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I get free ones from various charities and I used to send those. Now I send a few cyber cards by Jacqie Lawson because they are so beautiful and they play music.
I deliberately used the word "holiday" because there are several holidays during the last month of the year and there are cards available for all of them. Different people celebrate different holidays and there is nothing wrong, IMHO, with recognizing that fact. People send cards with themes of Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, etc; they're all holidays; ergo, they are all 'holiday cards.'
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For example this year I went to six different stores looking for just the right DIL Xmas card. Haven't found it yet. They all either had unappealing (IMHO) art or expressed a sentiment that doesn't reflect the polite-but-slightly-distant relationship that she and I have. I'm certainly not going to give her a saccharine or 'gushy' sounding card, because that would be ridiculous as well as hypocritical. But on the other hand I feel like if I don't get a "daughter-in-law card" it will look like I didn't bother to make an effort. Same thing happens with birthday cards but at least they're available all year long.
I am like you with cards. No sugary sentiments and the fewer words the better. Looking for cards if I open one up and there’s a long paragraph, back it goes.
I give our old Christmas cards we receive to our DIL after Christmas. She saves them for the next year and after Thanksgiving, she gets them out and puts the grandkids to work. They cut out the pretty parts and repurpose them into gift tags with glitter, ribbons etc. added. It keeps the grandkids busy and carries on the tradition my DIL’s parents started when she was a child.
I’ve only kept one card out of all the birthday, anniversary and Christmas cards all these years. This card was for my in-law’s anniversary, which was was the day after our own anniversary. The card I sent said something like “to the perfect couple” on the outside and on the inside “feel free to send this back to another perfect couple”. My MIL kept it and sent it to us the next year, and so began 15 years of sending it back and forth, using new envelopes. I’ve kept it because it’s like reading a slice of history, about them and us, with messages written in almost every empty space. It was our turn to send it when my FIL died and ended a fun and totally unexpected tradition.
For the last several years, I have only sent out 4-5 handwritten cards to my parents, aunt, and a friend or two. The humble-brag holiday letters or impressive cards with pictures and descriptions of their extensive/exotic travels and family's prosperity or talents really took much of the joy and personal connection out of Christmas cards/letters for me, particularly the year my husband was deployed to the Middle East and I was stuck in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. Not one person reached out to me and said "This must be a tough time for you with no family in the area. Know that I am keeping you in my thoughts" or something like that. Like other people have mentioned here, sometimes it may be tough to reach out, but it's those times that a person does when it tells you who is truly a "friend." Unfortunately, it seems like the only reaching out some folks want to do is the type that wins them massive accolades in a public way. Never the quiet, genuine type that reaches an individual in need of a kind word or gesture.
I deliberately used the word "holiday" because there are several holidays during the last month of the year and there are cards available for all of them. Different people celebrate different holidays and there is nothing wrong, IMHO, with recognizing that fact. People send cards with themes of Christmas, Hanukkah, Eid, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, etc; they're all holidays; ergo, they are all 'holiday cards.'
I've sent all these holiday cards..and probably still have a small pile somewhere...
Takes me to the thought of when I came to So. Calif. it was santa on a surfboard or santa suning on the beach...I don't send any cards now for at least 15 yrs.
I still get a few straggle die hearts who still send and that's their choice.
For me, Christmas cards have gone the way of the doo doo bird. I still get about 2 cards but I have explained to the senders that I no longer do cards. I use WhatsApp and texting on Christmas Day to wish certain people "Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays."
Last edited by Rastafellow; 11-24-2018 at 03:54 PM..
Reason: punctuation
I guess I'm in the minority in that I sent out about 50 cards, but the list evolves over time. I add new friends and forced myself to cull those we haven't heard from in years, nor received a card. Sad as it is to say, it's the only communication I have with some people that we might once have been close to but haven't seen for some time - but that you don't wish to lose touch with altogether. There have been a few that we've reconnected with as a result of the cards. I try to write a personal note to everyone in the cards. While I've never been into the newsletters, as we don't have children and our lives are pretty simple, so anything worthy of a newsletter might come off as either bragging, such as a trip or fun events, or depressing, as in the loss of a loved one. The ones I receive are usually written well enough that the people come across as sharing what's happening in their life.
We continue to send them out but my wife and I were discussing this morning how few we receive in return. Last year we may have received a dozen cards or less. And no, they have not been replaced by e-cards or other social media holiday greetings - unless a single "Happy Holidays" post to everyone on FB somehow replaces 50 hand written cards to friends and family.
A number of the former card senders within our families have died, and obviously too many other people simply don't care. One former neighbor that moved away had sent a New Year's letter for years then suddenly stopped in 2017. My wife fears the worst because she learned the wife had been battling breast cancer.
I too remember the days when the Office Secretary would provide everyone with a list of co-worker's home addresses for sending greeting cards, gifts, or nothing. I am sure that act would be an offense punishable by termination for disclosing personal information in today's world.
I used to love to send and receive Christmas cards. But, about 3 years ago I stopped sending them. The list grew shorter and every year I got fewer cards myself. People moved and you lose track of them and keeping up with addresses.No one in my family ever sent them and I always sent them one. So, I just stopped doing it. Postage has really gone up and I don't have the time like I used to. But, when I was first married I loved the tradition.
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ergo, they are all 'holiday cards.'
