Week 2

Every year it inevitably happens that I forget to send a Christmas card to someone--either by neglect, by situation, or forgetfulness. Usually, it happens when people move addresses. This year, it happened because my computer crashed and my Christmas list of addresses could not be recovered from the program that I was using.

When this happens, I acknowledge the receipt of the Christmas card from the other person by sending a New Year's card to them. In the Japanese tradition of nengajo (of sending New Year's postcards), I combine the Japanese tradition with the Chinese tradition of the lunar New Year (Year of the _____).

This year is the Year of the Snake. I always combine the symbol, the year in numbers, and the wording of the year. On the interior, I usually explain a little something about the characteristics of people born in that year.