Erasure and The Problem With Christmas Cards

This is my first Christmas as half of a married couple, which means that the majority of the Christmas cards coming to our house are addressed like this:

"Mr. and Mrs. Daniel [Last Name]"

This is something I've written about before, and the way it makes me feel is still exactly the same. After getting the mail one day this past week, I started a text message conversation about it with Katie:

Me: I just think it's such a tasteless tradition to address people that way.

Katie: I'll bet the people doing it think the opposite, if that helps.

I'm sure she's right, and the last thing I want to do is seem ungrateful for getting Christmas cards from our friends and family, but I can't help feeling sort of like Maude does in the first minute of this clip:



Maude: I want to be me, Walter. I want my own identity!

Walter: You want your own identity? I'll give you your own identity. Here! Your button for the convention. Now, please. Stop being a pain in the fedlock.

Maude: (looking at nametag) "Hello. My name is Mrs. Walter Findley." Mrs. Walter Findley. Walter! How come your button doesn't say "Hello, I'm Mr. Maude Findley?!"

Walter: Because that's not who I am!

Maude: (waving nametag) And this, Walter, is not who I am, either.