Cards that win the heart

Every Christmas, guess what I look forward to receiving?

Gifts? Nope. Cash? Hmmm…maybe? And what else?

There was a time when we guys get all sorts of pens, wallets (empty), fruit cakes and umbrellas (my favorite is the Avengers-inspired which I seldom use anyway, sayang baka mabasa, hahaha!!!).

Those items haven’t been as ubiquitous as they used to be. Does anybody miss them? I doubt it.

What I treasure the most every Christmas are…you didn’t guess it, did you? ­ family Christmas cards (sorely missed this Christmas is the one from Julio Iglesias who has been sending cards for more than 25 years…until two years ago…so that I could monitor how his kids were growing).

Gifts (especially food) are perishable…rather (blush, blush, blush!)…”re-cyclable” while cards are for keeps, forever, best kept in a memory box.

I thank my friends who keep the tradition of sending Christmas cards alive, despite the threat of social media that has turned greetings in special occasions so impersonal, so impertinent. Some traditions are hard to break and sending cards is one such “unbreakables.”

Here are some of the Christmas cards that touch my heart this season.

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