Comments on: You Tell Me: Do You Send Christmas Cards?

By: Lynnae

Lynnae — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:25:27 +0000

@Lillian – What a fabulous idea! I’m going to remember that one! Thanks for sharing!

By: Lillian Mahoney

Lillian Mahoney — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:15:14 +0000

I send out Christmas cards a picture that I print and a letter I do on the computer. We’ve been married for 50 years and for next year I’m planning on giving a compilation of these letters to my family. A friend told me she enjoyed them so much that I should save them as it was a family history. Hope things are going well with your husband’s job.

By: TV

TV — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 15:59:40 +0000

Yes, I send cards. I skipped it for a few years and then went back to it. I buy cards on sale after the holidays and save them in my wrapping box. I get them out after Thanksgiving and try to write 5 a day in the morning after doing the breakfast dishes. It seems like magic. They get done without me thinking about it. I buy Christmas stamps and mail them. Every year we get a few more back. If I don’t get them all done on time I send them a little late. I enjoy the ritual.

I don’t do a Christmas letter, just a signature and a few personal lines in some of them.

By: Hadias

Hadias — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 21:57:35 +0000

I don’t mail Christmas cards for many of the reasons that you’ve already mentioned. I have to choose my Christmas battles wisely.

By: fiveberries

fiveberries — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 01:39:39 +0000

I usually send them out, and adore receiving them. One year, however, we didn’t get them out because we were in the middle of getting our house on the market to sell. That year, once the move was complete, we sent a “Christmas in July” card. I thought that it was fun, and I got more response from that card than I have from any other. I think it was because it was unexpected and not with twelve other Christmas cards.

I think that sending yours out in the middle of the year, when things are more settled, when hopefully money isn’t so tight, and you can send out a great unexpected surprise in the mailbox is a wonderful idea.

By: Shanti

Shanti — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 05:29:30 +0000

I send out cards, but only to a select 20 or so. My family lives all over the country and I hae friends all over as well. Usually I make something into a card, like a picture or dried leaves… I love the hunt for the new creative endeavor that I’ll take to make the Christmas cards this year :) It IS expensive, but for most of my family it’s what I give them instead of a present, so it’s not too bad. It always me to be creative during Christmas, rather than just going crazy decorating the presents ;)

By: Shana

Shana — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 04:23:54 +0000

I haven’t sent cards in years — mostly because I received so few in return, and considering I made all mine and considered them a gift in their own right (as original artwork), it felt like it wasn’t being fully appreciated or acknowledged.

As to letters, I say just completely gloss over anything remotely negative, and write instead about only positive things. One person in my family once sent a mass-produced Christmas letter that detailed other family member’s medical woes, and it was really odd (and to me, inappropriate).

I like the idea of an Easter (or Valentine) letter. A friend of mine did that one year, after he’d neglected to get holiday cards out on time, and it was a nice thing to receive because it was totally unexpected.

By: Lynnae

Lynnae — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 04:02:04 +0000

@Sue – Thank you for sharing. After reading all of the comments, but especially yours, I am reconsidering. I’m obviously too late to get my cards out this year (though I will do the Easter letters), but I may get back on the card bandwagon next year.

@Paula – I haven’t received nearly as many cards this year either. But my husband says that his coworkers are all saying their Christmas card counts are down too. I think it’s an off year. People are more conscious of spending money.

By: Paula

Paula — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 03:18:17 +0000

I usually send a photo card to about 20 friends and family. I used to also swap cards with online friends of a message board. This year, seems I didn’t get on the stick and I didn’t send any cards. And you know what, it seems like unless I sent a card to someone, they weren’t sending me one anyway. My cards this year have been light, much to my disappointment.

Oh well, I love getting them, but sending them is something I like to do. Time just got away from me this year.

By: Sue

Sue — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 03:05:46 +0000

I have to reply to this…my card list has grown over the last 10 years after my divorce and, now, Christmas cards have become the heart of my holiday. I really don’t have “gifts” at the holiday, and so I have recrafted Christmas. I send out 50-60 personal cards with letters PLUS business cards. Then, I do NOT open holiday cards when they come to me, but, instead, hold them until Christmas morning. Then, I sit down with a cup of coffee and some cookies and open my cards – traveling all over the country reading greetings and letters and seeing pictures of friends and relatives. It makes Christmas morning SO much fun! I spend it with long time and new friends all over the country! In the end, I feel rich beyond measure and I am grateful for the $.41 that my friends spent to make my holidays so special.