Happy Solstice!

One of my lasting childhood memories involves Christmas cards. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, everyone gave and received greeting cards. And I mean stacks of cards. Heck, the post office even gave customers a break on postage for Christmas cards. They were a big deal.

My mother would spend hours preparing cards to mail out. Most often she wrote a little note on each one. Sometimes there would be a letter included. She put a lot of effort into those cards and in updating her address book and keeping a list from year to year. 

Of course, our family received many cards as well. And Mom would hang them from cotton string anchored to the corners of the living room. Once in a while, a tack would give way and there would be a flurry of cards cascading to the floor. But it was an easy fix to get them straightened away again.

Little wonder I still have an attachment to Christmas cards.  I love to give and receive them.  And I find it hard to part with them, especially if they've been handmade, like the one in the picture (made by my sister).

So I store cards away with the rest of the decorations, pulling them out each year.  Nothing makes a room look more festive to me than strings filled with cards.

To me, cards are special, they show you that for at least a brief moment in time, someone thought of you, perhaps recalled a memory, and has chosen to reach out and remember you in a concrete way.

This is the first time in a few years that I've put up so many cards mainly because since my SCAD, holding my arms above my head for any length of time has been difficult. But this year, I have not been sick nor been in hospital.  And I feel stronger than I have in a long time.

So today I decided every doorway and every window in the house should be decorated with saved cards. I was determined to keep going until I ran out of cards or rooms. 

This evening as I sit in my chair, resting after my pleasant exertion, I can look at the cards and feel the warm regard that each represents and take pride that I was able to resurrect one of my favorite holiday traditions.

Today is the Winter Solstice, the day the sun leaves us soonest. Tomorrow, the light begins its gradual return towards the northern hemisphere bringing with it renewed hope for the coming year.

I wish you and yours good health and the very best in the coming season.  Happy Solstice!