CHRISTMAS LETTER
Ah-h-h, the Christmas letter, instead of a card. I have several friends who have
sent me Christmas letters every year I’ve known them. Personally, I don’t care
for Christmas letters! I prefer a card with maybe a quick note to tell me how
they’re doing. I don’t really care that they visited Uncle Sam and his pet dog
Spot who recently died, or the grandson (who I don’t know) just got married, or
that they’ve started a new business and would I be interested in purchasing
their product?
Nope. If you have that kind of information to give to me, how
about a phone call now and then throughout the year? Don’t give me an
information dump at Christmas time! Besides, after reading the Christmas letter,
what do you do with it? No room to hang it on the fridge, can’t stand it on the
mantle of the fireplace, so in a drawer or the garbage it goes.
CHRISTMAS E-CARD
In this day and age of internet, life has become much simpler in many ways. For
instance you can log on to one of the many e-card sites, pay a fee, select a
card and send. One popular site is Jacquie Lawson.
https://www.jacquielawson.com/membership.asp
You pay a minimum of $20 per year stateside, and $15 to $20 for other countries. The advantages are:
• Value- for money you can send an unlimited number of ecards for a whole year.
• Beautifully created- The cards are beautiful, animated and there is music.
• Quality of service-You have your own address book, birthday, anniversary, Christmas, retirement etc. reminders. There is a useful help line.
• Never forget- Set up automatic email reminders of everyone's birthdays, or special events. You could even set up a whole year’s worth of cards in advance. This is an excellent source of cards for someone who has limited resources or time.
Again though, what do you so with an e-card? I read them and enjoy them and maybe read them one or two times more, and then it is deleted. My husband does not read them, as he (believe it or not) never gets on the computer.
CHRISTMAS CARD IN THE MAIL
I guess I’m old fashioned as I love a pretty card that comes in the mail. I like
shopping for them, writing a quick personal note in them and sending that bit of
joy out into the world to cheer someone up. Ah-h, so you say what about the
environment and all those paper cards? I recycle mine. I make Christmas
decorations out of them, I’ve cut the front off and used that for Christmas
package tags, Pre-schools and other organizations put out calls for cards they
can use in their craft projects. And special ones I save and read over each
year. I pack them away in the plastic storage containers with my wrapping paper.
And oh, how I love seeing them on my fireplace mantle and end tables throughout
the house.
It adds to the holiday spirit to see all the different cards of
celebration on a daily basis.
Whichever way you send Christmas cheer and joy, I
hope it warms your heart as it does mine, to send as well as receive!
May you
all have a healthy, happy, holiday!
Do you sent Christmas cards, letters or e-cards or nothing?
14 comments:
Diana, I've gone to the E-Cards for all things unless a person has no computer access or has dementia. I made the decision after accumulating Years worth of paper cards that I did not recycle because I'm not one who does much in the gift wrapping department - sometimes it's just a brown paper grocery bag or maybe, if I'm being fancy some tissue paper. I know I'm a travesty when it comes to wrapping, etc. I've stopped getting the "free" cards asking for donations but when that was at it's peak, I saved them up and donated them to a program that helps youth aging out of foster care and a domestic violence shelter - also included a roll of stamps so they could actually mail them. And there are some e-cards I play over and over again. What's important is that someone thought of me and that I thought of them.
All great reasons for using e-cards! And Judith, you are absolutely right, "What's important is that someone thought of me and that I thought of them!" . Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts.
I too listen to ecards over and over. I love messages, no matter the way they come. My problem is I am TERRIBLE about sending messages back unless it is over the computer. When my kids were little and I worked 3 jobs 7 days a week, I sent out cards. They were always late because (1) I was working hard before the holidays (retail and restaurants), and (2) I hated to send them out with out a note and I never had time to write them. I do save all my cards and have for years, which is not good :-) Because I have tons of cards saved everywhere - to me they represent the history of my life. My grandmother used to make placemats out of cards and reuse them for wrapping tags, etc. But like Judith everything goes in a bag these days. I know it doesn't seem very holiday-ish, but I've worked so hard over my lifetime and always hardest at the holidays that I got out of the habit. And now I don't want to get back in the habit. But then I feel guilty because I DO LOVE RECEIVING CARDS :-)
Thanks for stopping by Deb. Well, it is easier to send out those cards on the internet. :)) I know when my mom passed and my sister and I were going through her saved paper work, there were tons of cards. It was really special that she saved all from the family. And reading them over was like a history lesson on our family. We learned things about our aunts and uncles we didn't know. Unfortunately, we still have a box of paper work, saved 'stuff' to go through. Happy HOLIDAYS!!
I do Christmas cards with a Christmas letter included for those people I don't have regular contact with. I do love getting family updates. I found out yesterday that my cousin in CA who has six kids and about 28 grandchildren, now has three great grandchildren and two more on the way. I usually buy a package of fancy Christmas letterhead, but this year I'll be using plain white paper. No trip to Staples for me. I have several boxes of cards left over from last year. And I've bought my Santa Claus Christmas forever stamps. What's left over I'll save for next year.
Right now the cards and letters are displayed on the coffee table, by the small silk Christmas tree. After Christmas I'll put the cards with messages and the letters into a file marked Correspondence and labeled by year. I have about 10 years of such letters in my file cabinet. Someday I may find myself reliving memories.
I'm already composing this year's letter in my head. In a day or two, I may start my file. When the letter is ready and printed out, I'll sit down with my Christmas card list that has all the addresses and start to work on putting it all together. Always a fun task. I have such fond memories of early Christmases. The cousin I mentioned earlier was always at our house (actually my grandparents' house) on Christmas Eve. With his parents, sister, and brother. I'm smiling as I write this. I do love Christmas. I live in my memories.
I love to send and receive cards. I can do without the letters, as they are so impersonal. I feel they give the illusion of a relationship that is really one-way, like a newspaper article. I'd rather get a personal note in a card.
I do save some cards in a wooden box, but not all of them.
I don't mind sending and receiving ecards. It depends if I get the regular cards mailed in time!
What a great question! Since I'm on the computer all day at work, I enjoy sending and receiving paper cards, which is almost nostalgic these days. Cyber security training has me to the point I don't trust links in emails much, even from a friend (you know...spoofing...) so I have probably missed out on some e-cards for that reason. That said, the handful of e-cards I have received were pretty darned awesome. For our holiday cards, usually we put a collage of our photos from the year together on a page, have it printed in color, and that's our card. It's like one of those annual update letters, but in pictures. Sometimes it's more like a New Year's card though, by the time we get it sent.
Barb,
Thanks for commenting. I love that you save all messages you receive and will enjoy them again. I bought my Christmas stamps early too. I think in October when the PO was not busy!
Enjoy composing this years letter!
Hi, Sarah,
Great that you save the special ones in a box! Is that a decorative box? I tried to do everything earlier than usual this year. Presents were mailed December 1, and cards this past week. Usually, I take well into December to get everything done. But with COVID I did everything early to avoid the crowds.
Happy Holidays!
Kelly,
Thank you for stopping by! I like the alternative to a letter being pictures! What an awesome idea! I've actually received some of your Christmas picture letters and they are well put together!
Happy Holidays!
I too am old fashioned I guess—I like reading physical books and the actual paper newspaper. So my vote is for regular cards. There’s something about putting an object in your hand that makes me feel more connected. I will show everyone in the house a card when it comes and display it until the next month usually. I feel guilty recycling them and occasionally save some. E-cards I do for people whom I don’t have an address (or a last minute oh crap! I forgot). I don’t mind receiving them as it is the thought that counts, but I don’t share it with other people in the house and it gets deleted as soon as I read it. I would never write and send a family “update” letter because I’m not organized enough and don’t send to enough people to warrant mass production. I find them annoying to receive because they seem so impersonal and braggadocious (I don’t care about your trip to Cancun or your 14 year old Maltese!) If you are a distant relation who wants to share these things, I can ignore them just as easily on Facebook, and save a tree. Ok, that was a little harsh; I share all those things too, but formalizing it in a letter and paying postage takes it to another level for me. Happy Holidays!
What an interesting post and question. I'm in the Jacquie Lawson e-card group and a Christmas Letter with pictures to close friends and family. I did do physical cards for about 50 years. But my list is nearly 100 people between my large extended family and then DHs small family but lots of friends from when he was in the foreign service.
Purchasing cards became expensive and mailing them as well. It was easily a $300+ expense. Most of my list of friends and family send a Christmas letter by email. Letters include pictures of them and children. I love that so I can see how they look now. Some of these people we haven't seen in 30 years or more. I also love hearing about their lives, their children's lives, and any plans they have for the new year. It may only be once a year that we hear--particularly friends who are not immediate family. But, for me, that once a year catch up means the world. It keeps a connection, and I know that should we ever travel to get together with them we can start from the present and not spend our entire time together talking about what we were like 40 or 50+ years ago.
I do miss having cards around the house, but the truth is I no longer have a place to put them. We have no mantle around a fireplace. We don't have a surface or places to display a hundred cards. I'm not crafty with them, and certainly don't want to store them. But I do store those emailed letters. Then, when we correspond, I can pull them out and remember what was going on the past year and ask after them and their children.
As someone said further up, what matters is connecting. However, my friends and family wish to connect with me I am happy.
Love the post, Diana. I am in the paper card bunch. and I always include a short note of some kind. Just a sentence or two. Somwtimes I am late sending them, but I still do it. At least for now.
I'm with you no holiday newsletters. Frankly I find them way too impersonal. Kinda a one stop kind of thing. eCards can be pretty and convenient, but there is nothing like a hand written card. I hang them over my doorways using those very festive clothes pins designed for exactly that.
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