer Hoky Poky":

 

And the kids after the nativity play. Emma was Mary -- which wasn't a speaking part, but very high-profile, right?

 

Four of the kids actually are members of our church, and this cutie singing next to Emma is one of her friends from Primary.

 

This was one of the events that we brought a platter of Christmas cookies to -- I'll betyou know where at least SOME of those cookies came from !  

 



2013 Christmas Season.... Part 1

Christmas this year has simply been a whirlwind. If it weren't for the photos, I know I'd forget so much of the fun details that happened. I've pulled some of my favorite photos to share the highlights of our season, which --for us-- begins with the day after Thanksgiving and decorating the Christmas tree:

 

We always decorate in the middle of the room, and then move the tree into place afterwards.

I feel bad that there was an entire group of older ornaments that never made it onto the tree. My personal tree-decorating approach is that more is more, and I like to see it simply covered in ornaments. Maybe next year. Or maybe, as the kids leave home one by one, and they take "their" ornaments with them, we'll fill back in with the really old stuff.

 

Our traditional eggnog toast. Maybe next year we'll convince Emma that eggnog is "deee-licious!"

Whoops...... Don't forget about Thanksgiving!

So, it dawned on me that I almost skipped Thanksgiving. Which would be a shame, because it was such a nice day and a yummy meal. This and the next few posts are going to be more pictures than words. I hope.

Here we go.....

We smoked our turkey (of course!) ..... I wish I had a good photo of it when it was done. Missed that. (But I take enough pictures to make up for it, right?)

Cameron had just got his new glasses..... handsome man!!

The girls are a lot of help to me for meals like this:

 

Emma was anticipating the homemade rolls.....

 

(Todd laughing..... that is a one-in-a-million photo. Trust me.)

Grandpa and Grandma (and Indri) ..... they're the best!

 

Mmmm.....

 

 Best part of my day was when I asked Cameron which pie he wanted for dessert. He didn't even pause to think about it. He wanted the homemade pumpkin pie, saying, "I have waited two years for this!"

Apparently he was not a big fan of the store-bought pies he had on his mission Thanksgiving meals.

Melted my heart!

 

Cookies Galore!

 

Christmas and cookies go hand-in-hand, right? I've baked cookies at Christmastime for for-EVER. And I enjoy it, too .... this is not a complaint. And, I have previously admitted that I have a problem when it comes to assembling Christmas goodie trays. It's always a delicious problem to have, though, right??

 

 

So, a friend of mine throws an annual Cookie Exchange party every December. There are different approaches to this kind of a party but here is how hers works:

 

13 people are invited. Every guest slot must be filled for this to work right, and when you agree, it's a commitment. Once you're on her guest list, you have an automatic "in" to the next year's party. Anyone who pulls out at the last minute, doesn't get another invitation ... it's just too stressful for her to find replacements.

 

Each person bakes and brings 12 dozen of the same kind of [holiday] cookie, divided into 1-dozen packages. Copies of the recipe and your name are to be included with each dozen cookies. (Most are usually put in pretty bags or boxes, sometimes in tins.)

 

She serves a sit-down dinner, which is soups, bread bowls, and salads. Several invited guests help with the meal. The guests eat and visit together -- she decorates her home beautifully, and the tables with Christmas place settings, so it's really quite nice.

 

At the end of the evening, each guest brings home a packaged dozen of each of the other ladies' cookies (and recipes), but not their own cookies that they brought.

 

So, the final result is that each guest has 12 dozen different cookies that she didn't have to bake, herself. What do you do with 12 dozen cookies? They are given to friends, neighbors, taken to work parties, visiting teaching ladies, .... Seminary students ... [wink, wink]

 

If it sounds like a lot of work, well, .... granted, it is. Which is why I sidestepped her invitation for a number of years. However, I am now on my third year of doing this cookie exchange. Every year in December, I think to myself, "I am never going to do this again." And every year in October-November, I get amnesia and I agree to it. I get grand plans of baking early and freezing my cookies -- but it doesn't really happen that way.

 

(Plus, if you think it's a lot of work -- think about this: my same friend actually throws the same party TWICE. She does it for a group of women from her husband's workplace, and then again for a group of her own personal friends. Now that, my friends, is dedication!!)

 

So, this year, I didn't get real inventive with my cookie dough for the exchange. It's just your basic shortbread. In the past, I have done spritz cookies, which are dang easy to knock out 5 or 6 dozen in a short amount of time. Especially since I have an electric cookie press. This year, thinking I would freeze in advance, I got a bit more ambitious -- if not with the type of cookie, then with the method.

I did the basic shortbread cookie -- but as a roll-and-cut cookie. What was I thinking??? This was more time-consuming than I left time for. I did freeze 5 dozen a few days in advance.... but I was baking the rest the night before!

 

 

And then, the afternoon of the exchange, I started to dress them up, dipping them in chocolate....

 

Well -- half-dipped. Which, with me is not really dipped, but schmeared. (It's a technical term.) I am not a fan of having the chocolate on the underside of the cookie, so instead, I spread it on top to make it *look* like it was dipped. I know -- I overthink this stuff WAY too much. Then add sprinkles for color and interest:

 

Yep. One cookie down, 143 others to go...... 

 

Lined up like little soldiers on the counter. This was only half of them. Even with my long counters, I couldn't fit 12 dozen on at the same time.

And then packed into 12 individual boxes.

 

(I found these Christmas tree boxes at the dollar store. No photo of the lids for you, though.)

 

And there you have it! 12 dozen Christmas cookies. And that was just the start of my baking.  Since I still had our own trays to do, there were also 5+ dozen gingerbread, another 2 dozen shortbread, pineapple spritz, pecan tassies...... well just add about another 14 dozen of my own cookies. And 3 pounds of fudges.

 

Talk about a sugar high.

Whew!!