From the Archives

It appears that dodging Christmas chores was something of a family tradition, even 57 years ago. Could I get my husband to address Christmas cards? I wondered. The family was coming. There were shopping, gifts, the tree, cooking and cleaning ad infinitum. I arranged cards, stamps and an address book on the table, then hopefully pulled up a chair and said, “Come on, dear, let’s get these out of the way.”

He glanced at the array on the table, turned away and went into his den, while I looked daggers at his back. I heard a drawer jerked open, banged shut. He returned with a high stack of cards, stamped, sealed and addressed.

“They’re last year’s,” he said. “I forgot to post them. Now let’s go out to dinner and relax – you’ve been working too hard.”