Our Christmas Card

by Audrey Camp

Christmas cards and Christmas letters, chronicles of our year at a time of supreme reflection, appear to be a very American phenomenon. It's one I like. I have a box of cards collected over the years from my friends, and in the pictures I can see them fall in love. I am reminded up their weddings. I can marvel at the growth of their children and follow their adventures throughout the world.


We may live in a digital age that allows us uniquely (and sometimes disturbingly) intimate access to the lives of friends and acquaintances alike, but these paper cards are important to me. In fact, the more digitized the world becomes, the more special it is that someone would take the time to sit and put pen to paper or lick a stamp and press it to the top corner of an envelope. (I'm exaggerating. No one licks stamps anymore.)

This year, due to the cost of printing and shipping and paying for international postage, I wasn't able to send as many of the paper cards as I have in years past. To make up for that, I thought I'd post the card here, too. After all, if you read my blog, you're important to me. You remind me that my writing is worthwhile. You help hold me accountable. You make me go on.

So... drum roll please...

Merry Christmas, Reader!
Always, Audrey & Jonathan & Disney & Crypto

This time around, we let Crypto recap the year:

Okay. So, I'm concerned. Just about a year ago, Mom and Dad lost their minds. Seriously. It started in January when they put everything we own in an enormous container and shipped it across an ocean. Then Dad left to start his new job, and Mom could NOT shut up about how far away he was and how she couldn't have fun without him. I would have hidden under the bed... but they'd shipped the bed. No bed. Like I said. Crazytown. Then Dad came back and it was all love and happy faces until they pulled out the cat carriers. And I was like, "You have GOT to be kidding." But they weren't, and we flew 13 hours. No laps. It was just wrong. We got to Norway, and I knew it was Norway because Mom kept using her annoying babytalk voice and saying, "You're in Norway now! Isn't this fun?" And I was all, "No, this is lame." But then we were on a train, then in a taxi, and finally they hauled us up like a zillion stairs. The door opened. And they said we were home. Mom and Dad were kissing and holding hands and looking all dreamy. And they've been like that for months now. Gag. Me. So, like I said, I'm concerned. Please someone alert PETA. I'm being held against my will. Seriously. - Crypto

We moved? Squirrel! - Disney

Front Photos (Clockwise from top): Nyhavn, Copenhagen, Denmark; Operahuset, Oslo, Norway; Stockholm, Sweden; The Royal Palace, Oslo, Norway.