Here’s my dilemma, I don’t feel like sending cards this year. Is there something wrong with me? I’ve always sent them although I felt like this last year too but I made myself do it. I also like to put a picture in the card but I don’t have one this year.
I feel just a signed plain old card is pointless. It’s like you send me one, I send you one. I find no point in that. It’s kind of like when you exchange gifts with someone and you both want money. All your really doing is giving them your money and they give you their money right back. What’s the fun or the point of that? You may as well just hand each other money. How can people call that a gift?
I’m not a scrooge. I love Christmas but I like to write a note or send a picture to make people laugh or just think of us. But, I look at a card and unless it’s got a picture that I’ll save, I set it aside and never look at it again. I usually hang them around a door frame on a ribbon but I never look at them again. I positively hate the “brag” letters too. I really don’t need to hear about every stop someone made on a cross country trip in the camper last summer. Call me what you like, I hate those letters. How come all their kids are corporate executives and members of MENSA? Doesn’t anyone just have “normal” lives? Another thing now is I get so many that aren’t even signed by anyone. That feels especially cold. The envelopes as well as the cards are all done by the computer and printer.
I’m not sure why I feel so strongly this year about it but I just can’t even make myself open up the box. I did buy them though!! That’s saying something isn’t it? Every morning my mom asks me if I got my cards done so maybe tomorrow I’ll just tell her yes, and just send one to her. My heart isn’t in it and I don’t know why.
Do you send cards? Do you have your computer spit them out or do you sign them and address them by hand? Do you send a pic or are you a “letter” sender?
*sigh, I used to have them done by Dec 1st*
Us Girls..Our Views 
Christmas Cards
Posted December 1st, 2008 by andrew1
* Cards
* Christmas
* ____
What’s the point of a Christmas card?
Really I think they should be barred
Coming through the door from the postman’s sack
Then stuck on the wall with a bit of blue tack
Little messages of seasonal greetings
Handwritten promises of future meetings
All these words sounding so sincere
We never see them from year to year
All that money spent on stamps
Give it instead to the local tramps
Christmas ends they’re all thrown out
Lots more rubbish we can do without
Bah humbug I hear you say
Well I’d ban all cards if I had my way!
I found this for you. Makes good points. I just like people I have not talked to in awhile to know that I actually think of them and took some precious time to send them a card…no matter how short or long it is! You are not alone with your feelings! Happy Shopping!
Oops! I haven’t done mine yet either! But for the first time ever I ordered photo New Year’s cards…nobody ever sends me a New Year’s card…and I figure that way I have a larger window…I would think it would be acceptable to receive one a week or so after the new year has begun?
I do have to blush…I made hubby refill the printer last night. We haven’t used it in probably a year but I was going to print labels this year to make the process faster. Usually I use my best teacher printing with a fancy pen…but it does take forever…
I do photo cards every year, so they don’t really have a spot for a personal note, although for some folks that I never get to see I’ll write a little something on the back in Sharpie.
Some years I do a letter, some years I don’t. The letter is still pretty new for us and typically reserved for major events like new jobs, births, or relocations. Last year I wrote a letter about how I hate stupid Christmas letters and was setting a goal of keeping in touch more during the year. 🙂
I don’t mind if people send me the letters, as long as they take the time to write SOMETHING on the bottom that lets me know that they realize they were sending it to ME…one person we receive cards from each year will usually ask you a question at the bottom or write a single sentence and sign it, but that sentence is personal to you, even if it’s nothing more than “We had such a great time at the lake with you this summer” At least that way you know they thought of YOU as they put it in the envelope.
We’ve received only two cards so far this year which is strange. Like I said, I haven’t sent mine yet, but I’m wondering how much of an effect things like Facebook have? I’ve been talking to so many friends lately it almost seems silly to send them a card. That’s new in the past 6 months for my group of friends and a lot of us have recently found one another and been sharing photos etc.
We’ve ben married for 35 years. I don’t remember the last time we sent out cards.
Don’t beat yourself up. Enjoy your family.
BTW, it may be freezing there buy yesterday we had a 3.6 earchquake! Today temps are supposed to be btwn 77-80 degrees. hahahahaha 🙂
Nope, don’t fuss with them anymore. I usually have some on hand that I send if I’m going to write a letter to someone in December, but that’s about it.
I can’t help it–I look at them and see wasted money. When folks send them to me I really do appreciate the thought and I display them, but it really isn’t necessary. They could probably use the $$ for something else, too.
Cards are my sucky thing too…. I just feel… yuck about them. You summed up my feelings totally.
I agree Joy. Many people simply trash them or store them anyways, so really, what is the point?
I’m very sentimental so I have like every card, letter, and note ever written to me. Every once in a while I’ll go through the pile and reminisce. The ones with a real message (meaning written specifically to me) are the ones I cherish the most.
Sometimes I wonder if I should recycle it all? I wonder who is going to want that stuff once I pass on? Maybe I should start using some for my scrapbooking projects!
For the first time this year, I’m pretty sure I’m not sending out a card. It’s already Dec. 17, and I haven’t bought any! I simply can’t find any that I like. We considered sending Braille cards, just for the novelty of it, but they’re phenomenally expensive. Then I considered The Letter, which, like some others, I only send out when something big happens. Well, something big DID happen this year, but between his Carepage, my blog, and the general phone tree that always happens in families, I really don’t think there’s much I can add.
so I’ve considered our financial situation, and the fact that I have a TON of stuff to do, AND the fact that we’re travelling this year, and the card went by the wayside. All those and… I just couldn’t find any I like. Sure, Hallmark has some cute ones, but who wants to pay THAT MUCH for a box of cards?
So I saved our money, and my time, and put it toward making gifts for those close to me, instead.
That’s not even funny mssc!!! It’s bad when you start getting ice built up on the inside of your windows!!! I have an old house!!!
I think I’ve done cards maybe once in the 10 years we’ve been together. I think it’s nice to get one but like Joy, I never look at them again and then they end up in the trash. Morocco, that is a great idea!!! I do keep my birthday cards though and last year for Mothers Day I made my mom a scrap book and used a lot of the cards she sent me through out the years. It was a neat touch and she liked it. So you can recycle them if you’re into that.
I used to not do cards. My excuse was that I was single so my parents’ cards (“from the family”) sort of included me. Then I realized I really like receiving cards, so maybe others would be happier if I sent them a card, too.
I do like to put the cards up all around and make the house a little festive. I don’t have time to do all that foo foo decorating, so why not add a little color and cheer with cards? After the holidays, they go into the trash. Though a friend gave me the idea to make bookmarks out of the really pretty ones. Now that I have kids, I might put a couple away for them to make crafts with next year.
I haven’t gotten around to cards this year. I do plan to do it, although I honestly don’t know when I’ll fit it in. I still have to take pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses and get those printed. I don’t plan on buying any cards this year; but I need to dig in the basement to find leftovers from prior years.
Last year, I adopted my two girls, and they came home in October. I never got around to sending out announcements. So I took some Christmas pictures and ordered photo postcards from Walgreens.com. I was able to add just a tiny bit of info about them (strict character limit). Then I enclosed the photo postcards in my regular Christmas cards.
That’s so funny, Joy! You do all these beautiful decorations and have so many meaningful parts of Christmas whereas I’m mostly a scrooge (except the tree WAS fun this year!), but I actually like the cards! I love to hang them up as decorations and be able to look up and see how many people have thought of me and be able to just send a collective happy thought to them all. I don’t get any brag letters or unsigned cards, that would be super irritating. I guess I’m not on enough people’s lists to get anything impersonal. It’s just family and close friends. And I always write mine out by hand, even the envelopes, just because it means so much to me. Isn’t it funny the different things we all end up focussing on?
I think you do so many sweet and wonderful things at this time of year, you should be allowed to bow out of a few things, you know?
I am a fan of christmas.I love all the holiday cheer.I LOVE CHRISTMAS.I usually have my cards all written out and ready to mail by Dec 1st.But ask anyone in my family and my friends,I have always been the one who sends a card for all occasions.It is just who I am.I love to do it.And at this time of the year I love to go to the mail,and when theres a cmas card in my mailbox,I get xcited.Sorry,its who I am at 48years of age.I tape up the cards all over the house.I use to also save every sort of card for years.But then I moved around so much,that I recycled mst.Bet I did keep ones that were special to me.I am glad I did.I even have cards from my Grandma,who is gone.Also my parents are gone,and once inawhile I sit a read there special card of love to me.I still have all the cards my kids made for me in a box.They now laugh at them,but I cherish them.My goal is to make a collage of all these old sentimental cards on a whole wall in my spare room.Well enough of my rambling.Have a Merry,Merry Holiday Season.
Pam, you really are “QUEEN” of the cards. I loved the pic in your card this year.
I have cards and letters that Grandma sent me too.
We do Christmas cards and they are usually mailed out by Dec. 1st. We buy cards that are from the M.D. Anderson cancer center here in Houston. Every year the kids that have cancer design the cards. Most of the proceeds go directly to the hospital. I also use the front of the cards that I receive as gift tags the next year.
I write a special thing to each person that I am sending a card to and I address them by hand as well. I do my side of the family and my husband does his. He uses labels to address his and I just think that it is so inpersonal.
I have received a lot of cards this year with people saying that this will be their last year to do cards. Instead they are either going to put up a card on their website or e-mail a card. I would rather have a mailed Christmas card myself.
I do keep the photo cards and put them in a little cheapie photo album that someone had given me but I hadn’t developed a purpose for yet. The kids LOVE looking at the book all the time and it’s a great way for them to remember friends and family throughout the year that they don’t normally see. They pull it off the bookshelf in our bedroom almost daily.
I think I did see in a magazine or something once where they took some of their favorite greeting cards they had received and put them in inexpensive photo frames to hang up and replace your ‘normal’ photos during the holidays. It was kind of a cute idea. You could pick up some cheap frames at the dollar store that would work for this and it’s a cheap way to decorate while recycling.
That’s a really good idea Jen about the photo book. Also the frames and to hang them at holiday time. I love that. I have one I got really cheap that has Paul’s family all in it and I love it. I put it out at Christmas and change it from year to year.
I had an Aunt (Ann) who used to cut the cards in circles using a bowl as a guide and would glue them together and laminate them and use them for place-mats until they wore out. I did it a few times too. It is a fun way to use them and then throw them out when they wear out and then just make new ones.
Aw, Joy, I’d write your cards for you if I could – I’ve never done Christmas cards before in my life!
Then again, that would be pretty pointless because the whole point of heart-warming Christmas cards is that they’re personal, so me writing them wouldn’t be very helpful hmm?
I don’t think you should feel bad that your heart isn’t it in this year though. It’s a process you undergo every year and it’s understandable that once in a while it’ll seem pointless and daunting!
I say – send cards to your mom, send to your kids, and that’s enough. Your friends will understand if you tell them “Oy, well, didn’t really have the willpower to do it this year.”
I got my cards out kind of late this year, but I did them. I like getting them and I like the photo ones. I do not like the big long letter that says everything you and your children have done all year. I like the photo’s b/c you see how everyone has changed since the last time you saw them and it’s nice to know someone thought of you.
Just came across your blog while thinking about / hearing others’ opinions on the whole card issue – it came up in a search so of course I have to comment.
Cards are a gigantic deal in my family – we give them for every birthday, easter, valentine’s day so xmas is no different. My mom always sent boatloads of cards to her extended family and friends so when I moved out on my own I felt I had to, too.
I buy my cards the year before for 75% off and then start them in November. My kids and my husband sign their own names – I think it makes it more personal. I do a casual picture of my kids, usually in front of our tree to include as a 4×6. Because that’s not enough I do a newsletter (LOL). Updates on the kids ages, grades and new happenings. I don’t do it to shove our accomplishments down everyone’s throats because sometimes the news isn’t good (and we aren’t all that accomplished anyhow). I try to stay as real in the newsletter as we are in real life. I do print the addresses from my computer because my handwriting is so terrible I have had letters returned because they were illegible (I blame it on the amount of typing I do).
I save the cards I receive, either hang them up around doorways or on a card clip. I use those cards the next year as my “list” and send cards to those whom I received cards from the previous year. This method has cut my list from 100s down to about 30 in about 10 years. Once I have gotten the info I need from them I tear the fronts off and send them to a teacher at my daughter’s school who uses them in class. I recycle the remainder of the paper. These new photo cards make that tough -I’ll admit I am not a fan of them. I feel they are the lazy route and despite the photo – very impersonal.
I noticed that many people previously on my list aren’t sending cards and I am ok with that. I’ll still send mine to those who send me one. It might seem pointless to some but to me it isn’t and I don’t think it is all that much work. I really do enjoy getting the cards, reading the letters and keeping the photos of my friends and family. (anything NOT bill mail is always great!)
Hi Jamie, thanks for stopping by. You have some good idea’s. I like sending them to your child’s school.
I thought about doing a letter last year because I basically began a new life upon the adoption of my kids. But ultimately, a picture is worth a thousand words. “Less is more,” I always say. Anyone who wants details can get in touch with me.
Just took this year’s Christmas photos today. What fun! My girls are a riot. I am so tempted to send the one where E is pulling A’s hair; she has her spunkiest smile! (E does, A not so much.)
I send cards every year including this one, and don’t know why. I never get as many as I send. I’m afraid they’ve gone the way of the handwritten letter. Do you remember before everything went computerized the anticipation of receiving a letter from a relative or friend in the mailbox? What a thrill to pull open the box and find something inside addressed to you. I think we are all missing out on the joys of the simple things in life. Ah, the holidays–they bring out the nostalgia like nothing else.
On some years I have included a holiday letter–but, didn’t this year. If I have funny stories to relate, I’ll include them. My readers usually say they like them. Last year I told my card recipients about the storm that blew through our little town right after we had decked out our front yard with all manner of decorations–reindeer, Santa, snowmen, christmas tree, lighted presents, lighted train. We had so many lights going it kept tripping a breaker.
It was our first Christmas in our new home, and we were the first on our block to put out decorations. The storm wrecked the entire thing–Santa was lying on his back, the reindeer were laying on their sides and back with their legs rudely jutting into the air. The train completely blew off it’s little hill, in general—the yard was a wreck. I won’t even tell you what the snowman was doing.
At the same time the storm blew in, the flu attacked everyone in our house. We were so sick it was all we could do to just live moment to moment. All the fancy decorations laid just like they were out in the front yard for about two weeks before we even had the strength to go outside and do anything about it. I’ll bet the neighbors thought we were nuts.
I kind of got a huge shock here in England with the fact that EVERYONE gives christmas cards and if you dont it is frowned upon – where I am from and the culture I know we don’t bother because it is false and fake, wastes money and trees.
Has no one heard of email?
lol
Maybe that’s why I feel the way I do G-Ma. It doesn’t seem “personal” to me anymore. Some do but many don’t. I used to love nothing more than getting a real letter in real handwriting that I could hold in my hand. My grandma used to be really the only one I would write real letters to and I really miss that. I’m glad I saved all of hers.
I do send cards. I always send a pic of some kind in them. Everyone wants a picture of us or the kids anyway so this is the time of year I always send one. But if my heart wasn’t in it, I wouldn’t care if anyone liked it or not. It’s up to the individual.
not this year..just can’t afford it (so if y’all are on my blogroll…y’all be getting an ecard 🙂