Christmas Cards...

Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of the year. I love the decorations, the music, the christmas cheer, the good spirits most people are in when the are out and about doing Christmas shopping, I even love the grinches that want to be anywhere else but wandering around Best Buy trying to figure out what to get their bratty niece. I love trying to find that perfect gift for someone, putting in some real thought as to what they might like or want.

This year I've done pretty good on the Christmas shopping, I have Charlie's stuff all done and ready to wrap and send off this week. I have my sister, her husband and my older brother and dad all done. All I have left is my mom, my little bro (who I will probably do the shopping for during day after x-mas sales since he's in Korea and we aren't sending him big gifts over there) and then there's my nephew. I have no idea what to get my nephew. I got him something for his birthday that I thought he'd love to play with, but it was taken back and he got a life vest instead (wonder if he ever wore it or if he outgrew it? hmm?) But anyways, I'll probably just get a gift certificate for that little guy and then he can get whatever mom wants him to have! He's only 1 1/2 anyways so he won't know the difference.

Oh I almost forgot, I've also got all my ornaments bought! My mom buys ornaments every year for all of us, and then I buy the ones for her. So I have gone to Hallmark and bought all my ornaments, and as always I picked a couple up for myself too! But I must say, I'm pretty disappointed in Hallmark these days.

While at Hallmark I tried to find cards to send over to my brother in Korea, Charlie in Afghanistan, and then a few other cards to send to the troops for guys that may not have much family and may not get much mail. Well let me tell you, Hallmark has 1.... yes ONE... Christmas card for military members serving overseas. You can get cards for your mail man, your cable service provider, your dentist, your teacher, your PG&E meter reader, your newspaper delivery boy, or your dog walker, but if you want to send a card to a military member putting their life on the line for their country, you have one option and its so generic its not even worth spending the money on. With so many troops deployed to war zones, and others stationed across the world, you would think that there would be cards year around to send to say thank you, but especially at Christmas time, when these men and women are a half a world away from their friends, family, and loved ones. You think a company who created Valentines Day, could figure out the demand and the market for saying thank you to our troops?