Addressing Christmas Cards

Being a pastor's wife, my dear mother HAD to send out lots of Christmas cards. Each person in the church, whether they were members or just attendees had to get one. Mom had a book, it was small, maybe 4 x 6 inches, and she kept all her addresses in that book. When one needed to be changed, she usually just snipped off the part of the envelope that showed her where the person had moved to and she put that in that book. So, the little book was rather sloppy -- full of addresses, telephone numbers, and pieces of papers with new addresses on them.

Sitting at the dining room table, she would spend hours addressing those cards, and she always included a special message in each one. Me? I just found several boxes that I bought last year after Christmas to be used this Christmas, and I will sit in front of the TV and just sign Alan and Judi Hahn, and then address them.

The difference in postage between now and then is unbelievable. Cards, unsealed, were 4 cents a piece. Today, however, you can't send an unsealed letter for a lesser price, and the cost of one card is up to what? 42cents? I can't keep up. All I know is, I have a partial roll of stamps (with no price written on them) and since I bought the roll the price of letters has gone up two cents, so I have two cent stamps to add to the rolled stamps.

I know mom didn't really like doing this chore. It took her hours, and she worked on them late at night, so she wouldn't be interfered with by us children. Since I stayed up later than my siblings I was able to watch her struggle with this yearly chore and sign, gratefully, when the task was completed.