Ned Luce

Old friends living far away, family we don’t get to see very much of, previous work associates, some folks we don’t care if we ever see again, all of these people fill up our Christmas card greeting list each year.

You also probably send some, or lots, of cards each year, mostly to people you might care about. We are among those who create a letter each year, cataloging our activities and achievements of the past year dutifully including some of the achievements of our children and grandchildren. 

We make a real effort to exclude the count of the times we may have broken the rules concerning COVID. I actually create the letter which is closely edited by BJ before being sent. 

Fortunately for the recipients of our epistle each year, my letters have become shorter and lighter resulting in something a little more readable. 

I know this because I have a copy of all 47 letters I have written thanks to a sister-in-law who collected the first 10 or so and presented them to us in a nicely decorated album. 

Surprisingly, she didn’t want them anymore. 

Since then we have added a copy of each year’s issue to the notebook and thus have inadvertently kept a minimal record of our lives. Pretty good deal for a couple of people not known for keeping diaries or journals.   

We have usually not sent greetings to local friends given our ability, somewhat restricted this year, to see them at various dinners or activities here in Port Ludlow. That is not to say we don’t enjoy getting remembered by locals! Of course, some of the greetings from locals are accompanied by the mail or the newspaper!

At this writing we have received greetings from about 50 percent of the folks to whom we sent. 

The 50 percent actually includes a few we chose to mark off our list and not send a card. I mean we had not seen them in many years and did not particularly care if we saw them again. 

Our feeling emanated from the fact that their Xmas letter historically was a couple of pages of detailed information not only of where they went but also their mode of travel and the amount of time they spent there and the people they saw and the places they ate, etc. We even got a letter where there was a paragraph describing what the senders DID NOT DO. 

Frankly, I guess I do appreciate those kind of letters because I have learned so much about what NOT to write. 

Of course, there are also the folks who send us the greetings more appropriate for a Rick Steves travel brochure or a résumé for their precocious child with whom we exchange letters. These folks are called family thus we must tolerate them. 

Then there are the people you care about who send cards with no information. It is almost as if they think we should feel blessed to get just a signature. 

Actually, we did get a card this year with only the sender’s name printed in the card. Come on, use a pen! 

We really would enjoy hearing more about the lives of some of our old friends from college and other places we have lived. We lived in Pittsburgh 1972-1975 and BJ had a friend with whom we have exchanged cards since then even though we have not seen or talked with her since. 

We look forward to hearing from her family and seeing her card each year. She draws the beautiful card each year by hand and includes a light hearted synopsis of the family’s goings on as she provides an entertaining picture of their lives. 

An extended family down in California has provided a hilarious review of their family each year, but we were disappointed this year to get only get the card without a letter. 

Well, they do have seven children with two in college so they could be strapped for time! 

The vast majority of the greetings we receive are more than welcome and frankly we wish we heard from more of our friends and former colleagues. There are also the unfortunate few who did not get one of our fine letters this year and also might not in the future. 

Love a curmudgeon, keep wearing your mask and have a great 2021.

(Ned Luce is a retired IBM executive and Port Ludlow resident. The only thing Ned finds more delightful in his mailbox than a holiday letter is a piece of junk mail with a refrigerator magnet inside.)