Advent Calendar Day 23: Christmas Cards

"The custom (giving Christmas cards) is a most striking one - so long as we have sufficient imagination to remember vividly that we are all in the same boat - I mean, on the same planet, and clinging desperately to the flying ball, and dependent for daily happiness on one another's good will! A Christmas card sent by one human being to another human being is more than a piece of coloured stationary  sent by one log of wood to another log of wood: it is an inspiring and reassuring message of high value."  

~ from Arnold Bennett 'The Feast of St Friend'

Christmas Mail - Ted Kooser 

Cards in each mailbox,

angel, manger, star and lamb,

as the rural carrier,

driving the snowy roads,

hears from her bundles

the plaintive bleating of sheep,

the shuffle of sandals,

the clopping of camels.

At stop after stop,

she opens the little tin door

and places deep in the shadows

the shepherds and wise men,

the donkeys lank and weary,

the cow who chews and muses.

And from her Styrofoam cup,

white as a star and perched

on the dashboard, leading her

ever into the distance,

there is a hint of hazelnut,

and then a touch of myrrh.

Christmas Envelopes - UA Fanthorpe
Monks are at it again, quaffing, carousing;
And stage-coaches, cantering straight out of Merrie England,
In a flurry of whips and fetlocks, sacks and Santas.
  Raphael has been roped in, and Botticelli;
Experts predict a vintage year for Virgins.
From the theologically challenged, Richmond Bridge,
Giverny, a lugger by moonlight, doves.  Ours
Costs less than these in money, more in time;
Like them, is hopelessly irrelevant
But brings, like them, the essential message

love.