In December, you get Christmas cards

While I am of two minds about Christmas, I still find Christmas cards quite charming. But because I have difficulty planning my life three days in advance, I have some difficulty organising tricky things like buying stamps and actually sending them (I'm A-OKAY to receive).

Sending cards can be onerous. Either you make them yourself (=time =effort =love =you possibly have nothing else to do) or you buy them. To buy a postcard is one of the worst experiences you'll have in a capitalist society, believe me. Should you get one with a message inside? If yes, you have to READ the message and then decide if it's alright. If you don't get one with a message inside, you can try to THINK of something clever to say. Or just sign and write 'Love' and add lots of  XXXs.

People tend to look at cards as a peculiar form of ephemeral art (most cards are thrown away). And some feel cards are little snapshots of your personality, in which case the pressure is on to impress. In Trinidad, cards can also be a tricky thing, with the whole debate over why most images on Christmas cards are related to snowscapes or from a climate alien to ours. There is a whole stream of thought (I LIKE to swim) about this and the neo-colonial veneration of the aesthetic of the outside/colonial motherland/developed world. BAHUMBUG!

But whatever the politics, it's hard not to just like cards for what they are: beautiful things. Here's a sample of some cards I got this year and really like.

 

And of course, no Trinidad Christmas is complete without cards on a religious theme (it being the celebration of baby Jesus and all). Such cards tend to look like this:

And like this:

CHECK out the coolest blog you'll ever find about postcards here.