Why I’m a Fan of the Winter Greeting Card

Jan 3

I’m a sucker for a winter greeting card–-Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy New Year—it doesn’t matter to me what is printed on the card or when it arrives. I just love the jolt I get this time of year when I open the mailbox and there is a card. It’s the same jolt I get when I happen to look up at the sky just around sunset, and the sun has set the late afternoon clouds aglow in a confusing mix of horizon and sky that looks like lava on mountaintops. I know both of these things are possible, receiving greeting cards in the mail, and witnessing a gorgeous winter sky, but that knowledge does not stop the delight I feel when these events actually occur.

I especially love cards with pictures. I like the big, solo picture, so I can really study it, witness the faces, the smiles, the small changes that happen over the course of a year. I am also thrilled when there is a note, news from family or old friends, but I will take any kind of greeting card, even a card with no note and no picture. All the cards bring me joy.

I do know there is a cost to sending cards, extra paper, the carbon impacts of delivering them, but for me, the care it takes to pick them out, address them, and mail them, says I’m thinking about you. That connection is worth it to me.

That connections is a little harder for me to find in the winter. The season of cold temperatures and short days looks very different on a flower farm. In the quiet of this season, I miss my morning walks in the field. I still go up there, but it’s pretty bleak. Early spring flowers are under frost cloth and also plastic for the most finicky amongst them. Many of last year’s stems and seed heads stand tall and brown, leaning on one another as they provide a home for overwintering insects and some seeds for birds. There is beauty in that winter landscape, but to me, it looks a bit like a muddy, abandoned battlefield. The remnants of last summer's toils are just standing there waiting for warmer days.

I also know that spring will be here soon, and because I’ve now lived through a few seasons of flower farming, I know I will feel some nostalgia for these slower, albeit cold days. For now, I’m grateful for the pink-orange sunsets and the greeting cards.

To each of you who follow the farm or buy local flowers, this is my greeting card to you. I am so grateful for all the people I have met growing flowers, and for all my friends (new and old) who indulge and support this small business.