This Blog Post Is My Christmas Card. Enjoy.

Life shouldn't be lived on a tit-for-tat basis, and yet it often is. If you're invited to a friend's home for dinner, you'll probably reciprocate and act as host soon after. One good turn deserves another and all that. And when Sara gives you a Happy 35! present and you don't even send her a birthday text, no matter what she says to your face, Sara is not thinking good thoughts about you.

The tradition of sending Christmas cards has long rated that type of "you do me-I do you" record-keeping. There are books designed just for people to track who sent them a holiday card, so they'll know who's earned one in return. (Now it's just as easy to print your own register sheets from a site like Organized Christmas.)

So what will my decision to abandon the practice of sending cards communicate to my friends?

I'm very sad about it, mainly because I was always the type of holiday nut that actually enjoyed sending cards every December. For many years, HubbyMine and I followed our own little tradition every year on the day after Thanksgiving, shopping for cards at a locally owned card store known for lovely, funny and dirty cards as well as small creative gifts.

(Clevelanders: A moment of silence, please, for the old Clifton Web store in Lakewood. It's moved to Avon Lake with a new focus on antiques and more grown-up pleasures.)

The move of a mere card store didn't stop me, of course. I found other resources, some online, and continued sending what I thought were the cutest cards of any given year. I polished 'em off with adorable customized holiday return address labels I made at VistaPrint.com.

So, what happened?

Life got in the way.

Beyond the client-related work that can pop up when you least expect it, a rather massive re-organization of my office set-up is taking far more than the single weekend I'd allotted to it. I'm excited about a very promising relationship I'm starting with a virtual assistant, but that requires me to send a flow of information her way, and that takes time, too. (Don'tcha just hate it when things designed to make your life easier make it harder first?)

To continue my whining, I also found room on my "plate" for HubbyMine's Christmas Week birthday. Buying and wrapping presents. Preparations for Christmas Eve dinner and decorating. Unexpected civic commitments. This blog.

Something had to go, and I chose Christmas cards. The Postal Service has reported an 11% decrease of first-class cancellations from last year during the first 2 weeks of December. The Internet and 44-cent stamps may have had something to do with that. I'd like to say I'm among the many who've switched to e-cards, but honestly? I ain't even doing that.

Even a Goddess can get, well, overwhelmed.

So this is the forum where I'll send sincere wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my old friends, new friends, and the kazillion who live in my computer. May 2010 be the magical year we hope it will be. May we each notice AND appreciate the moments of good health and happiness that balance out all the rest.

P.S. Much love for Cleveland's own American Greetings which designed the 2009 White House Christmas card shown above. Please note, Michelle Obama has help doing her cards.