christmas card greetings

I live for mail that is not of the bill variety. Good, old school Christmas cards is the only Christmas-y thing I do for the holiday; other than that, I am the Grinch.

Today, I had a small collection of cards awaiting me. As I shuffled through the envelopes, I notice an oddly addressed one. Odd due to the names inscribed on the envelope - The Leech and Patsy - as if to be the ex-husband's name. To see that name; it looks so foreign, especially so near my own name.

Of course, it is the first card I open. My morbid curiosity is clearly steering the ship today. Christmas greetings from his aunt and uncle wishing us happiness and stating "would love to hear from you, it's been awhile." Duh!

In August, it was 4 years our divorce was final; in February, it will be 5 years that I moved him out of my home. That is an awful long time. Clearly, The Leech still hasn't informed his family that we are done.

Seriously?! A significant amount of time has passed; our divorce is no longer fresh. In fact, we have been divorced longer than we were ever married. So, why does The Leech continue to keep our divorce a secret from his family? Divorce was not an unusual event in his family as even his own parents were divorced. Why continue living under the veil of secrecy?

Since we split, I have maintained it is The Leech's responsibility to inform his family of our demise. However, that time has come to an end as I want to be free from these random surprises once and for all. I will be sending his aunt and uncle a proper Emily Post-esque note stating that they have not heard from us because there has not been an 'us' for quite some time. One less of Ghost of Christmas Past to stumble across in my future.