i have always loved writing and sending notes, cards, and letters. my friend thara and i would pick out fancy stationery and send letters between helena and houston as kids. when i went to baylor, i would scribble updates in my college-rule notebooks and send them back to my classmates at desoto. in undergrad i bought random cards i found funny and would send them to friends whenever they needed a pick-me-up. and now as an adult i collect and send postcards from my travels, even sending close to a postcard-a-day in 2018.

like i said, i like some hand-written mail.

many moons ago i also wrote and sent holiday cards, but with all the back-and-forth between here and india, that fell by the wayside. when i lived in india i settled for sending a holiday update email to everyone that included my wishes for the new year. and when i moved back to the states i began outsourcing my holiday cards to st jude — for a donation, they would send all of my cards along with a note letting the recipient[s] know that a donation had been made in their name.

i still love that idea, and i will continue making my donations to st jude, but this year i felt like it was time for a return to the hand-written card. to individualizing messages to friends, writing out names and addresses, and sending them myself.

i went to target, i found some cards* i like, and this week i am working on getting those together. part of why this is my favorite time of year is because i love receiving holiday cards from friends, and i want to put my own personal touch on my cards again this year.

wish me luck. and happy early holidays!

xx

*and of course i didn’t buy enough because my list keeps growing, so i’ll need to procure some more soon.