'Tis the Season...

for Christmas cards!

I have always loved sending out our family Christmas card. Each year, I try to mail mine on Thanksgiving to get them done early. I'm an early bird when it comes to this type of stuff...I finish my Christmas shopping early, etc. As we move with the Army, our Christmas card list grows. I enjoy looking at the addresses as I write them out and thinking of the people for whom the card is intended. Yes, I still write out my addresses, even though I know I could get a computer program for that...I enjoy thinking of friends far away.

This year, I ordered 120 cards and have eight left. Cards were sent to friends in 24 states and this year, amazingly only one foreign country (Germany-well, an Army base in Germany). In year's past, we've had to send a lot of cards to deployed friends in Afghanistan and Iraq, but right now, those friends are home. To me, people's Christmas card list tells its own story...some might have most of their friends right in their same town. With ours, you can see some of our life in our cards. Many cards go to doctors and/or fellow soldiers because Edward is one. Tons go to select states such as North Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio, South Carolina, Florida, and Arizona because those are places we have lived. And, the branching out to a random card to this state or that state is often the result of fellow military people as they are shifted around the world.

So, we are thinking of you, our friends in North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Arizona, South Carolina, Ohio, Washington, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Montana, Louisiana, Kansas, California, Georgia, Texas, New York, Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Alaska, Pennsylvania, and Alabama.

And, if you didn't get your card, the mail here is horribly slow (or I might not have your correct address-send it, please!). Some people are just getting theirs now. We love getting cards from all of our family and friends.

Merry Christmas!