I hate Christmas cards.
I mentioned Christmas cards to my husband and he said “why do we send those again?” and I remarked (probably in an uber sassy tone), “it’s just what you do, Michael!” And then he said "well you're just going to post it online anyway, so what's the point?"
“It’s just what you do” was my response.
People spend an OUTRAGEOUS amount of money and time and outfits and blowouts and makeup and the perrrrrrrfect sunset and the perfffeeeccccttttt paper and return address layout and customized stamps and emboss and why? Well, it’s just what you do. Apparently. That was my answer. Because for some reason, society has made us think it's an integral part of Christmas. And I really couldn't think of why we send them out except for "hey everyone come see how good we look". I won't lie. I drank the kook-aid. But now, I think my opinion has drastically shifted to the dark side.
Lets be real. I *do love seeing people’s photos, right? I creep Instagram on the reg. You do too. Thanks, explore. And I do like hanging Christmas cards around the house for all the people who do not come to our house to see how many friends (because, Christmas Cards count is a great measuring stick) we really do have.
But wouldn’t we think by now we’d upgrade to digital Christmas cards? And save everyone the cost? It all adds up during a time of year where we should really be focusing on giving and serving others. NOT TO MENTION MY FREAKING HAND HURTS WRITING ALL THOSE ADDRESSES AND IT GIVES ME TERRIBLE FLASHBACKS TO OUR WEDDING.
And what do we do with the cards afterwards? They have a shelf life of what, like 3 weeks? But maybe you're one of the considerate (or OCD) ones and send your cards out in a promptly manner so I can look at it for at least a month. But what happens next? They go in the recycle bin. And if you don't recycle, then shame on you.
With thanks to facebook and instagram, can’t we all literally upload a picture and smack some words on top? I mean there's a plethora of apps out there, which allows you to lay fonts over photos. And then you could upload it for ALL to see... Bam! Christmas Card! We could? So why don’t we?
Well because that’s just not what you do. I guess. I hope we get there. I think I’m going to do that next year. But this year, I gave into the shame and guilt and FOMO I felt when opening others' cards. I literally stared at ours for 2 weeks before I gave in. I mailed them today. With 4th of July stamps, might I add. Because, life. And America. And the thought of paying more money for stamps to "go" with the card made me nauseated because I already had a good (+ American) pile of stamps, which prevented me from leaving the house.
Oh, and this is the photo we should’ve used because we looked like fools dressed warmly when it was really 70 degrees outside. We tried to snap a “real” or “we look great” or "we've got to try it 37 more times at the right angle" photo at a suburban Atlanta Christmas tree farm. AND OUR DAUGHTER ISN'T EVEN LOOKING AT THE CAMERA.
But yeah, we should’ve gone with this one.
Merry Christmas from the Pawlmers.
Get it? Paw? Our family grew by 4 paws this year.
Ok, bye.