A PERSONAL PLEA
Soon it will be time to take down the Christmas cards, and once again I shall be wishing I had noted the changes of address as they came, instead of having to dredge through them all to find the ones that told me that my friends had moved house - inevitably I shall miss one or two and come to regret my carelessness next year. Let that be my New Year's Resolution - keep my address book handy while I open Christmas cards so I don't get caught out again!
Yes, I do send Christmas cards, probably far too many, and to me it is an essential part of Christmas, to hear from friends that I probably would not otherwise keep in touch with - hear the news of their families, and respond with my pieces of news. I felt rather cross with no less a person than the Archbishop of Canterbury, whom you may know from the pages of this magazine I very much admire, that he feels we waste time and money sending cards to people we haven't seen for ages and telling them that “we must get in touch this year”. All right, point taken, we all do it, but often with the best and most loving intentions, and quite often I do find myself near a town where a friend lives whom I've not seen for a long time but whom I keep in touch with at Christmas - a quick phone call, and a meeting is arranged. If I hadn't sent them a card at Christmas, I probably wouldn't have had the courage to contact them.
Then there are the people I know I might not see again, but I want them to know that I am still thinking of them and saying a prayer for them as I write: people like Frau Volk in Germany, my friend's former cleaner, whom I used to visit when I was in Frankenthal; like Linda, with whom I shared a house when I was at university in Exeter and who has now returned to her native U.S.A.; like my ex-BBC secretary friends, or my next-door neighbour when we lived in Bridport and in whose house we used to gather to sing carols round the tree each Christmas. These people are still very dear to me and have special places in my heart, as maybe I do in theirs. A postage stamp is a small price to pay to reassure them that they are not forgotten and that I still remember the good times we had together.
So, I'm sorry. Archbishop, I shall continue to send far too many Christmas cards to people who form part of that lovely web of friendships that is woven all over the world at Christmas. It doesn't mean that I shall not also send a few donations to some of the many charities who ask me to remember them at Christmas, for that too is precious. But please, let me continue to send and receive all those cards and - please God - let me keep my resolution to make a note of all the changes of address this year!
Happy New Year
Sara
On our 25th
Birthday we wish a very Happy New Year to all our readers.
