Holiday Cards or no Holiday Cards?

[Skippy123]

Each year I write out Christmas cards and sometime I will get one from someone that isn''t on my list so I promptly send one out. Last year I was extremely busy and did the unthinkable (I sent email greeting cards) and mailed cards to people who didn''t have email!

I am about to start sending them out again this year and was wondering the following:

Do you like recieving Christmas cards and if so, do you send them out?

Do you think forget the Christmas cards, do an email greeting instead?

Thanks in Advance

 

[Cind11]

I enjoy receiving Christmas cards and I do send them out. I have resorted to the rather generic form letter because I don''t have time to write a note on each card. I still sign our names inside the card and hand write the names and addresses on the envelopes.

I''ve never received an email Christmas card, but I think I''d find it pretty impersonal. Although I suppose it would be better than no card at all. So I say, don''t forget the Christnas cards. They are a nice tradition.

 

[KimberlyH]

I LOVE CHRISTMAS CARDS! I love mail in general, except bills of course, and there is nothing like getting cards in the mail. I am holding back this year, my cards are usually in the mail the day after Thanksgiving, but my mom called me "overzealous."

 

[akw94]

I say go with the cards. I try to send them out but sometimes I buy them and then seem to get lazy about sending them. I always love receiving them and this thread has motivated me to go get some and get them out this year.

Thanks!

 

[mrssalvo]

I always do cards and we love getting them. I hang them all up on our pantry door and leave them there until I take down decorations.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 11/25/2007 3:09:59 PM
Author: mrssalvo
I always do cards and we love getting them. I hang them all up on our pantry door and leave them there until I take down decorations.

I do the same thing and so do my parents. I love the family pic holiday cards too; I think they are so cute!!!!

Thanks, I will send them out. I was just wondering if it was a dying tradition. . . I guess not.

 

[somethingshiny]

I LOVE receiving cards, who doesn''t? Even my toddler starts doing the "blue''s clues mail dance" when he gets a card! But, I''m terrible at sending them out. I usually just send a few. I don''t do every relative, etc. I pick out cards for about 10 people, and that''s all she wrote!

I''m the shamed one in DH''s family. MIL is a Hallmark manager!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I love getting cards and used to ALWAYS send out holiday cards. I am thinking about doing it this year (instead of birth announcements) but we''ll see if I actually have enough energy to do it

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

I love to give and receive cards, but alas every year I get less and less

; I usually take the opportunity to enclose a picture of my son to very close family; otherwise I forget to pass pictures along!

cheers--Sharon

 

[zoebartlett]

I like getting Christmas cards, especially those that are in form of a Christmas letter, where the family updates you on what each person has been up to. My mom started doing one a few years back and since she always includes my sister and me in my parents'' letter, I don''t feel the need to write one of my own. As for regular cards, I enjoy getting them but I''m horrible at sending them out. I always worry that I''m going to buy cards I''ve previously bought and then write the same boring message I always do when I''m stuck on what to say. Then I worry that I''m procrastinating too much and they won''t be mailed out in time. So to me, sending them has gotten stressful but really, for no reason than pure laziness on my part.

 

[lyra]

I think everybody loves to receive them but hates to send them.

I used to send out every year, but over time we seemed to receive fewer and fewer, marriages of friends/relatives broke up, things changed. One year I''m going to shock and annoy people by sending cards out to everyone I can possibly think of and find an address for!!

We do put cards in with all the baking we give away every year. It''s a serious amount of baking too--for my husband, who is from a long line of bakers.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Date: 11/25/2007 6:54:30 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring
I love getting cards and used to ALWAYS send out holiday cards. I am thinking about doing it this year (instead of birth announcements) but we''ll see if I actually have enough energy to do it

Now Tacori...make some beautiful birth announcements for that beautiful baby and skip the Christmas cards this year!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 11/25/2007 9:36:01 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006

Date: 11/25/2007 6:54:30 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring
I love getting cards and used to ALWAYS send out holiday cards. I am thinking about doing it this year (instead of birth announcements) but we'll see if I actually have enough energy to do it

Now Tacori...make some beautiful birth announcements for that beautiful baby and skip the Christmas cards this year!

I agree w/DS06 Tacori or one of those ADORABLE Family photos!!!!

ETA: I sent a cute pic of hubby and I to be made into a christmas card so there will be cards to mail out. heheeee

 

[Skippy123]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I am glad the tradition isn't dying especially with this electronic age.

Cind, I love to read the holiday letters; it helps keep me up to date w/others.

Kimi, I could totally see you on top of sending the cards out. hehee You are so good!!

Dixie, yay, good to see you and glad you are going to do cards too!

Somethingshiny, boo to the MIL being a hallmark manager. Glad you enjoy the cards and your little guy partakes in the excitment!

Sharon, glad you send out a pic of your son; I bet your family loves to see his pic. . . I know I do when I get pics from my family.

SDL, I love family photos; super cute to the wedding photo! We must think alike because our 1st Christmas we sent out a wedding pic w/the card. Yes, yes, your thoughts on email cards make sense.

Zoe, the letters are nice, I agree! hehe You are one of my favorite worrier.

I bet people don't remember the message you wrote the year before so don't worry about repeats. hehe

Lyra, it is tough sending them. I usually do it while watching tv; that is so sweet you bake goods too! Yum and cool to the long line of bakers!!! I bet everyone can't wait for the baked items each year!

Thanks everyone; it is so much fun to read what you all think!!! I am sending out a pic of hubby and I in a card to friends and family this year.

 

[Mara]

i don''t ever get email christmas greetings thank goodness...i would hate having them in leiu of real cards. we do real cards and we always get a ton as well so seems like it''s not a tradition that is dying out!

 

[KimberlyH]

Tacori, my nephew was born Nov. 29 (two years ago) and my sister made the most adorable birth announcement Christmas cards I''ve ever seen. They were pretty simple, and so darn cute. She made them while on bedrest prior to his birth (read: she was bored and is extremely crafty), but I bet you could buy some adorable Christmas card birth announcements.

Skip, I am one of those nuts who loves to write cards as much as recieve them.

 

[hlmr]

Definitely holiday cards!! I really love receiving them! It seems such a chore to get mine all ready, and sometimes I am under the gun with time constraints, but I feel so good after they are mailed, especially since I always enclose my sons school picture in each card. I love receiving pictures inside the cards from family and friends and I know they feel the same when they receive mine.

I don''t get a warm and fuzzy feeling from email cards although I always appreciate receiving one. It just doesn''t feel the same to me as opening an envelope with a handwritten card inside.

 

[surfgirl]

I send holiday cards...Some I exchange with people that I get cards from each year, some I never get cards back but it's a once a year time to say "hey! I know we dont talk often but I'm thinking of you!" I hate e-cards of any kind. It seems lazy to me, so I dont like to do it...Sorry Skippy (I'm not implying you're lazy! I'm sure quite the opposite!)...

 

[door knob solitaire]

I say send them! The next postal increase will more than likely knock most out of the running. There was some survey somewhere on what the postage breaking point was. I don''t recall the amount, but I would encourage to send now, as it will probably be a lost art in the very near future.

How sad. We will all say, remember how we used to exchange greetings once a year at Christmas? Yeah, you would go out to box, and be surprised on whose greeting was waiting for you! Those were the days. You could touch the card, feel the foil embossment, or the fuzzy detail, or catch the glitter in the light. (While Aunt Hilda flips the card over and read how much it cost...ha ha)

Well, now that it cost $31.50 to mail a letter, we no longer do that.

OK, maybe not 31.50 but darn close. Send!!! Send!!! It is more blessed to give than it is to receive!!!

§

 

[door knob solitaire]

Oh, I forgot to mention I got my first card last ...LAST I said!!! week. The week before thanksgiving!! §

 

[lumpkin]

Skippy, I''m a total dork about Christmas cards. I MAKE mine! Last year I got a great kit and this year, I did them without a kit. It is really, really fun and a very inexpensive way to send a "gift" to people we don''t exchange with, but to let them know we think they are special. I honestly think I love to send them as much as to get them, and I do love to get them. If they have a pretty wreath or tree, I have been known to cut them out and use them for decorations the following year. The year we receive them they go in the louvers of our hall closet door and are very festive. I only wish we got MORE!!!

I say send ''em!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 11/26/2007 8:34:40 AM
Author: lumpkin
Skippy, I'm a total dork about Christmas cards. I MAKE mine! Last year I got a great kit and this year, I did them without a kit. It is really, really fun and a very inexpensive way to send a 'gift' to people we don't exchange with, but to let them know we think they are special. I honestly think I love to send them as much as to get them, and I do love to get them. If they have a pretty wreath or tree, I have been known to cut them out and use them for decorations the following year. The year we receive them they go in the louvers of our hall closet door and are very festive. I only wish we got MORE!!!

I say send 'em!

Lumpkin, Wow!!!! I am impressed! I bet people love getting your cards

Mara and Surfgirl, thanks for your input. hehee No worries, I am mailing cards this year; last year was an insane year for me! I was traveling 4 months out of the year and most of it was around the holidays.

DKS, I know I think it is super nutty expensive to mail cards; the price keeps jumping. Now I feel like those people that say "I remember when stamps were just 23 cents." heheee

 

[monarch64]

I really love both sending and receiving Christmas cards! I sent them when I was single, and since DH and I have been together, I really love sending them since I got to expand my Christmas card list after our wedding. I also do DH''s business Christmas cards, which is an easy but fun task, I love hand-addressing the envelopes and signing the inner card. He gets to choose the business cards, and I choose our personal ones. I usually buy a few sets of boxed cards for our personal ones, then I choose which style will go to which person/couple based on what I think they will enjoy ( I get modern style ones, traditional ones, dog-related ones, etc., it''s so fun!) I really get into Christmas cards, period, maybe I''m a total dork but I love that this is the one holiday where most people really respond to written correspondence at all. Like Mara mentioned, Christmas cards are sort of a dying art. I use email or DH texts or emails 99% of the time for correspondence, besides phone calls, so cards at Christmas are just really something special, imo.

We keep talking about having a friend over to take a good picture of us with our two dogs and using it for a Christmas card, but I''ve been subconsciously trying to avoid that procedure I think...I really do love buying Christmas cards and writing them out vs. stuffing an envelope and addressing it, ya know? We don''t do newsy letters, we really don''t have much "family" news to report from year to year to long-distance relatives or what have you, but I do try to include a personal message inside whatever card we send.

I LOVE Christmas cards! I''ve been eyeballing a Pottery Barn card rack just for displaying Christmas cards...they look just like postcard racks you would see near a cash register at a souvenir shop or something, but I would love to have one just to display cards. OK, I''m obviously waaaay too into this whole idea, period.

Skippy, if I had your addy I would send you a huge homemade Christmas card filled with love, hee hee!

And a Janet Evanovich novel typed super small to fit on one page to avoid shipping fees, ha!

 

[marcy]

I love getting Christmas cards especially with letters or pictures.

I started sending a poem each year in our cards the first year we were married so each year the pressure is on to come up with another poem. It''s the same as a form letter but I try to make it somewhat funny. I get comments all the time how people look forward to my annual poem so now it''s harder to write it.

I don''t mind getting email greetings but I prefer the old fashioned cards I get in the mail.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 12/10/2007 1:04:26 AM
Author: marcyc
I love getting Christmas cards especially with letters or pictures.

I started sending a poem each year in our cards the first year we were married so each year the pressure is on to come up with another poem. It's the same as a form letter but I try to make it somewhat funny. I get comments all the time how people look forward to my annual poem so now it's harder to write it.

I don't mind getting email greetings but I prefer the old fashioned cards I get in the mail.

Awww, that is sweet Marcy! I bet you write lovely poems!

I didn't do email greetings this year. heheee It was a picture of hubby and I and I wrote a message on the back.

Monnie, you are too cute!!!

 

[VRBeauty]

I bought my cards earlier this evening! Christmas cards for friends, "holiday" cards (but they say "NOEL" on the front

) for colleagues at work. Some years I buy them and don''t manage to send the out

but that doesn''t happen too often. I like to write a little something in my cards, so I have to set aside at least two evenings with Christmas music and hot chocolate to get the cards out. I never send them, but I love receiving Christmas letters!

 

[Mara]

ha ha i took the copout route this year and paid for shutterfly photo cards with collages and they also mail them for you to your recipients. woo hoo. you end up paying for it, but it''s worth it. now i don''t have to mail a thing...which is such a load off!! i can just concentrate on wrapping gifts! and our recipients get a slightly more personalized card because it has collages of photos on it...i love those types of things.