Carol Shields, American born Canadian author shared her thoughts on Christmas cards in the Canadian Living magazine, December, 1998. "My mother's Christmas cards made me see her differently. Her life was wider, more vivid, more thrilling than it appeared. My Mother saved them all, even those sent from our insurance company and from the gas and light utility.
"A few weeks before Christmas, my mother took from the highest shelf in her cupboard a large silver-plated tray. She always shook her head when she looked at this tray, the way it had blackened since the previous Christmas. Then quickly, she busied herself with a tin of silver polish and a linen cloth, taking a concentrated, anticipatory pleasure in the task. When restored to its traditional lustre, this tray was centred on our walnut coffee table, ready to receive the annual onslaught of Christmas cards.
"These came slowly at first, then soon became a toppling pile....
"This was her tradition, the silver tray centred on the coffee table, where anyone might sit comfortably on the sofa and take pleasure going through the separate greetings...I never doubted that she took pride in her act of elegance and originality.
"I, too arrange my cards every year on a silver tray on the coffee table. I can't imagine doing anything else."
~ Carol Shields (1935 - 2003) U.S. Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, Governor General's Award in Canada.

Tomorrow: Mother's Correspondence