Happy (generic) Holidays
Did this really happen? Did I really get my first holiday greeting card in the mail yesterday?
For sure, Thom and Moiras kids are really cute and I love to see their smiling faces every year. But in my house were still eating Thanksgiving leftovers. Isnt the first week of December a little early to remind me of all the things I need to get done before closing out the year?
One of those annual chores is to force my kids together for a schmaltzy photo to adorn our own greeting card. This little family activity generally causes such hysteria that each year I swear I wont do it again. After all, dont such personalized cards just become a burden for the recipient? I mean, you cant really throw them away after the holidays. That would seem, well, sacrilegious.
So, in every home there is a drawer (perhaps in a hallway cabinet or dining-room hutch) where the photo greeting cards are swept. There they yellow and curl and await an eventual moving day, when we will ooh and ahh about how the cousins have grown and then finally dispose of the cards (to the recycling pile, of course).
We have been guilty of sending such photo cards for at least 16 years, dating back to the birth of our first little one. And Ill admit, they do combine for a great collage. But I shudder to think of all those hallway drawers where our kids photos are suffering in silence (not to mention the landfills where they molder in the general ooze).
So, here it is: The Schlagers will NOT be sending out a photo greeting card this year. Sorry friends and family, youll have to settle for a generic year-end greeting. Want to remember what Hanna and Steven look like? Go to the drawer and grab last years card. At ages 14 and 16 they havent changed much in 12 months.
This break with tradition will no doubt prompt emails and phone calls (but no letters) expressing disappointment that we did not send the usual photo-adorned card. There could be all sorts of speculation: Is someone ill? Am I too busy at the new job? Cant afford the postage? Dont you love us anymore?
But I wont crumble. I wont cave. There will be no photo card this year.
Then again, maybe the kids will stumble together for a nice photo. Maybe well be inspired by an early snowfall. Who knows? Its only the first week of December.
For sure, Thom and Moiras kids are really cute and I love to see their smiling faces every year. But in my house were still eating Thanksgiving leftovers. Isnt the first week of December a little early to remind me of all the things I need to get done before closing out the year?
One of those annual chores is to force my kids together for a schmaltzy photo to adorn our own greeting card. This little family activity generally causes such hysteria that each year I swear I wont do it again. After all, dont such personalized cards just become a burden for the recipient? I mean, you cant really throw them away after the holidays. That would seem, well, sacrilegious.
So, in every home there is a drawer (perhaps in a hallway cabinet or dining-room hutch) where the photo greeting cards are swept. There they yellow and curl and await an eventual moving day, when we will ooh and ahh about how the cousins have grown and then finally dispose of the cards (to the recycling pile, of course).
We have been guilty of sending such photo cards for at least 16 years, dating back to the birth of our first little one. And Ill admit, they do combine for a great collage. But I shudder to think of all those hallway drawers where our kids photos are suffering in silence (not to mention the landfills where they molder in the general ooze).
So, here it is: The Schlagers will NOT be sending out a photo greeting card this year. Sorry friends and family, youll have to settle for a generic year-end greeting. Want to remember what Hanna and Steven look like? Go to the drawer and grab last years card. At ages 14 and 16 they havent changed much in 12 months.
This break with tradition will no doubt prompt emails and phone calls (but no letters) expressing disappointment that we did not send the usual photo-adorned card. There could be all sorts of speculation: Is someone ill? Am I too busy at the new job? Cant afford the postage? Dont you love us anymore?
But I wont crumble. I wont cave. There will be no photo card this year.
Then again, maybe the kids will stumble together for a nice photo. Maybe well be inspired by an early snowfall. Who knows? Its only the first week of December.
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