Last posting date to the Philippines today...

... and I'm happy to say I beat the deadline! Yay!!!!

Burned the candle at both ends last night just to finish sorting, labeling, writing and licking the Christmas post, just to be able to send the cards off today and know that they might (or should, anyway!) reach the 47 receivers on or before Christmas. 47! Whew! And that's just for Asia and Oceania.

And then there's the annual family newsletter which I had to plan, compose, lay-out and print (with O's willing assistance), to be individually folded and sent out with the cards. It always takes assembly-line precision to produce those newsletters and cards every year, but we still do it.

Why, you wonder? Why do we even bother? Why do it at all?

Because it gives us a chance to re-connect with loved ones, even at least once a year. To be totally, virtually, ephemerally together in spirit, during the short space of time it takes them to rip open our card and read what's inside. For those precious few minutes, we allow them to come and share in our world, and our life is that much richer and brighter for the connection.

Because while each card goes through the family production line, we say a prayer for whoever it's going to, so it's a chance to intercede for each of our loved ones and remember them before the Lord. It's both a practical and spiritual process, a yearly ritual since we moved away from home.

Because uprooted, migrant families like ours can not afford to lose touch with our roots and our circle of relationships, at any cost, at any price. They are all that keeps us afloat in the deluge of the holiday rush, they are everything that keeps us sane in the flood of overwhelming loneliness that besets homesick people at this time of year. We reach out and explore our new world with enthusiasm and gusto, but we can't do it without knowing our roots are intact, that we still belong to a network of relationships with people who know us and love us, despite the geographical void.

So if you get a card from us this Christmas, you know what it went through before it reached your hands. And if you don't get one, it's because we probably don't have your address :) Not yet, anyway.

And Monday is the Christmas postal deadline for North America...

Back to the production line, then. :)