I both can and cannot believe that another holiday season is upon us.

In grad school, the alumni would frequently tell us to enjoy student life and that the years go by more quickly the older you get. I’m not “old” yet, but I must say, I can already vouch for the wisdom they shared early on.

I love the holidays. All holidays, actually… July 4th feels so young and carefree. Blasting Christmas music is one of my favorite past times. And as someone who tries to practice gratitude and mindfulness on a daily basis, I really appreciate that Thanksgiving seems to put gratefulness on the forefront of everyone’s hearts and minds.

I saw this adorable bear card while window shopping and I didn’t hesitate buying it. This was a big year for me, and a big part of all my growth and experiences was having an amazing support system along the journey. I immediately knew who I wanted to send these cards to, to thank them for all their support and friendship.

Cards have always been meaningful to me. As a little kid, we weren’t huge on gifts. We always had everything we needed and we did a reasonable amount of gifts, but we never had or even wanted huge piles of extravagant items under the Christmas tree. We were loved and provided for, and that was plenty. We always created handmade cards for our parents, and they always wrote loving notes to us. This practice has stuck with me into adulthood. I appreciate that I am not materialistic or focused on gifts. I still hand make a card for my parents for special occasions. And I keep and treasure the meaningful cards that various people have given to me over the years.

I think cards and the written word are a lost art form. My journaling practice helps me process my life, and it’s fun to look back on old entries and see how far I’ve come. I think cards are a beautiful way to document or take a current snapshot in time of your feelings/relationship with someone. In today’s fast-paced and technologically connected world, it’s so easy to just send someone a virtual message. Writing and mailing a card demonstrates thoughtfulness and effort toward the people you care about.

It’s fun to hear the responses of my friends who received this adorable bear from me. They sounded touched and surprised. A couple of them even showed me where they hung it up in their homes! It felt good and right to fully express my heart, and it was just a cherry on top that the recipients also enjoyed the message and sentiment.

Take a moment to handwrite something for someone you care about. It doesn’t even need to be a fancy, pretty card. Random post-it notes or scribbles in notebooks show thoughtfulness, too. If you want to send some snail-mail love my way, just ask and I can share my mailing address. 😛

Happy holidays, everyone. I hope you all know that you are loved and cherished because of the mere fact that you exist as a human being on this planet.