Seasonal Traditions

Why does the postman look so sad? Probably because of the back problems and that abdominal surgery he’s going to need after lugging around those heavy sacks of Christmas cards.

And what pray tell becomes of all of those cards which your mail carrier, (Yes I know I said Postman and I still maintain that it is no insult to use one designation for a specific job, but in the interest of not starting World War III I respect and acknowledge all of the women getting back problems carrying the mail.), labor under for the six weeks before Christmas?

They get opened and scanned, the news letters from that guy you met at the philatelists conference in Walla Walla gets recycled as paper airplanes or bootlegged Yahtzee pads and then they get tossed in the round file. Oh sure the envelopes get bundled and stuck in a drawer soon to be forgotten, but kept with the very best intention of getting added to the address book for next years mailing.

And you know that’s what will happen. You do have the very best intentions, but there’s a job and family and in your spare time, those wasted hours between midnight and dawn, your art has to be wedged, squeezed, hammered into sleep deprived seconds before it all starts over again.

You’re an artist, be creative. Have you been to the Coos Art Museum? Sure you have and you’ve ooohed and awed over the incredible fish art and the fantastic Native American art, but did you look at the tree in the lobby? No, you didn’t, it’s just a Christmas tree.

That’s part of the problem with cards and trees and presents, they’re just thing we do at this time of the year which have lost their meaning, but we do them because everyone else does and who would want to be left out and ostracized by the greater community because you didn’t do one of the required holiday rituals.

But if you took a moment to look at that tree in the lobby of the Coos Art Museum, you might get a different idea. See that tree is decorated with fishing lures, it’s a fisherman’s tree, get it? Ever think about how that makes something you are going to do anyway a bit more special?

Do exactly what you do this time of the year anyway, open those cards and toss those newsletters and save the envelopes and don’t toss the cards. Save them with your tree lights. What save cards!? Yeppers, save the little pluckers. ‘Cause next year when you put the tree up, use them as tree ornaments. Com’on, you get cards for artists, they’re brighter and more amazing than any mass produced ornament, start a trend.

I’ve been doing it for a coupla years and have even started setting up the tree with just lights and a topper and then waiting for the cards to come in and placing them on the tree, so that as the days swindle down to a precious few, the tree gets filled with ornaments.

Sure makes getting a Christmas card a more important event and that’s how you think of your pals anyway, right?