Ah, January! A new month. A new year. It’s time to start building new memories.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines hoarding as: “psychology: the compulsion to continually accumulate a variety of items that are often considered useless or worthless by others accompanied by an inability to discard the items without great distress.” Based on that definition, I suppose I am a hoarder, but only of a couple of specific items.
One item I have been hoarding is Christmas cards. Since the 1980s, I have saved all of the Christmas cards I received. By mid-January each year, I remove the cards from the mantle place, where they are displayed, and bundle them into a stack protected by the widest card for the year. I place a ribbon around them or secure them with a rubber band and write the year they represent at the front of the pile.
I place each stack in the bottom drawer of the chest of drawers, and there they remain year after year. Ten years ago, the drawer became so packed I had to remove some stacks.
This year, 2023, I decided to let go of my sentimentalism and discard the cards I received from 2004-2013. But wait! I do not simply remove the stacks from the drawer and throw them into the garbage bin. Sitting on the bedroom floor, I travel down memory lane as I go through the bundle for each year.
What have I learned from my Christmas cards from 2004-2013?
• Consistency—certain friends and family members sent me a card every year.
• Thoughtfulness—it seemed some senders spent much time and effort to select a card that suited me. The words in the cards spoke directly to me.
• Friendship—The words they wrote personally in the cards were warm, comforting, and spewed love and caring.
• Changes—this is a big one. Year after year, I observed the changes in the senders’ lives: A spouse died, or a divorce occurred, so the card came from only one person. Those who sent family photos each year, I noticed the new grandchild. The family dog is missing; it died. The size of the stacks decreased over the years as some people sent e-cards.
• Aging—Family photo cards also showed the aging of the senders.
So, as I throw out the Christmas cards for 2004-2013, I say thank you. Thank you to friends, family, and clients who spent the time and effort to purchase, write and mail Christmas cards to me over those years. Happy New Year.
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