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Along with the turkey and tinsel, Christmas serves up a generous helping of stress. Like the time my mother labelled her presents to my father, “To Freddy from Ann, grudgingly,” and “To Freddy from Ann, with a great feeling of being let down.” Or when the dog ate a whole brie on Christmas Eve, with the inevitable results all over the kitchen. But for me, the real anguish is writing the cards.
This year, I was tempted to forego the rigmarole until a friend pointed out that 2020, more than any other time, was the moment to reach out and let people know that they are in your thoughts. Indeed, research by the Royal Mail has discovered that more than half of us think cards are more important this year than ever, and one in 10 of us are sending 10 more than usual.
My local postmistress confided in me that she ran out of Christmas stamps a week ago, and was worried she would run out of all stamps before final posting day on Monday 21st December. And so in our household hell was unleashed.
First, the choice of cards: if sending in bulk it seems wrong not to benefit charity – but which one? As the owner of a rescue dog I started with the dog charities but after viewing endless images of collies in holly I just couldn’t bring myself to buy any. As my mother-in-law is a leading light of the Cheshire NSPCC we picked an inoffensive dove with mistletoe motif from this admirable charity.
Then there is the Excel spreadsheet with the necessary names and addresses. Unfortunately for me, this is based on an old list of wedding invites we sent out almost a decade ago. So gaps galore, out-of-date addresses and even different combinations of couples.
