holiday cards

When I first came to the United States of America, I was surprised by how much variety of everything existed here. One of the major surprises that I had was that when I first came to take a walk in a shopping mall, I saw how many stores there were selling all types of greeting cards. There was everything:birthday cards, cards for all the occasions (business Christmas cards ,Thanksgiving cards, etc, etc),business birthday cards, and more, and more, and more. There were cards for every member of the family that one could imagine: mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, and all the other possible members. There were cards that were funny, serious, inspirational, religious, professional, and others. I was astonished, carried away, excited, and destabilized by the whirlpool of all the cards that were around me. I could not understand the reason for all this abundance at first, but then, much later, when I have lived in this country for some considerable time, I understood that all the occasions are celebrated here. I mean, even if it is something minor, giving a card to someone is very well accepted and welcomed. Like, for example, even if a college class has just finished, and there is a student who was totally inspired and carried away by a certain professor, it is totally normal that this student gives the professor a “thank-you” card, showing his or her respect for and gratitude to the professor. Or, for example, when a person has just had an interview with a job manager and really wants the job, the potential employee might send out a thank-you card to that person to, first of all, thank him or her for the time spent together, and, second, to make sure that the manager remembers the person and singles him or her out when it comes to making a decision regarding whom to hire. After all, people work so hard in this country that I could totally understand why any occasion, no matter how small or big it is, would be celebrated and singled out by