Right now, spread across my table, is one of my favorite Christmas traditions of sending out our family Christmas card. I love thinking about our cards and the photos of our family and planning out how that all will look. It all starts with the perfect pictures! Capturing the moments and the memories of our holiday time together is super important to me. So I employ the best in my cousin, Kayla! If you have never heard me talk about her, you should totally check her out. She works magic with a camera and captures the most stunning photos ever. Her Facebok page is under Kayla Lynn Photography and her work is amazing! I'm trying to convince her to come to our little town next fall for mini sessions so for all my friends and family who want the perfect pictures - pay attention around August!!
Anyways, we get our pictures taken. I choose our favorites and add them to our card. I'm so excited to get them back and see how beautiful and grown up my girls are in print! This part has always been the best part of the process.
But this year? My favorite part of the process has been addressing the envelopes slowly, one at a time, and seeing where I send these pictures. The cards that we send span the United States, and now thanks to my sister and brother-in-law stationed in Japan, we've even gone international.
As I was addressing my cards this year, I took time on each simple address...thinking about the street names...marveling at the various states that are represented in my address book...thinking about the impact that each person on the receiving end of these cards has had on our lives. So many friends and family, people that crossed our path and never left, people I hardly ever speak to except for the yearly Christmas cards that we exchange, people I see in a daily basis and love dearly. There is a large list of friends and family that I send to. I've thought about paring it down over the years, not sending them to everyone in my address book. Choosing only a handful to write to. Not sending a card to people that don't write to us. And the thought of that makes me sad! I enjoy sending my cards. I like showing off my girls and my little family. But most importantly, I hope that the recipients of my cards know that they are each sent with love and admiration and a thankful heart. For the people that I send the cards to are people that are important to me. They are an important piece of the Duncan puzzle. They had some part in getting us to who we are today.
There are teachers that I had in my elementary school days at Peace that I still keep in touch with. They raised me and watched me grow in that small Lutheran school. They helped get us to church and played a big role in my early days of learning my faith and beliefs. There are aunts and uncles and cousins who are part of the best family in the world! I love my cousins and I'm thankful for a chance to reach out and let them know they are loved. There are college friends who were lifesavers in more ways than one, who were there for late night chats and the days when I'd lock myself out of my dorm room. There are current co-workers, who have helped me learn my trade in the elementary schools, and much much more! There are friends that walked into our lives because of Brian's work with the State Patrol and Cencom, and his volunteer work with the fire station. Those people who still check in on us and make sure we're ok. The troopers who still drive by our house at night to make sure the bad guys stay away. And the fire department friends who still "blip" the siren at my girls and me if they see us in the yard. There are the friends who we've picked as family...the ones who have always been there for us and who I know will always be there for us no matter what.
And then there's the missing ones. My grandparents. My husband. My other dad Tom. Laurie's momma Nancy. The ones that I so badly wanted to make a card for, to send to them and know they were here. I'll still take a card down to my grandparents and leave it beside their grave. And Sherri still gets a card from us, just not with Tom's name this year. And I texted Laurie and we talked about her momma and what a great lady she was. And how I'd addressed her envelope before my heart sank and I realized she wouldn't be there to receive it.
So as I continue with getting my cards completed, I will continue to think and be thankful and praise my Heavenly Father with thanks for an address book full of addresses. And I send prayers to those friends and family in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California. Friends in Oklahoma and Texas and Maryland. Friends in Florida and Montana and Indiana. Missouri and Georgia and Nebraska. And even all the way over in Ikego, Japan (Hi, Sissy!!)
We are blessed with love from all over the map! And blessed with an amazing network of people right here in our hometown and people who love and care for us and support us. We are blessed! So, when you get our Christmas card, feel the love and joy and peace that the Duncan girls send. Know the prayers and the care and the thankfulness we share with you. And know that we sent God's love with every Christmas card we wrote!
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