A long time ago I had this one boss, and he was really great to work for. He was the guy who knew what every single one of the See's candies had inside. For someone like me, who hates nuts and hates the taste of coffee, this boss was a lifesaver when a box of See's showed up. And if there was fun to be had, you could bet he'd be in the middle of it.
One Christmas he told me what his favorite thing to do was for that time of year. He always saved his Christmas cards from the previous year, as long as they didn't have the date written on them and they weren't from Mom or Uncle Harry or someone like that.
Most of his family and friends lived in California. But he had this old college buddy who lived in Omaha, and that's what made it all possible.
My boss would send Christmas cards to all his contacts. And then he'd get the cards from last year, the ones that said nothing more than, "Merry Christmas. Love, Jeff and Betty," and he'd get fresh envelopes and stamps and choose a family member or two and a few of his friends and write out their addresses on a separate piece of paper. And he'd put all the cards and envelopes and stamps and addresses in a manila envelope and send it to his buddy in Omaha.
Mr. Omaha would address the envelopes, put the Jeff and Betty cards in them, and mail them back to my boss's friends in California.
My boss took infinite delight in imagining his friends getting a card and asking themselves, "Who on earth are Jeff and Betty?" And I couldn't help but laugh with him until my cheeks hurt, because his laugh was so contagious and it was just so funny.
I've never had the nerve to try it. But I think about it sometimes when the Christmas cards start coming in the mail...
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