Right Words

We didn't send Christmas cards last year.  Mom had passed away just three months earlier and I just didn't feel like writing to everyone after having just sent thank-you notes to the same people at the time of Mom's death.  This year, I contemplated whether I was in the mood to send out cards again and decided that I was ready to jump into it.  But this year, the cards would be in the form of a letter decorated with snowflakes.  As I wrote and edited and edited and edited our Christmas letter, I thought of the words by Mark Twain that I had read in a recent American Profile supplement to our local newspaper:  "To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement." I'm not sure if I chose the right words or put them in the right place, but I was actually happy to write those Christmas letters once again.  Now I open our mailbox each day with anticipation and joy, wondering what Christmas cards and letters we'll receive.