Sisters have exchanged the same Christmas cards every year since 1986
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Cathy Crichley, right, with her sister, Judy Tetino, hold their Christmas cards that they have been exchanging for the past 30-plus years at Crichley’s home.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Cathy Crichley, right, with her sister, Judy Tetino, hold their Christmas cards that they have been exchanging for the past 30-plus years at Crichley’s home in Washington.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Cathy Crichley, right, with her sister, Judy Tetino, hold their Christmas cards that have become a yearly tradition.
Christmas is a time of tradition for many people, whether it’s caroling, eating at the same restaurant on Christmas Eve, or watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas” when it comes on TV.
Two Washington County sisters hatched their own tradition three decades ago based on a happy accident.
Cathy Crichley of South Strabane Township and Judith Tetino of Canonsburg exchanged Christmas cards in 1986, as they typically did, and they each chose cards that extended holiday best wishes “For My Sister.”
The catch is, they each chose the same Hallmark card.
“We thought at first it was a mistake,” said Crichley. “But then we realized we got each other the same card.”
“It was a year of duplicates,” Tetino added, pointing out how they also got one another similar gifts that year.
It’s become a running joke, and a gift that keeps on giving, for the last 32 years. After laughing about it back then, they’ve kept exchanging the same two cards every year since, with one sister receiving one card one year, and the other receiving the other. Each sister signs and dates the card, and hangs onto it for one year, and then passes it back the next year.
The tradition became imperiled in December 1994, when Crichley was working in New Jersey and Tetino sent one of the cards to her. It didn’t arrive by Christmas, and they assumed it was lost in the mail. However, it finally turned up in January 1995, battered but still intact.
Crichley and Tetino, both now in their 70s, have managed to fill much of the inside of both cards with their names and signatures. They’re hoping that the tradition will continue for many more holiday seasons, so they can completely fill the insides of the cards and then start filling the back.
“We’re hoping for at least another 20 years,” Tetino said.