Those Christmas Cards

Many people regard their offspring as their accomplishments. This becomes very clear at Christmas time, when people send out holiday cards featuring pictures of their children. In most cases there are no pictures of the parents, or maybe just very teeny ones on the back. It's like the parents no longer matter, or perhaps they're no longer attractive enough to pose for a photograph.

I find this tradition disturbing, especially in the case of people I may know but whose kids I have never met. Yet suddenly here's a picture of them, smiling woodenly in front of a Christmas tree or maybe swimming in a lake, one assumes last summer, and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with it. Unless the photo is of a newborn baby or toddler and is very adorable, maybe with a puppy in it, I trash it immediately.

My husband and I don't send out personalized greeting cards, preferring instead to choose from among the lovely art cards available everywhere. But if we did go to the expense I'm certain we would not put a photo of our son on it. First of all, who cares, and secondly, he would never speak to either of us again.