Thanksgiving Cards? Come On.

Thanksgiving Cards? Come On.

I was amazed as I checked the mail during the Thanksgiving weekend at the number of greeting cards that we received. Now, before I launch into this rant, let me say, it is always nice to hear from friends and coworkers, especially the ones that show pictures of their kids and things like that. So, I do not mean in any way, shape or form to take away from these cards or holiday updates. My problem is that it increases the pressure as those cards start to roll in. And, you wonder, at what point do they start coming at Halloween?

In the Armes’ family, we try hard every year to get a card out, hopefully by Christmas. Just as we enjoy seeing the growth of our friends’ children, they like to see the growth of ours as well. One of our problems is that our eldest does not live here anymore. It makes it tough to get a picture when you do not have them together very often at all. And, when we are together, it is like pushing a chain to get them covey’d up to even snap a quick photo.

Here is how it went at our house on Thanksgiving Day. First of all, my dad was in the hospital, which added to the stress. We had a small group of people coming over so we kinda had to cook. And, the last thing my bunch wanted to do after a big meal was to pose for pictures. So, I put on my cranky face and said “alright, now hear this, we WILL take a family picture today for our Christmas card. Alright, now everybody put on something camo and meet me out by the pickup. Grab a gun.” Luckily, Dede’s sister was there so we had a photographer and we took some quick shots just for fun of the Armes’ family in camo each holding a gun. We still do not know how that will turn out. For the next shot I said “okay, everybody go put on normal clothes and meet me out by the chuck wagon.” I do not even think I put on clean jeans and I had been frying turkey all day. I put on my Carhartt jacket, hooked the chuck wagon to the tractor and pulled it out to the pasture. Now, remember this window was very small. As a matter of a fact, I think we spent 30 minutes total because Katy was heading back to Stillwater bright and early the next morning. So, in my usual fashion, I was running Mach1 with my hair on fire trying to gather my brood for a simple picture so we could get a Christmas card ready, knowing full well that we had at least 10 Thanksgiving cards sitting on the counter back at the house from wonderful families with great kids that must be bored stiff.

I love the holiday season, but it sure seems like we rush it. I think that may be Wal-Mart’s fault, as we look for who to blame. I certainly cannot blame myself or my lack of organization, heaven forbid. But, if you will think about it, Wal-Mart starts the Christmas season at Halloween. Nothing erks me more than to hear someone say a week before black Friday “oh, I already have my Christmas shopping done.” Who are these step ford families and what planet do they live on? Here on earth, or at least the little spot on earth that the Armes’ family lives on, it does not seem to work that smooth. It seems like every year we have to fight harder and harder to get everybody together. What gets me the most is these families look so relaxed and so casual, as if having everybody’s hair fixed at the same time is a normal occurrence. I do not know how to get that done but I know one thing, we will have a Christmas card in the mail before Christmas if it hairlips the Pope.

So, if you are waiting on a Thanksgiving card from the Armes’ family, I would not count on that. And, if you are waiting on a Christmas card to arrive on December 18th, I do not know if I would count on that either. I would say a Christmas Eve expectation would be more like it. That is assuming that the digital pictures taken do not get inadvertently deleted. So, until the card gets there, I hope you have some time to lollygag with your family, overeat, watch movies, pop popcorn and enjoy each other. And, oh yeah, that reminds me, we have gotta put up the Christmas tree. Ugh.

If you would like to contact me while I am at the capitol, please do not hesitate to send an email to donarmes@house.gov or call me at 1-800-522-8502.

And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:

“Some businessmen are saying this could be the greatest Christmas ever. I always thought that the first one was.”
-Art Fettig