{"id":69,"date":"2025-01-19T13:29:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T13:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sarahfinch.co.uk\/?p=69"},"modified":"2025-01-19T21:26:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T21:26:03","slug":"seasons-greetings-some-favourite-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarahfinch.co.uk\/?p=69","title":{"rendered":"Seasons’ greetings: some favourite cards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GreetingsI made a new year’s resolution to blog every week \u2013 but 18 days have gone by and I haven\u2019t written once.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not for lack of material, It\u2019s been an eventful three weeks. As well as trips to London and Surrey, walks in Devon (and my first ever sight of cattle egrets), there has been a lot going on in the world of onshore oil, which has meant much reading of reports, drafting of submissions, writing articles for websites, not to mention emails. With all that filling my spare time, I lost the will to write anything I didn’t have to.<\/p>\n

But I don’t want to give up on my\u00a0 resolution so soon. In order not to let more time pass unblogged, I cast my eyes round for something to write about. They fell on the cards on my mantelpiece. Blogging about those will give me some practice creating photo galleries too, so here goes.<\/p>\n

I’m not a huge fan of Christmas and all its commercial trappings. But I have always loved Christmas cards. Texts and WhatsApps are all very well, but there’s nothing like familiar handwriting on an envelope. It’s so nice to hear from old friends and family members, some I only hear from once a year. One friend I haven’t seen since 1986 sends a home-made card and a newsy, witty update every year and I look forward to hearing about the latest doings of his grown-up children whom I have never met. This year, a card from a cousin contained a laconic message: ‘Got married a few weeks ago’.<\/p>\n

When I tidied the Christmas stuff away I kept out three cards I liked too much to consign to a drawer. My birthday followed shortly after with another flurry of cards through the letterbox. Here are my carefully considered favourite three of each, plus two bonus handmade ones (click on the photos to see a bigger version). These can stay out all year.<\/p>\n

Christmas top three<\/strong><\/p>\n