I read a blog post today by a dear soul who was lamenting the guilt heaped upon her when she receives Christmas cards, and it got me to thinking.  At the farm, we’ve been hit or miss with the sending of cards.  Some years I stock up on boxes of them only to pack them up with the Christmas decorations, unsent. And sometimes I’ve unpacked them the following year only to pack them up again. (Please tell me that I am not alone here!)  Other years we’ve designed them online and sent them out.  Woohoo!  Right now we are batting two years in a row of getting them out – and that feels like some sort of record.

But what really made me lose a little of my holly jolly was thinking that this fellow human felt guilty for not keeping up.  I get it. In the age of Facebook, Instagram, and heaven help us Pinterest, it’s easy to go down a spiral of feeling less than – less crafty, less joyful, less, less, less.  Let’s face it, we could all give ourselves a little break.

So why do we send out cards from the farm?  Mainly, because we want those near and far who have touched our lives in some way to know that during this time of year we are thinking about them.  It’s really just that simple.  There are folks on our list who I worked with in my 20s (not yesterday folks), and others who I knew as a child, and still others who help us with this crazy farm life.

Our lives our not perfect by any stretch. Holy cats just read our blog to find out what crazy antics these critters keep us busy with.  If we’re not scooping poop, we’re stepping in it.  But the truth is, in this big crazy world, we are blessed.  Blessed because there folks who care about us.

So when you open your mailbox and find a Christmas card, or (gasp) a Christmas letter, know that the sender just wants you to know they are thinking about you.  That you are not alone. You are not forgotten.

Listen, I’m not saying that Great Aunt Sally isn’t bragging like a maniac or waxing poetic in her Christmas letter about her kid’s promotion to head fry cook, or her granddaughter’s successful run for band president, or sharing how her cheeseball took first place at the county fair, or heaven forbid sharing her third husband Larry’s latest ailments. But let out a big guffawing laugh, be grateful for your less eventful 2016, and find comfort that she thought about you – in her own crazy way!

So if sending Christmas cards is something you find joy in, then get out the stamps and the glitter stickers. And if not, that’s okay too.  From all of us at the farm, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a blessed New Year! Cards or no cards.