The Christmas Card Dilemma

If you are going to receive a Christmas card from my family, there is a really good chance it's going to come in the next couple of days. Yes, it's only the first few days of December, but there it will be: "Happy Holidays from the Maloneys."

The good part is that I don't have to wait in really long lines at the one  we have in Dublin.

Do I realize that sending my cards this early might be really, really annoying? Why yes, that fact is not lost on me. But you see, I really have no choice.  

My tradition of sending Christmas cards with a Dec. 1 postmark started long ago, sometime in the B.C. (before children) era. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn't have too much going on aside from work, so why not work on those cards over the Thanksgiving holiday? Send them out Dec. 1 and be done with it.  

The problem was I didn't realize how annoying that would be to family and friends who did have busy lives, children, etc. until many years later. It wasn't until one of my sister-in-laws actually sent me a card prior to Thanksgiving just so she could beat me to the punch. Maybe my card wasn't bringing good holiday spirit and cheer, but rather making people want to choke me with tinsel.  

By the time I figured this out, it was simply too late. If my sister-in-law felt this way, how many others did, as well? What would happen if I didn't send my cards on Dec. 1? Why, they would all give me a horrible time!  I would never hear the end of it, so I decided that it just couldn't happen.

Here I am many years later, still sending out my cards at the beginning of December. Do I realize that no one has a place to put their Christmas cards when mine shows up? Why yes, I know that mine probably will end up in the circular file, but I have no choice. My pride will not let me take a huge gulp of humility and send them later. Or maybe, I will  just suck it up and send them late and take whatever abuse I have coming.  You will have to wait and see.