Get out the frickin' address book

Hi.  I've been so busy and tired... which is why this blogging thing really fell to the way-side.  The Holidays are full of fun and smiles on the outside, but in reality, it fills me with angst.  And I don't even invite people over to our house!  (mainly because no more than 3 people fit in it at a time...)  But honestly, I don't know how people do it!   Year after year, we have friends who open their hearts and perfectly decorated homes to friends and family.  These individuals are super-human to me.  I get exhausted just thinking about all the holiday cards I need to address, stamp and seal.  I would lose it if I had to decorate, cook, clean, shop and be cheery for everyone on top of it all!  (Hence, our yearly, super-low-key holidays where we rarely decorate and typically escape to the mountains after eating dinner at someone else's house so we don't have to cook for just two...)  So why does this time of year still make me feel so anxious?  I guess that's a topic for the therapist next session...

Anyway, The Holiday Card is a must-do item for me this time every year because I feel guilty.  I am admittedly terrible at keeping in touch with people during the year.  Which is the reason for my guilt.  I love my friends and most all of my family members, and I think about them all at some point or another, but I am just really bad at picking up the phone.  So for me, the Holiday Card is the one piece of correspondence I MUST send every year to everyone I know.  It is my message tied to an apologetic olive branch, just to let everyone know that I love them dearly, they are in my thoughts, that no, we have not moved and that yes, my life is still the same ol' uneventful one with nothing to report...  Just like last year.

It would be great if we had little ones so that we could just send those adorable picture cards that you get from tiny prints, but we don't yet and one can't possibly send a picture of just you and the spouse!  I mean, how egotistically lame is that?!?!  So the hand made card it is.  You know, because it has to look like you put some effort into it.  If you have nothing to report, and have no kids, you at least should have the time to make something heart-felt right?

Don't count on anything special.  When you have to address 200+ cards every year out of guilt, the hand made creation coming from the Libiano household ain't gonna look pretty.  Yes, there are super-humans out there who can host the holiday mixer for their philanthropy, organize the company holiday party, bake Christmas cookies for the church bake sale, make their kids behave for the dinner that they are hosting at their house for 20 and still get the gift shopping done ten days in advance, but I am not one of those rarities.