to card or not to card

I have to make a decision in the next few days. A decision that seems huge.

Are we doing holiday cards this year?

I don’t have a picture. I don’t have a clever idea or design concept. I don’t have a deep desire to address and label.

Trying to get a decent picture of all or part of us over the next few days sends waves of anxiety and dread through my entire body and eclipses any glimpse of holiday joy that might be stirring.

Why didn’t we take a picture at Thanksgiving? Why is there not one photo of me from the entire year? Why am I solely responsible for this aspect of our holiday season?

And yet if I don’t suck it up and do it, when the cards start arriving over the next few days and weeks, I’ll feel incredibly guilty.

What is it about holiday cards? 

If I took a survey and asked 100 million people their favorite holiday memories, I can guarantee that not one of them would have anything to do with the giving or receiving of a holiday card.

Every year, it’s the same struggle, Is this really how I want to spend my limited holiday time and money?

In trying to go a little deeper, I’m wondering what is this whole card thing really about?

We want people to know that during this special time of year, we are thinking about them because they are special to us. It’s a message you send someone to indicate that they are an important part of your life. So when you DON’T send a card, the message is I’m not thinking about you and you are not special or remotely important.

So. Much. Pressure.

At this point since I’ll do just about anything to get out of a photo shoot, I’m trying to think about other cost effective ways to send messages.

If the telegraph was still around, I would be all over that shit. (Wouldn’t you just love to get a telegraph delivered by a boy on a bicycle? That is a holiday memory in the making.)

Here’s what I’ve come up with:

1) A Regular Card – As in buy boxes of preprinted cards and write personal notes to people. It would get me out of a picture and ideally you would SPLIT the writing and labeling.  Revolutionary.

2) A Video or Audio Recording – A few years ago I made a video and it was fun, but it took forever. Now that my kids are older, I’m not sure they would be able to participate in anything other than a Regular Show spoof. Audio might be cool, I could release it on iTunes, ask people to rate it, and watch it fly up the charts.

3) An Email – I’ve seriously considered sparing the environment, my cramped hand, and my bum printer by sending a nice little email newsletter. I could take the money saved and add it to our annual giving. Although rubbing a donation in the face of card givers might appear just a tad self-righteous.

4) An Invitation to Follow Me on Instagram – If you really want to know what’s going on in our family, it’s not that hard to find out.

5) Sky Writing? Too flashy. Newspaper ads? What’s a newspaper? Billboards? Too regional. Okay, so maybe I only have 3 and a half, maybe four, viable ideas. I’ve got it! Tape school pictures to a piece of white paper, write Merry Christmas across the bottom, and photocopy at Staples. Brilliant!

Here’s the thing people – if you don’t get a holiday card in the mail from me this year, I’m not sending you a message by not sending you a message.

Chances are I’m simply waiting and hoping for the telegraph to make its resurgence.