I started writing my Christmas cards yesterday. I’m not working ahead of schedule. Not supremely organized. Just the opposite. I have finally started writing my 2024 cards.

It’s not the first time I’ve been late, and probably not the first time I’ve been this late, but at least I can say it’s unusual even for me. Still, I’d rather send them late than not at all. This is the only time I connect with some of my friends and family, but every person on the list is someone I care about, and the connection is important to me.

So if you’ve been wondering why we didn’t send holiday cards in December, fear not. They’re on the way. I couldn’t possibly waste the work the husband put into drawing them.

Being March, it still occasionally feels like Christmas outdoors in the Midwest. We had snow earlier in the week, and occasionally my weather app tells me it’s 24 degrees still, or it’s 42 but feels like 26. It’s March in Chicago, and we know to expect late snow. Fortunately, it never kills the tulips.

Truth be told, I far prefer the vernal equinox to either solstice. So a celebration now makes more sense to me. Since spring is the time when life renews itself, why shouldn’t it also be the time when we renew acquaintances and connections?