I don't send Christmas cards, in general, every year. I like to send them. But there are some years that I'm just so overwhelmed that nobody gets a Christmas card from me. However, on those years that I do send cards my psychiatrist does receive one.
I will go one farther...I've had the same psychiatrist for eight or nine years (something like that, honestly I've lost track). Once, and only once, I DID give him a Christmas gift. It was a particularly difficult year when he had gone above and beyond for not only me but also my at-the-time (now ex-) husband. My psychiatrist is a bit of an art collector and I went to a local gallery and selected a small gift for him that was about the same cost as a single office visit ($200+). That particular year I wrote a very heart felt card to him thanking him for everything he had done that was above and beyond what any other psychiatrist would have done. I thanked him for being kind, patient and understanding during times when we had difficulty paying our bill and how despite that, it had not altered how he interacted with us or all that he done and never did he make us feel uncomfortable about it...quite frankly, for a while he wasn't getting paid but was still going above and beyond his responsibilities as our psychiatrist. Obviously, we had paid our balance and our finances had returned to normal before Christmas came around, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford to buy him the gift.
I had been a patient of his for a number of years and never given him a gift. I've never given him a gift since. But that year, accompanied with the handwritten note, I was able to convey to him that I realized just how much he had done for us and how much I appreciated him. He was very appreciative of the gift and, to this day, it is very nicely displayed in his office. I know other patients give him gifts sometimes. That it might even possibly be illegal or improper never occurred to me.
