Christmas Card...

Today I received a Christmas card from a company I do business with on a fairly regular basis. I only opened the envelope only because the return address had the name of the company printed, in gold leaf, of course, on the back. Perhaps I am naive, or grumpy, or whatever, but it bothered me that of the seven names on the card, not one of them was recognized by my little brain. Now before you think me more Scrooge than Santa, let me say that, in spite of it all, I loved the card. I guess I am an old softy, because when the season, Christmas, overflows with good wishes from strangers and soulmates alike it gives me hope.

But the card still bothered me ... slightly. Maybe because so many of my relationships have lost the face to face nature of, well, true relationship. Email, teleconferencing, text messaging, all of the great tech advances in communications, have eroded day to day talk, conversation. How many of us have gotten an email and COMPLETELY missed the point because we couldn't hear the tone of voice, the smile on the face, the body language? It has happened to me a bunch of times and, well, I am weary of it.

I am not advocating giving up the cell phone, PDA, computer, none of that, because those who know me know that I use ALL of those tools to their fullest. What I am going to do, though, is give a gift to my family and friends first, clients second. I am going to go see them before Christmas, say hi, talk to them, listen (when able! Ha, Ha.) and best of all, discover anew the reason why a baby was born in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago.