If I had a million dollars…
(*if I had a million dollars*)

I’d buy everyone a Christmas/Hanukkah/dead of winter/Solstice gift. (This is a lie. Gift shopping can be unbelievably stressful. But I’d want to buy everyone a gift.)
However, I do not have a million dollars.

So I send cards instead.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bess Carnan (@besscarnanbooks)

I love sending the annual cards, the whole process. I love picking out the next year’s cards when they’re on sale in January (always making sure to have no more than half be Christmas-y, so Christmas-celebrating friends are included). I enjoy the trip to the post office to pick out stamps, some holiday, some not. (This year we had holographic dinosaurs!) Writing the newsletter is a fun reminder of everything we’ve done over the last year, most of which I’ve forgotten about. And then the actual letter writing! Telling everyone I’m thinking about them, checking in on what they’ve been up to, wishing them a fabulous new year. That’s the best part. (Harder this year, since I’m desperately pretending there’s nothing wrong with my writing hand, but still my favorite!)

I send a lot of letters throughout the year, but the 60-odd that I send in December are by far the biggest batch. And each one is a little bit of love that I’m sending out into the world to people that live across the country, across the world, or across the city. It’s hard to keep in touch with everyone you love all the time, but this way I get to let them know that I am thinking about them and they are important to me, even if we don’t see each other, or even talk much. And every card I get back is someone saying “Yes! Me too!”

Since most winter holidays are, at their core, about doing something bright and warm in the depths of winter, sending out cards and newsletters feels like sending out little sparks or embers to everyone I care about.

I know not everyone likes holiday newsletters and that’s totally cool.

But you’re getting a little “I love you” from me anyway.