It seems that sending Christmas cards is one of those "you've finally reached adulthood" type things so I've been happy to send them to my family and close friends the past few years. Last year I made a point of writing pretty lengthy messages to most people, definitely didn't have the time this year and probably won't ever again. I was glad this year to have something to use our engagement pictures for, and collecting all those addresses for save-the-dates and invitations served a duplicate purpose which was helpful too! Dan got some good practice in stamping and licking as well-I'm sure he enjoyed that particular task :)
Not sure if anyone else had this experience, but our mail person seemed to deliver our Christmas cards in packs this year. We'd get 3 one day, none for a few days, and then another bunch. Or maybe our family and friends who sent us cards just got around to mailing them the same day, who knows. I love having new cards (now that Dan made me take down our engagement cards) and lots of pictures to hang on our fridge, but what I loved most of all this year were the envelopes!
Yes, I realize this is weird, but the one benefit of getting our cards in packs was comparing how people addressed them in this weird engagement period. Last year I don't remember seeing anything other than "Sarah Wallace and Dan Magner", or "Dan Magner and Sarah Wallace" or maybe just one of our names depending on who it was from.
This year, we got a whole variety and it was so much fun to see all the different combinations (this isn't all of them...but I think I covered all the combinations)!
When I've written our names recently (Christmas cards, save the date return address stamps, etc) I usually just write our first names and reverse the order each time and completely eliminate last names. Its weird, yes, but two last names is too much work. You can typically tell whose friend or family member is writing to us based on which name comes first on some of the envelopes, the Sarah and Dan Magner's are each from one of our cousins and the Mr & Mrs. Magner's are both from friends. Dan's favorite is that last one with Mr. & Mrs. Magner. I was the one who got the mail and handed it to him saying that we got a card for his aunt and uncle (the only Mr. & Mrs. Magner I know). He didn't think that was very funny for some reason.
Question of the hour now--am I changing my name? If so, to what? Surprisingly, Dan's mom didn't think I would change my last name, saying it seems to be the trend not to these days. I actually think that particular trend has passed for the most part, but its all circumstantial. If I were older (i.e. more established in my career) or was marrying someone with a particularly unusual name, I think I would have kept Wallace. My mom kept her married name even after her divorce primarily for professional reasons, and the fact that for almost half her life she's been Susan Wallace, not Susan Hedrich. Dan's mom opted to change hers back.
It's really important to Dan that I change my name, and I don't mind at all. I like the symbol of unity within our family (especially once we have children), I appreciate tradition, and frankly I like being further up in the alphabet! It will be a pain for probably a couple of years as I find more things I forgot to change my name for, but keeping my maiden name or doing a hyphenated last name could be a pain for much longer. Besides, Magner-Wallace sounds much better than Wallace-Magner and that first option just doesn't totally make sense.
Anyways, my next struggle was with my middle name. My mom eliminated her given middle name (Provost) and took her maiden name, Hedrich as her middle name when she got married which I think is pretty common. However, I think Wallace is a weird middle name. Giving maiden names as a child's middle name is traditional in my family, but I wouldn't even subject a child of mine to that. For the record, I also think Wallace is a weird first name. I also like my middle name- Breckinridge-and its even more important to me now that my grandmother (it was her middle name too) passed away a couple of weeks ago. "B" is also a better middle initial than "W". Sarah W. Magner? No thanks!
So I decided (and this may change before I legally switch) to do what gives me the most flexibility in the future-I'll change my last name and use both my given middle name and my maiden name as middle names. Legally, I'll be Sarah Breckinridge Wallace Magner. I've been practicing my new signature (lets be honest, that's been happening for a few years now) and I haven't totally decided what I want to do yet, but thankfully I have time.
For those of you wondering how to address our wedding cards or Christmas cards next year, Mr. and Mrs. Magner is completely appropriate, and I won't try to pretend its not for us anymore. Merry Christmas everyone!!
