New Year's Letter



   I stared morosely at the pile of Christmas cards on my desk. It happened again. I got all kinds of cards from friends of ours and I failed to respond to a single one. Not one person who was kind enough to send me a Christmas greeting received one from me. I had only mailed out one card. That was to the veterinarian that takes care of Scamp and Colby. Pathetic. Completely pathetic.
  It's not like I had any kind of good excuse. No crisis happened. I wasn't beamed up by aliens. I was just busy. I was working.
    I had good intentions. I had plenty of cards. I had even found some humorous ones that I wanted to send. The problem is that you can't put a stamp on good intentions and mail them. Intentions are nice, but without action they mean nothing.
   My refusal to work on anything relating to Christmas before Thanksgiving is to blame. I had plenty of time in October and November to work on those cards and get them ready. The four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas isn't nearly enough time. Even if I hadn't been working 40 hours plus it still wouldn't have been enough time.
  None of this made my conscience feel any better. People worked hard on those cards. President Campbell's wife made a collage of family pictures for this year's card. I could tell that she had worked hard on it. She did an excellent job. What did they get from me? Nothing.
  I shook my head. Unless I changed my ways it would be the same story next year. Too much to do and not enough time.
  Then a thought occurred to me. Why do I have to wait until Christmas to send something to my friends? Why I can't I write a New Year's letter and send it?  I could write an overview of the year and leave some space at the bottom for personal messages. Email might be great for getting messages to and from quickly, but nothing beats a real letter in the mail.
   I thought about it a little more. January would be a good time to send something. All anyone gets in January is bills and junk mail. A nice cheerful letter would be a break from all that.
   Why not? Well, it's not traditional. It might advertise the fact that I was too busy or lazy to do things on time. I pondered on that a bit. These were friends. Would it matter? I didn't think so. Maybe some of them would find it amusing. Maybe I could start a tradition.
    There was no reason not to carry out my plan. The fact is anytime you want to send a greeting to someone is the right time. Why would I have to wait until December to tell my friends that I care about them and send them a good wish?
   I decided to do it. I had the time. This year would not be anything fancy, just a letter written on some nice paper. Next year C and I could add pictures.
   I felt better. I looked back at the pile of cards with a much better attitude. I had a plan. My friends would know I had not forgotten them.
   Now to start writing.....

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