A blog for anyone who needs to know they are not alone in raising a bipolar child.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Christmas Cards
Do you send Christmas cards, with an annual letter, maybe including a family photo every year? We used to, until our lives became so chaotic starting back around the time Caroline was four years old or so that I would start the task, and never finish it. I have several boxes upstairs of hundreds of prints of annual family photos, in envelopes, never addressed, some with stamps, some with the family letter, but all never sent. My dear friend Wendy who also has a bipolar/Aspergers child said she has the same stack of years of Christmas cards and photos, also never sent. We laughed and said we should send them all out this year with each of the old photos so everyone could see our good intentions. Last year I finally had it with my own lack of communication with my close friends of years past and individually wrote to each of them, with the most recent family photo enclosed. It felt SO GOOD to finally accomplish something that had been just too hard to do. And honestly, I was reaching out because we had experienced one nightmare after another regarding Caroline that year, and I was at such a low point. I received some wonderful replies and was thankful that my friends were forgiving of my silence over the last seven years. I wonder if I will be able to accomplish this task this year. We still need that family photo, which no one ever thinks is a good picture of them. Who cares, it is just a way of saying "Hey, look, we are still alive, the kids are growing, and we love you!"
I can SO relate. I have addressed cards from when postage was less than 30 cents! Last year we did a Christmas blog and emailed friends to tell them to check it. This year, I am wondering if Facebook will suffice?:)
ReplyDeleteGood for you. Many people use the annual Christmas card/photo as an opportunity to brag about their allegedly stellar children, their fabulous accomplishments and the family's world travels. Those kinds of communications are pathetic and boring. They don't fool anybody.
ReplyDeleteIt's much more refreshing to get a family photo and a few highlights of what the year was like.
My husband and I are seriously thinking of donning ragged clothing, blackening our front teeth and posing with the kids for the annual brag photo in front of a tumbledown shack.