The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

Maybe you used to write Christmas Cards , the one time of year you actually put pen to paper and wrote a note to old friends, family members, school chums, co-workers and anyone else you hated to lose touch with, good opportunity to keep a thin thread of connection. Happy Holidays! Some of you typed up a chronicle of what you and the spouse and kids did over the past 12 months, a huge yawn to most of those not in the immediate family circle, but it saved you all those handwritten notes even if it bored the pajamas off the rest of us.

One year I sent a mock chronicle of the Daddle Family’s year long escapades, a summary of drug rehab, chronic depression, school dropouts, cult joining, a litany of the exact opposite of the usual success stories of the kids and their beaming parents. A few of the recipients who actually read this were confused and later remarked they never realized we had children. We don’t. So much for satire in the era of text messaging.

Or you could do like a lot of my lame relatives, use one of those family group photos, pay Shutterfly to make a few cards, then send it with no note whatsoever, maybe not even sign the damn thing and call it good for another holiday season. Bah humbug, I say. What a waste of a stamp. What a statement to the recipient. We’re too busy to scribble a single thought on this hectic holiday but we managed to address the envelope. Thanks, y’all, thanks not at all. Thought that counts, right?

Now, of course, we get e-mail Holiday Greetings, some with music and individualized identifiers of us as the recipients. Merry Christmas, Skeeter, followed by some corporation’s cute and humorous video, no doubt a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, updated for the 21st Century and the social media crowd.

I just finished sending 3 dozen handmade Christmas cards, all with a long personal letter to folks who will probably not send anything this year and if they do, count on it, just a store-bought card with their signature under the Happy Holiday text inside. My shirt sleeve relatives will send the family photo card and no message, probably not even a signature. They figure I can identify them in the picture, I guess. Every year I say I’m not going to do this again. And so, I’m saying it again. Oh, if you’re reading this, have a great holiday. Sorry I didn’t include a family photo but Susie’s still in rehab and Wyatt’s commune doesn’t allow picture taking. Maybe next year….

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