I have been thinking all week about what I could write that someone wants to read about that I am grateful for this week. I ran through my list of everything I am grateful for that I have not mentioned yet, and none of it seemed worth mentioning because it is too trivial, or important just to me.
Every day I sit at my computer I see a box of Christmas cards off to my left. They are not special cards, or expensive, just the every day run of the mill cards that we buy at the store to fill out and mail to each other. I imagine for someone who has never been in my computer room they would seem out of place. Whether it is January or July for a number of years now, they would see the same box of cards.
The reason they are here and not in a landfill a decade go is not because I filled them out and mailed them, is because I have not. I tell myself each year, I am going to address the cards, write something personal inside of each one, and mail them. Every day this time of year I tell myself I am going to do it tomorrow for sure. I started telling myself this year I was going to write them them tomorrow back in October. That way they would be ready for December, and I would actually mail them for once.
In the mean time every Christmas season I receive Christmas cards from family and friends. I receive just enough that the guilt of myself not sending any out again is enough to spur me on to keep that box of cards out until next year. Every day they are out, and I see them I am reminded of my family and friends who have sent me cards over the years. I am grateful for those who do send me cards every Christmas, and I feel guilty I never manage to myself. This year is going to be different, or so I tell myself once again. I am going to surprise everyone who has just about given up on me. I am going to fill them out tomorrow and have them in the mail.
I have decided I am going to do the same thing with the packages I never manage to get in the mail until after New Years. Packages are a lot different. The post office gets so busy this time of year, and the carriers are working a lot more than they should have to. Then because it is so busy, all packages receive some pretty rough treatment. They get thrown, slammed, and crushed. I do not want that to happen to packages I send, so I end up rationalizing why I should wait until after New Years to send them out. That is usually when my Christmas packages are sent. Around the fifth of January.
Now my shameful secret is out and made public about Christmas. I am one of those people with great intent, and terrible follow through with Christmas cards. If you are one of the people who year after year send out Christmas cards to people like me, I am grateful you are there and you send them knowing you probably won’t hear from me. I am grateful you think enough of me for whatever reason to know how much I treasure each and every card, and how bad I feel I never mange to let you know that.
If you are someone just like me I am grateful for you too. I am grateful for you, because the reasons I am grateful this week, will be perfectly obvious to you because you are just like me. Which ever group you are in, I am grateful you are there, and you do what you do. Keep it up, I sure appreciate you!
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