Hallmark Holiday

I'm smart enough to not be too manipulated by the influence of crass consumerism and advertising, but every so often I just have to have a bit of a breakdown in the middle of Zellers. Okay, so nothing that melodramatic today, although I'm left feeling like I'm having a bit of a blue day. I was in the greeting card section [which is a surefire cause of the blues I would argue] trying to pick out a Father's Day card for Joseph's dad and of course all of those soppy "to daddy from daughter cards" caught my eye. Bleh. I am thankful that I had as many Father's Days as I did to celebrate my own dad - I think it would be much worse to lose a parent while you're still officially a child/teenager [of course unofficially I'm still both of those]. Having to deal with the inevitable school activities and crafts and such and then explaining why you're making something for your grandfather or godfather or uncle or whatever...or maybe everyone would know and would give you that "look" [oh, how I hate that "look"]. Don't get me wrong - I think it's fantastic that we do celebrate fathers - it's certainly a tough job [and even tougher to do well], but it still brings me down. However, I did get an amazing card for Joseph's dad - it features both a bad pun and a small animal - you can't get much better than that.

But on the subject of greeting cards - I really do love them. We have a pretty strong tradition of greeting card exchange in my family and extended family. And yes, everything you might think about greeting cards is of course true - they are tacky, they are silly and over priced and they are poorly written and perhaps without true sentiment. Yup yup. However, there have been numerous times when I have been genuinely touched via the medium of greeting card. Sometimes it's been because I was not expecting a card from a certain someone [I never think that anyone thinks of me unless I'm loudly in their face]. Sometimes it's because the person writes a little something [and I'm always affected by writing]. A few times it's even been because of the dopey sentiment printed on the greeting card. Yes, I'm an emotional twit. Plus, it's always nice to get mail. My mum and dad used to send me cards a lot when I first moved to Toronto - pretty much every week. My dad used to write me letters [most of which, I will freely admit, really annoyed me - I might be an emotional twit, but I'm not one to sugar coat history] on his office stationary and generally put in a $20 note. Recently my mum has started sending me dopey greeting cards with a few lines of hometown gossip or family life - it's very nice. I've even started sending some her way [sure beats the dreaded telephone].