Lost art? More like lost time

Has I made out the last of my Christmas cards today (late, unfortunately), I couldn't help but ponder the thought that letter writing is a dying art. Has I printed out a short letter to send a few people, I quickly realized why it has lost almost all of its appeal. First, if you are a traditionalist, you will hand write your card. This can take a while depending on your thoughts, penmanship, and mistakes made. Then, you must fold the paper and stick it in a proper sized envelope. If none exist, it is off to the store for you. Then, you must seal the envelope and address it. This means pulling out your address book and hoping the individual hasn't moved since the last time you wrote. Then, you have to add your address, which isn't too bad if you have your own stickers to use. Then, its time for postage! If your card is odd shaped, or weights a fraction of an ounce more than it should, you will have to pay extra, or risk having it come back "insufficient postage". Once that is all figured out, you must get it into the mail somehow. You could hang it off your mailbox, or inside with a little red flag to tell the kind postal worker that there is outgoing mail. What if you don't trust your neighborhood? What if you are afraid that the postman will lose it on his way back to the post office? This means you have to make a stop at the post office, or some nearby post box. Add up all the time, postage, and gas, and its no wonder people prefer to use any other means of communication instead of writing. If I had taken the time to write this out in letter form to send to all of you, it probably would reach you sometime in early spring 2011.

Decorations Anonymous

I officially finished off the holiday decorations outside. 400 white lights along the eve of the house set to blink, a light up manger scene on one side of the front door, and some light up gingerbread people on the other. Not much, but I couldn't help but stand back and smile. I also find myself checking out other people's setup and seeing certain things I wouldn't mind trying out. I realized tonight why certain people (guys mainly) get to the point of decorating their houses with thousands of lights: its a drug. I think it stems from two things. First, there is the sense of pride and showmanship when it is all together. Was it frustrating at times? Perhaps. But, when it all comes together and everything is lit, you're the man, or maybe not. Which brings up point number two: One-up-manship. It is in our genes, I think, to be better than someone else. A guy puts up lights and he is the only one on the street, he feels he is the king, the innovator. Next door neighbor puts up more than him, and suddenly he decides that what he has is inadequate. He wants more shine, more "look at me", so he declares war. More decorations are bought and hung until there can be only one victor in the neighborhood, determined by a mixture of finances, free time, and sheer lunacy.

Am I the king of my neighborhood? Hardly. Was I at any one point "the man"? There was about 2 days that I was the only house lit, but now a half dozen or so have sprung up. Am I declaring war? Not yet, but you never know.