Dear Carlo,
Christmas in the Netherlands is not as big as it is in the Philippines. In a way, it is a breather from the chaos and stress of our Pinoy celebrations. But somehow I know, that Christmas would never be the same without friends like you around.
I hope you will have a happy one. I miss you.
Love,
DM
P.S. I still look back, once in a while, to the New Year we spent together.
Today I wrote on my Christmas cards. In my ugly penmanship that couldn't be categorized as a font, I scribbled down the words that would not be the same when written on emails or SMS.
For many years, I forgo the Christmas card tradition and replace it with gift-giving, a big part of the Filipino celebrations of the Holidays. No matter how small the gift was, I would carefully select one for each member of my family or my friends. Now that I am a thousand miles away from them, Christmas cards are the best way to send my greetings. Every message is still personalized!
There is a certain novelty and charm in Christmas cards that any electronic card would not achieve. The joy of choosing the right words to best described your greetings is like writing a love letter on a perfumed stationary to a lover far away, you have to be very careful in scribbling each word so as not to make mistake and waste the paper, at the same time, full of emotions and anticipation of how he will feel while reading it.
Clicking an email to view an electronic card, even if it comes from Hallmark, is still not comparable to opening the mailbox, finding a white envelope with your name on it , ripping it open and reading what's written on the card. No matter how sloppy or beautiful the penmanship is, seeing the curves of the letters of your name, the ink stain blotted on the paper and the warm "My dearest" "With love" is a joy that is exclusive only to greeting cards.
It reminds us of pre-email love letters, perfumed treasure boxes and signed old photographs. Of intricately designed stationary papers, kiss marks on the seal, of best friends secretly playing mailmen and phone numbers written on a tissue paper. The sort of things you can paste on your photo album and make small notes about them. It gives these things the sense of being real.
In the bookshelf of my spinster aunt, a very long time ago, I found a book of love letters. The authors are unknown to me, yet somehow, they connected with my 10-year old mind. My adoration of the written letters might have started during that time. And writing on my greeting cards today made me nostalgic about it.
Greeting cards is a way of showing our love ones that we remember them and most of all, that we took the time to let them know that we did.
For many years, I forgo the Christmas card tradition and replace it with gift-giving, a big part of the Filipino celebrations of the Holidays. No matter how small the gift was, I would carefully select one for each member of my family or my friends. Now that I am a thousand miles away from them, Christmas cards are the best way to send my greetings. Every message is still personalized!
There is a certain novelty and charm in Christmas cards that any electronic card would not achieve. The joy of choosing the right words to best described your greetings is like writing a love letter on a perfumed stationary to a lover far away, you have to be very careful in scribbling each word so as not to make mistake and waste the paper, at the same time, full of emotions and anticipation of how he will feel while reading it.
Clicking an email to view an electronic card, even if it comes from Hallmark, is still not comparable to opening the mailbox, finding a white envelope with your name on it , ripping it open and reading what's written on the card. No matter how sloppy or beautiful the penmanship is, seeing the curves of the letters of your name, the ink stain blotted on the paper and the warm "My dearest" "With love" is a joy that is exclusive only to greeting cards.
It reminds us of pre-email love letters, perfumed treasure boxes and signed old photographs. Of intricately designed stationary papers, kiss marks on the seal, of best friends secretly playing mailmen and phone numbers written on a tissue paper. The sort of things you can paste on your photo album and make small notes about them. It gives these things the sense of being real.
In the bookshelf of my spinster aunt, a very long time ago, I found a book of love letters. The authors are unknown to me, yet somehow, they connected with my 10-year old mind. My adoration of the written letters might have started during that time. And writing on my greeting cards today made me nostalgic about it.
Greeting cards is a way of showing our love ones that we remember them and most of all, that we took the time to let them know that we did.
