Why I do what I do.
I don’t send out many Christmas cards at all. I usually buy a small box, with maybe
10 cards and send them to family.
What ever I have left if any, I might send to a couple of close
friends. Occasionally I’ll get
crazy and buy a box of 20! I used
to send more than 10, but I no longer enjoy signing them. I used to sign, love the Boudreaux’s,
and then I would put all our names, Mark, Yvette, Derric, Madison and
Dallas. On some cards I’d even
write the dogs names.
What do I do now? Well we are about to have our fourth Christmas without our
Madison; it breaks my heart to think that thought, to live that reality. This year and last I signed our cards,
Love the Boudreaux’s, Mark, Yvette, Derric, Dallas and our angel Madison. I don’t know if I will do that every
year, but I don’t know that I won’t.
The reason I send out so few cards is that I know the people
I send them to will get it. It feels like a private thing I only want to share
with those who knew her well. I can’t leave Madison out of Christmas and I
can’t leave her off the card.
Sending those cards with her name included feels like the right thing
for me to do now, at this time.
Maybe in the future I’ll be comfortable sharing that private note with
more people. Yes I realize I just
shared it here, but a Christmas card is more personal.
I will enjoy spending a quiet Christmas day with my
family. Quiet is not the way our
Christmas used to be like in Louisiana.
They were filled with extended family and noise and laughter and all
that hokey stuff. I’m grateful for
all of my family; those that are with us, and those that have gone on to, “the
next great adventure,” to quote Albus Dumbledore (JK Rowling).
I put her stocking up every year and always will. I put her little tree up in her bedroom
and always will. I keep her name
on the Christmas cards and probably always will.
Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year!
