accidental appreciation

I know we are a bit past the Christmas season, but this just happened and I have to share.

I have come to love Christmas cards. Both the sending and receiving end up being one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season. We display them on what used to be an awkward white space of wall right outside our kitchen. I keep the cards up all year to remind us of all the wonderful family and friends we have in our lives. And if there ever happens to be someone who sends us a card and we didn't send one to them, I quickly send one off in the mail.

This hadn't happened in the last few years and I thought I really had this Christmas card thing down. But then we got THE card. A card from someone we hadn't sent to. It was from our new neighbors across the street who had just gotten married and sent out an adorable card featuring pictures from their wedding. I noticed they had just put it in our mailbox -- they hadn't officially mailed it -- and I figured I would just do the same. I got the card ready and decided to put it in their box the next day.

Unfortunately I am not as skilled in just dropping something in someone's mail box.

Our neighbors were out of town for a few days and somehow all of their mail got collected by the mailman one day. And in that stack of mail was our Christmas card. The smart thing would have been to at least put their name on the card. But no. Like a fool I just wrote "Merry Christmas". I was worried it would be a lost cause.

Fast forward to two weeks ago.

Derek got home from work at night and had to park on the street because of the snow on the driveway. Our mailman was delivering the mail at the same time and he heartily thanked Derek for the Christmas card from our family. It's a good thing Derek is a quick thinker because he just went with it and replied with, "you're welcome!" Our mailman (Dave) went on to say how thoughtful it was of us and how much he appreciated it.

Then this last weekend, because Minnesota is experiencing its beautiful January thaw, I went on a walk outside. (Alone, might I add. It was quite glorious). I walked by our mailman who was on his route and I expected to exchange a cordial wave like always. What I got instead was an incredibly enthusiastic wave and smile from Dave. And it got me thinking.

I felt a little bit like a fraud because truthfully, the Christmas card was not originally intentioned for him. But goodness, if a Christmas card to our mailman -- the person who brings me all of my beloved Christmas cards during the Christmas season, the person who delivers important letters and bills, the person who pays attention to all the "do not bend" stickers and walks things up to our door, no matter the weather -- if a Christmas card to him makes his day, why have I not done this for years?

Was this more commonplace years ago? I tend to think so, but I'm not positive. But what I have decided is this: I want to make it commonplace in our house. I want Vera and Hattie growing up in an environment where we think about those around us -- not just our family and friends, but also those we encounter on a daily basis, but in a different way. Our mailman drives by our house every day and delivers our mail. He can probably guess when we have big occasions in our family. Derek and I have birthdays one day apart and I'm sure he's figured this out by now as we have quite the number of Hallmark cards in our mailbox then. Why not give Dave a Christmas card and say thank you to him for his service for the year?

So next year when I create our Christmas card list, you can bet Dave will be on it.