December heralds for this household a special time - it is the only time of the year that significant amounts of 'personal' mail fill our letterbox. For most of the year, it contains bills, marketing materials and 'official' letters. For a few short weeks a year, there are also handwritten items wishing us seasonal greetings.
But I've noticed a trend. There was once a time when we'd receive around 100 Christmas cards. This year, I reckon we'll be lucky to get 50. I don't think it's that we're less popular than we used to be....I think it's just that less people send cards nowadays.
Before our time, the sending of a handwritten card through the mail was the accepted way to convey greetings and best wishes to family and friends worldwide.
The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843. It was not an idea of totally altruistic origins however, as Cole had helped introduce the Penny Post three years earlier. Imagine the boost to the postal services Christmas cards must have provided over the years.
By the latter half of the 19th century, Australia and the United States had followed suit.
Nowadays however, there are many options for sending festive greetings: email, e-cards, text messages, a message on a blog or a Facebook wall. Phone calls are cheaper than they once were.
Some people don't even bother with any of the above.
I am a die-hard card sender, but mine don't always make it out before Christmas. I believe a card is as good in the New Year as it is in the week before Christmas.
Call me old-fashioned, but I love to receive cards from friends and family. I especially love the year-in-review letters and/or photos some people include - there's nothing like catching up on a year's news in a couple of minutes.
It takes time, but the sending of a card sends more than a piece of paper. It tells the recipient that you are thinking of them, and that they are still a valued part of your life whether or not you have had much contact over the previous twelve months or so.
But then again, an email could also send that same message. In these technologically advanced times, are the traditional cards' days numbered?
To card or not to card? That is the question.
10 comments:
50!!!
We average around 10, and that's including the one we always get from our real estate agent....
But then, we haven't sent for yrs, and like you say, all our friends are online anyway, so they're already read all the news :)
When I was young I used to love opening them and reading notes from people I didn't know ... bridesmaids .. school friends of my mum ... always a new baby photo of some strange person's child .. it used to keep me fascinated for hours asking my mum who they were and hearing stories, while she made dinner ...
I wonder how many she receives these days, and if she still sends them? Will have to ask over Xmas lunch!
I don't send Christmas cards, and neither do many of my friends. On my mantlepiece at the moment I have two Christmas cards and various 3rd birthday cards.
The Christmas cards are from a) a friend I see and talk to regularly with a short note about the design of the card (it's got Mary & Jesus on it, I'm an atheist, my friend is not) and b) from a uni mate who apart from Christmas cards only contacts me when she needs something.
We usually get one from the Bloke's aunt too, adressed to Mr & Mrs Hisname, despite the fact she knows we're not married.
My favourite card of all time was one that a former colleague sent my Grandfather. He wasn't able to read by then, so my aunt read it aloud at Christmas lunch. The writer had given her husband a flight over Antartica the previous Christmas, on which he'd met a new woman, so they'd had a big year. No card since has topped it.
innercitygarden - that's EXACTLY what I love about Christmas cards...the dramatic stories they often contain. You just don't get the same effect forwarding an email around the Chrissie lunch table.
H&B - I remember reading my parents' cards too...with all the updates about people I didn't really know. I still do when I visit home
I love sending Christmas cards as it makes me stop and think about the person as I write them - and of course I love receiving them catching up on family and friends.
This year however they are full of reports of serious ailments and family calamities. Has 2009 just been a bad year or is it a sign of an ageing population of friends?
I have rarely written letters, apart from essential ones, as I hate it so much but have been an email junkie since the day it appeared. However, I've always been a complete and utter cardaholic – cards for all occasions – any excuse! So Christmas cards have always been a joy. Pre-email days they kept me in touch feeling I would have few friends left without them. Post-email days haven't diminished my enthusiasm for them. Each post just now is an absolute thrill – all those personal envelopes!
FIFTY! We'll be lucky to get twenty.
And our friends and family will be lucky if they get their cards by the end of January!
They are a wonderful way to keep in touch with people who otherwise fall to the fringes of one's existence.
I've noticed a decline over the last few years. I put it down to the fact that I haven't sent any for about three years, so perhaps we've fallen off a few lists, and a general move away from cards.
I've had a couple of discussions this year about people deciding to do away with them. They are a lovely idea, but I just don't have the time or inclination to write them any more.
I'm with you all the way. I absolutely love choosing them, writing them, buying the special stamps ... I set aside an afternoon and make an event out of it. My overseas cards are always posted by Dec 1, and the Aus ones by the middle of the month. I send about 40. It isn't cheap, but it's Christmas!
There are lots of people on my list who never send me cards, because as you so rightly say, there are alternatives these days.
I also love the newsy enclosures, but Australia Post is always Scrooge about 'card only', so I tend not to sendy own.
This year, my son has just painted the living room ready for Christmas, so I've stockpiled the cards, unopened, until the room is all ready and the mantelpiece is clear of masking tape and sandpaper. Opening them all today!
I'm all in favour of Christmas Cards. My favourites have a photo or two and a short newsy letter. I'm not a fan of the long letter - half a page is just about as much as I can handle.
This year I thought it would be a close call whether or not I sent Christmas Cards. I usually send them out by 1 Dec and it was all looking too hard. However, in two busy evenings I sent off 60 cards and I feel much better for it.
I used to send about 100 cards but so few people seem to bother sending updated address details during the year so some people have just fallen off the radar.
Send cards! I send them, I love to get them, and display them proudly. But I have noticed that most of the cards I've received this year haven't even been written on, not even a signature. They are a picture of them and their wishes for everyone, nothing personal. I still appreciate the effort, but would love to see a little hand writing. Am I alone in this wish?
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