The idea of the Christmas card seems to me like it has its roots in rationality… People letting each other know they both care and are happy to have each other around in the holiday season, or something similar to that. Every year, though, I see people filling out Christmas cards in the hundreds, stressing out over long lists and who they might’ve forgotten. I’ve seen this simple custom turns into utter confusion and stress as people try and decide whom to send a card to and whom not to while the whole thing is topped off with rushing around trying to send last minute cards responding to newly recieved cards from forgotten people.
The season is stressful enough, for most people. Christmas shopping and travel take up much time and money in the holiday season… Is it time to drop this tradition? I don’t know if the average household sends Christmas cards, has the trend dropped in recent years?
We send cards to people who are a regular part of our lives. That includes those in distant cities whom we haven’t seen for many years but still stay in contact with via email or the occasional note. Our list is about 50 people/families.
30 years ago I was sending cards to every distant relative I’d ever heard of and most co-workers. There was some sort of status or something to having a long card list. I got over it.
Like OldBroad, I send out about 50 or so, mainly to family and friends. I usually enclose a casual snapshot of my kids, if I can get a good one of them both smiling and not glaring at each other or doing the Bunny Ears thing.
My sister sends out well over 200. She has a HUGE social circle, and I know she sweats over getting just the right cards and even hand addresses them in calligraphy. She signs them with red or green (or sometimes gold or silver) ink, depending on the color theme of the card. She even orders Christmas-themed return address labels. The envelopes are always those heavy foil-lined type, and I know she spends a small fortune on her cards. They’re always those really big ones, very elegant and rich-looking.
Me? I just bought some at Party City. $4 a box, 15 in a box, for some cute cards with Santa and a cardinal in a sleigh. Very simple, sort of rustic looking. The stamps to mail them will probably cost more than the cards.