Christmas cards. Where does your mind go when you hear that phrase? A cramped hand and stressed shoulders over having to make out dozens of cards to folks you haven't talked to in awhile? The enjoyment of thinking of your loved ones while sticking on stamps? The variety of designs (and self-made digital photo options) that you can choose to send? The "aw, crap, another one" feeling when you receive one in the mail from a person you hadn't sent to?
Sure, I think about these things, too. But, from about Halloween 'til now, my mind jumps to a different kind of Christmas card. It isn't literally a card, but that's what it's called. I suppose it should be called a "greeting" - one that incorporates a not-terribly-well-known-unless-you've-lived-in-the-Mohawk-Valley-awhile song that is *ahem* illegally *ahem* used. But take away the song, and it's not the same.
My husband is, some would say, lucky enough to work at one of our local news stations. I admire the work and stress that he endures in order to bring the most thorough, accurate-as-possible, locally-encompassing news coverage in the area. And now that they have competition, I've noticed what an incredible job he does even more.
So, annually, the hard-working folks at his station get a little personal air time for themselves and their families (or friends, or whatever may be the case). It's a way for folks at home to know more about the people that they *think* they already know - who's married, who has kids, who works behind the scenes, who has pets, etc. Oftentimes these short videos are a mash-up of simple, sweet "waving" shots. Dave and I, however...well, this is last year....
Sure, I think about these things, too. But, from about Halloween 'til now, my mind jumps to a different kind of Christmas card. It isn't literally a card, but that's what it's called. I suppose it should be called a "greeting" - one that incorporates a not-terribly-well-known-unless-you've-lived-in-the-Mohawk-Valley-awhile song that is *ahem* illegally *ahem* used. But take away the song, and it's not the same.
My husband is, some would say, lucky enough to work at one of our local news stations. I admire the work and stress that he endures in order to bring the most thorough, accurate-as-possible, locally-encompassing news coverage in the area. And now that they have competition, I've noticed what an incredible job he does even more.
So, annually, the hard-working folks at his station get a little personal air time for themselves and their families (or friends, or whatever may be the case). It's a way for folks at home to know more about the people that they *think* they already know - who's married, who has kids, who works behind the scenes, who has pets, etc. Oftentimes these short videos are a mash-up of simple, sweet "waving" shots. Dave and I, however...well, this is last year....
...aaaaaand the year before, well, it isn't available online anymore. Poop. Let's just say it involved Dave being pelted by a snowball....
A little wacky, right? Wouldn't want to be anything other than ourselves, after all. So, of course, here comes the stumper - we're trying to figure out what to do for this year. We've now got 3, count 'em 3 cats. Even doing a basic waving one with 3 cats would be close to impossible, mainly because of that old "like herding cats" saying. It's so very true. You just can't do it!
We've got a long-shot idea that we'll keep under our hats JUST IN CASE it works out and we magically have enough time to git 'er done, but I've got another idea or two that are way lame that I simply won't mention because...well, they're lame. I know that I probably think about it more than Dave does, but that's probably because I work at a way slower pace throughout the day (for the most part) so my brain has more time to wander around. ;-)
It's just interesting to think about how most Christmas cards get read by 20...50...100...200 people, max. These get seen by...well, let's just say way more. I guess we'd better get working on it! After all, we've got our first bit of snow for the year, finally.
So, not that we need advice as to what to do (I'm sure we'll figure something out - we always do!), but what I'll leave you with today is this: What would YOU do if you had a 5-10 second spot (or in some cases, cut down from 30 seconds! We're bad, I know) to say 'hi' or act out in your own way?
P.S. Yes, we still do normal Christmas cards. After all, we love the traditionalism of hand-writing a message to people we love, and Dave is SO on top of things like birthdays and anniversaries (seriously, it's crazy! Folks from high school, egad!!) that I'd probably have to cut off his right arm to get him NOT to send them. So, we do our "friend" ones mostly separately, and our "we know them together" ones together (or at least choose the appropriate card together). We've got such a mismatch of cards that we often have lots to choose from...although during our Boston trip over the summer, we happened upon a Borders (*sniff, sniff*) that had some cards that perfectly matched some of our old ones at home on uber-clearance. And guess who spotted them. Yep, Mr. Remembers Every Birthday, himself. I'm so proud of that guy.
A little wacky, right? Wouldn't want to be anything other than ourselves, after all. So, of course, here comes the stumper - we're trying to figure out what to do for this year. We've now got 3, count 'em 3 cats. Even doing a basic waving one with 3 cats would be close to impossible, mainly because of that old "like herding cats" saying. It's so very true. You just can't do it!
We've got a long-shot idea that we'll keep under our hats JUST IN CASE it works out and we magically have enough time to git 'er done, but I've got another idea or two that are way lame that I simply won't mention because...well, they're lame. I know that I probably think about it more than Dave does, but that's probably because I work at a way slower pace throughout the day (for the most part) so my brain has more time to wander around. ;-)
It's just interesting to think about how most Christmas cards get read by 20...50...100...200 people, max. These get seen by...well, let's just say way more. I guess we'd better get working on it! After all, we've got our first bit of snow for the year, finally.
So, not that we need advice as to what to do (I'm sure we'll figure something out - we always do!), but what I'll leave you with today is this: What would YOU do if you had a 5-10 second spot (or in some cases, cut down from 30 seconds! We're bad, I know) to say 'hi' or act out in your own way?
P.S. Yes, we still do normal Christmas cards. After all, we love the traditionalism of hand-writing a message to people we love, and Dave is SO on top of things like birthdays and anniversaries (seriously, it's crazy! Folks from high school, egad!!) that I'd probably have to cut off his right arm to get him NOT to send them. So, we do our "friend" ones mostly separately, and our "we know them together" ones together (or at least choose the appropriate card together). We've got such a mismatch of cards that we often have lots to choose from...although during our Boston trip over the summer, we happened upon a Borders (*sniff, sniff*) that had some cards that perfectly matched some of our old ones at home on uber-clearance. And guess who spotted them. Yep, Mr. Remembers Every Birthday, himself. I'm so proud of that guy.
Oh, Borders... :(
ReplyDeleteI love Christmas cards. They just add to the happiness of the season.