A few days ago I spotted this on Twitter:

I checked it out on Snopes.com since there was a link in the comments. Personally, I wouldn’t need to check Snopes: anybody asking like that for Christmas cards could probably use some holiday cheer, and I don’t think most people lie about being terminally ill. (Frank Reynolds at a water park is one of the few exceptions).

I was curious about the story, though.

This is part of what Snopes said:

In November 2018, Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania, middle-schooler Maddox Hyde, who had been coping with cancer for eight years, learned from doctors he had only weeks or months to live .…

Maddox says he hopes to receive cards from people everywhere in the world. Anyone wishing to participate can address a Christmas card to:

Maddox Hyde
333 Ohio St.
Reynoldsville, PA 15851

The rest of my cards have yet to be mailed. Okay, I haven’t even bought them. This one, however, I mailed.

Cards can be hard for me to write. I don’t want to say the wrong thing. I read a few articles that said to make it funny, but that’s hard to do not knowing what his sense of humor is like. I found some punny Christmas jokes and included them.

I hope you’ll consider spreading some holiday cheer, even if it’s some other way.

The winter holiday season can be really hard. My dad passed away the day after Christmas eight years ago. Lights and trees bring symbolism that helps soothe me. Like Lucille Ball’s character sings in the movie “Mame”, I “need a little Christmas right this very minute”. I know I’m not the only one.