Why Did I Wait…You Ask

December 21, 2023

  Why did I wait, you ask? Here is how it played out. I always send my Christmas cards at the very last minute. It is not a procrastination problem, it is because I want the people who I send them to, to be surprised. They will not be surprised I sent them cards, but after someone thinks they have received the last card for the year, I want to surprise that person with just one more.

   One more card before the post-Christmas bills start arriving. One more before IRS enters your mailbox. One more when someone thinks, no more cards and starts to get sad…then there IS one more. They will smile, and slowly open the last card. My family and friends would have forgotten they had not gotten one me after it gets to be past the middle of December. I will never take any of my most important people for granted, or anyone for granted as a matter. The cards I send originate in my heart before I put them in the mail. The other thing is I have to address the cards and write what I write on them, which is usually quite a bit, at the time of mailing. I do not mass produce the love I have for friends and family, so I have to wait until the right time and do it all.

  This year circumstances got in the way. On last Sunday, December 17th while at church, I had a medical emergency and ended up going to the hospital in an ambulance. That wasn’t my plan, of course I am bad at planning. I am really good at living, but planning usually falls short of the mark. So, at 3:15 AM on Tuesday December 19th as they are taking my blood pressure on one arm, I was holding a pen in my other hand, which was lying on a number of cards. I don’t send many cards because a lot of people who have been near and dear to me during my long life have died. I did not have my address book, and all of a sudden, my mind went blank. I could not remember the other names of people who are near and dear to me. So, I wrote my return address on the envelopes, and wrote Merry Merry Christmas on each of the cards below the printed greeting. Then I drew a Christmas tree next to where I would put my name.

  Yesterday on December 20th when my daughter-in-law came to the hospital to take me home, she had my address book. She addressed the envelopes while I read the names and addresses off to her. Some of the cards, I had already written out on the inside. Those completed, we mailed on the way home. Some I had to do when I got home. When I did get home at about 1:30 PM yesterday, I finished writing my greetings and Melissa mailed them as she and Tom headed off to the mall with my two grandsons. Whew, that was close! Today, Thursday I finished writing a few local cards and put them out in the mailbox for Eli, our mailman to take to the post office, it was on his way after all, and I wanted to give him a card and money in appreciation for him being so good at his job! Whew! It was close! Next year, God willing, I will get my cards mailed on time again! No matter what the circumstances are, but I will always try to be the last card.

  I want to wish you all, every one of you, a merry Christmas and all the other joy of the season! Have the best of new years, and if you ever want to write to me, my address is:

            Granny-o

           16 Sherman Circle

           Somerset, New Jersey 08873

No pressure, but I would like to get to know you better.

I love you. I love you all!

Granny-o