60 years, 2 cards: The timeless Christmas tradition turned biography

Every year around Christmas, Carol Kadash keeps an eye on her mailbox for a very special card that’s been in and out of the mail circuit since 1964.

Carol and Bill Kadash (now deceased) and Richard Stobert (and later his wife Shirley) have sent each other the same two Christmas cards for almost 60 years.

“The post office has managed to get them back and forth to us without losing one of them,” Carol Kadash said. “Which is amazing.”

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While the two couples have sent the cards from many different cities, Kadash currently sends hers from Regina, and Stobert sends theirs from Calgary, AB.

The cards are covered in crossed-out signatures with names and years the cards were mailed. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

In 1964, Kadash and her husband sent Stobert a Christmas card. The following year, Kadash sent another card to Stobert for the holiday season, and unbeknownst to her Stobert had signed the first card and as a joke sent that Christmas card back.

In the third year of the exchange, Kadash sent the original card back, and the tradition has continued every year since then.

“I guess we just thought it was kind of a joke, and we just continued with it,” she said. “It just never stopped.”

In 1968, Richard married his wife, Shirley, adding her name to the card. As both families had kids, their names were signed onto the card until they moved out when they became adults.

“It’s kind of like acts like a biography when you have a look at the cards,” Richard said.

The two cards are covered with dozens of crossed-out signatures followed by the year. Kadash said she can’t remember what year she had to put the tape on the card fold, but even it has begun to yellow with age.

“Now, I’m thinking if we run out of space on the back of these cards,” she said with a laugh. “We’re going to have to put an insert in here.”

In 2010, Bill passed away, but the tradition lived on, mailing the card with just Carol’s name.

Over the years, Kadash said sometimes the cards was the only constant in their friendship.

“We kind of lost contact with each other on a regular basis, but we always continued the Christmas card thing,” she said. “That’s how we kept in touch over all these years.”

Every holiday season, Kadash presses play on her CD player listening to all her favorite Christmas albums while she fills out well-wishing cards. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)

Kadash said the card may not make it to Calgary by Christmas, delaying their arrival due to the Canada Post worker’s strike, but she knows it will arrive in Stobert’s mailbox eventually. Stobert sent his to Kadash early this year.

Stobert has no plan to stop the exchange.

“It’s been travelling back and forth pretty good,” he said. “We’ll just keep it going as long as we can.”

Kadash said sending Christmas cards isn’t as it once was 60 years ago. Every year at Christmas when she was young, her living room was strung with Christmas cards, many from her father’s friends who he met serving as a veteran.

She still sends about 30 cards a year, but she doesn’t think she’ll ever switch to sending them online.

Stobert credits the good postal service for allowing the tradition to continue.

“It’s got to the point right now that we really don’t exchange cards with anybody other than between Carol and ourselves,” he said.