A very airmail Christmas…

So you might have realised on twitter, that myself, Rebecca & Holly have been cooking up an international Christmas blog project. I had loads of you who participated in last year’s Christmas blog party last year which was super lovely. This year though we’re having a joint blog party that is even more special as we’re taking it offline.

And you’re all invited – whether you have a blog or not!

Our only hope is that when you have finished reading this you will say ‘yes’ to taking part, because we’re doing this for a very special reason.

We’re calling it ‘A Very Airmail Christmas’. A Christmas card exchange with bloggers and tweeters from all around the world!

Let us tell you why we’re doing this…

Rebecca is a nurse. There was a lovely lady Rebecca had the pleasure of caring for over the last month who won’t get a chance to do all the fun things she loved doing at Christmas, as cancer took her life away last week at the age of 41.  We’ll call her ‘Robin‘. I am sure many readers have heard stories like these, we’re then affected but soon we get on with life. We all do it.

It was Robin that started this whole idea of doing a Christmas Card Exchange. So I’ll let Rebecca tell you the story behind it…

When I first met Robin the whole nursing team and I were overcome by how humble she was. She spent most of her days trying to get fit enough for chemotherapy, her husband doted on her and her twins would draw a picture for her everyday after school. However, Robin was growing weaker and it soon became clear that she would never get her chemo and would never reach her favourite time of year…Christmas. Over the last few weeks we had been having a few chats and conversations about a multitude of things. She was really prepared but also aware that making it to Christmas was not a possibility so she wrote letters and said her final goodbyes. However, a couple of days ago we got talking about Christmas and how people lose sense of it’s ‘true meaning’. I never got around to asking her if she was religious or what she believed in about Christmas. I just knew enough that Christmas was her favourite time of year. But it was one thing she said a couple of days before her passing that really struck me.

Robin said “if I had a Christmas wish now it would be really fun, Rebecca, if everyone in the world could just send anyone a Christmas card“. I was really confused and when I mentioned that I do send out Christmas cards she corrected herself. She said “No what I mean is it would be fun to send a Christmas card to someone you have never met. We all send our friends and family cards but not to anyone else. It would be fun to spread good will to other people as well too.“

Doesn’t she have a point, you think?

Robin passed away just how she wanted last week. It was extremely hard on everyone as we all thought the same: She left this world too soon. The following day her twins and husband came to see us and thank us by giving us a Christmas card. We were all touched beyond belief and now I want to carry Robin’s idea on to the rest of you.

Now we have to ask you the question: Would you like to take part in a Christmas Card Exchange with other bloggers and tweeters this year?

If you would like to participate, please follow these steps before November 28th 2012:

1) Click here to e-mail your address (it can be your home, work or anywhere else address that you’d like a card posted to you at). Please be assured your addresses will be held confidentially and not shared with anyone else apart from the person who will be sending you the card.

2) We will then email you the address of someone else that you can send a card to this year.

3) Once you have posted your card all you need to do is wait for you’re the card that you will receive from another generous blogger.

The only rule is that if you’re paired up with someone who lives abroad then you need to be willing to send the card to another country. We hope this will also be seen as a way of connecting with new people. You can also take a picture of your card and post it on your twitter or blog feed, and I will set up a page for a gallery of Christmas cards sent around the world!

We really hope you take part in this Christmas card exchange. When Rebecca told Robin’s husband of the idea this week and his face just lit up, his words were “this would be Christmas music to her ears.”

The more the merrier, so tell your blog friends about it! Let’s wish everyone ‘A Very Airmail Christmas’ this year!