Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
We’ve all come to dread checking the mail. And not just when property taxes are due.
Most of the year, the only post we get is bills, which are depressing, or advertisements, headed straight for the trash. Our mailboxes, once filled with interest and promise, have become a breeding ground for junk.
Once a year, that changes. Yes, each day’s haul overflows with glossy printouts and holiday gift guides, but they’re also stuffed with photos and letters from friends and loved ones, a return to the joyful nostalgia of those days when the mail was our primary means of correspondence.
Cards with pictures of smiling faces show up in bright-colored envelopes, and lucky households gather a collection that can adorn entire doorframes — or refrigerators or fireplace mantels— with cheerful galleries, offering warmth every time you walk by.
Sure, there are the overlong letters that accompany some cards, replete with mass-produced rundowns — often highly embellished — of a child’s impressive achievements or that trip overseas that was absolutely to die for. The disappointments of life rarely make the cut. But even the eyerolling inspired by faux-humble brags comes with its own pleasures tradition, an inside joke shared with spouses and kids.
