This past Christmas we got a ton of cards.
I love getting cards, especially holiday ones.
And as cheesy as they are, I love the good ol’ family newsletter.

Looking through all the cards, it was nice to celebrate all the new babies as well as the lives of those who passed away.
It brought a smile to my face to see the little girl that was born weeks before Eli should have been born.
I teared up a little when I saw a plump little Santa baby who had been wanted for so, so long and is finally here!

But I never got my act together to send return cards this past December.
I thought about doing New Year’s cards, but I managed to miss that opportunity as well.
So somewhere around January 23 I decided that instead of doing the holiday card thing,
I’d just respond individually to each card we received.
I sat down the next day and wrote three cards.
(And by cards I mean letters smooshed into every available space of a card.)
And then I used real!stamps! and went to the real!post!office! and mailed them.

I told myself that I’d write 3 a week, which would allow me to write back to all of our card senders in a decent amount of time.
One problem: with the novellas I was writing, three a week simply was not happening.
So I decided to set my goal low and anything else I completed was a bonus!
One card a month.  SURELY I can do one card a month, I thought.
I mailed one card each in February and March.
But if I really am going to write back everyone, it’s going to take a lot more than one card a month!
And I started to get a little discouraged because I realized I would never complete my plan.

But yesterday something happened that gave me the umph I needed to send more cards.
I found all of these in my mailbox!

See?  Each of those cards had a line or maybe two of a handwritten note inside.
And it all of a sudden dawned on me that I didn’t have to write a book – just a few lines.

So I pulled out my stack of cards – some homemade, some store bought – and started writing.
There are a few of you who should be getting cards in the next few days!

This post was written in conjunction with Hallmark’s Tell Them campaign.
Visit them on Facebook and take your vow to Tell Them what they need to hear.

To help one of you Tell Them, I’ve teamed up with Hallmark to giveaway one 10-card pack.
No fancy click-here-do-that-now-do-this entries, just leave a comment below telling me what you’d tell.
All entries submitted before midnight on Thursday, April 5 will be eligible.
One winner will be chosen at random and notified via email.
(That means you have to make sure you leave me a valid email address!)

Winner Tara of Frequent Flyer Family has been contacted!