Thursday 3 December 2009

Writing letters, sending cards

I love to write letters. Mostly because I like to talk to people when they visit and when they are far away I like to leep them in the loop of the family. Since my dad died in 2004 we - and by this I mean the relatives from my dad's side of the family - have had the occasional family gathering that wasn't a funeral or a wedding. These have been quite well attended and have given the younger members of the family a chance to meet their cousins and get to know them. We have a family newsletter called the Gibbon Gazette. This is used to tell them all about the advances I have been making with the research into the family history.
The tales of our Actors meeting and getting married while working in the theatre have filled several editions and sometimes cousins who live in faraway plaes have sent pictures of their children and grandchildren so that they will be recognised when we eventually meet up.
I love to prepare the edition at Christmas time so that it goes into the envelope with the card and is soon winging its way across the world.
I try to make sure that the Christmas cards are written and ready to go for December 1st. This year I was just a little bit ahead of myself - I have been a day ahead all week - so I happily posted all the cards on Monday and it wasn't until late that night that I realised that they had gone a day early. Now I am waiting for the phone calls to tell me what I have got wrong in the letter. One day someone will write back to me.