Brumley Family Branches

Christmas Cards of older days were sent out to family and friends just like we do now. They have changed quite a bit since the turn of the century, and they cost more money to buy and to send. The sentiment, however, is the same, wishing our friends and family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

My grandmother, Nellie Opal Sells Brumley saved three Christmas cards that meant a lot to her and were passed down from my mother, Nancy Gertrude Brumley Weik. Two are in postcard form and one is a small Christmas card. They are a little dirty and rough around the edges, but they are a treasure less.

I used to send out Christmas cards every year to my family and friends for decades. It was like a ritual one did every year. I watched my mother send out cards and sometimes letters every year she was alive. She had group lists, one for my father’s WWII buddies, one for relatives and one for friends we didn’t get to see very often. As Christmas cards arrived at our house my mother would collect them in a basket so she could reread the cards and letters and save them until the following year.

For me, it was catching up with my friends I have known since grade school. We would send pictures of our children at every age each year. I would write a brief letter about my events and talk about future plans.

Then one day the computer came along, and the United States Postal Service raised our stamp to send a card or letter. This made it hard to send out Christmas cards to several friends and relatives. So that brings us to today, now we text message Merry Christmas to family and friends, but it just doesn’t have the same warm and cozy feeling.

I have friends who still do mail cards, some cards are even handmade which makes it even more special to receive in the mail. Don’t get me wrong I love the internet world, I’d rather type on a laptop any day than to go back to a regular typewriter. It just feels good to receive a card in the mail that someone took the time to pick out for you or to make for you.