I just got done doing my cards last night. Sending them today, because I just got the stamps I ordered (I tend not to need stamps until December!)
Anyone else send them? How many? How do you do it?
I order cards from the Humane Society, because they usually have a card with a dog on it that looks like my dog, and the money goes to a good cause. I send around 30, and hand-write the addresses and messages inside. I like to put everyone in the family’s name on the inside plus a little note.
I do them for selfish reasons, I think. Not so I can receive cards (I rarely get cards from people my own age) but so I can say to myself that once a year I sat down and thought about everyone for a few seconds each and sent them well wishes.
And yeah, it is fun to get them back. Even tho I’m one of those “forever kidless by choice” I do like getting pics of people’s kids, too, just to see how they’ve grown.
I hang around a specific dog breed BB and we’ve done card exchanges for the last few years. I send out about 70, and get 70 in return. Like you, I write the person and dog’s names inside the card, with the a little note, and my sig. Envelopes are hand written. Makes me feel good. Plus I like getting all the cards. I’ve only met handful of the people, but I enjoy seeing family pics even of the ones I haven’t met. Kinda weird, but fun. And stamps must be Christmas-y.
Yeah, we send about 75 each year…mostly overseas, so postage is a bitch (about a dollar per card!).
This year, I designed our own, using Photoshop and Illustrator…got a great deal on Shuttterfly for 25 additional free cards if I ordered 50, free shipping and handling, envelopes included…the 5X7 cards wound up costing about 56 cents each. Only took a week to get them, and the cards came out quite nicely.
We too write a personal message on each card…some brief, some longer - depending on if we have had contact recently.
So, I will be spending a good part of my Saturday addressing the cards and getting them ready to send out on Monday - most likely one of the busiest days at the post office.
and a few secular kinds. I’ll send to family and close friends and quilt guild members, with a note about my communal donation in lieu of gifts. It may be about 30 people total.
I do like getting pictures and newletters from friends, even though I have no living things in my house besides me, and no news to report.
We have on and off years, but 2008 is an on year. This year, we got on it really early and had about 12 cards sent out on December 1st. Unfortunately, we got sidetracked with a business trip for me and finals for her, so we let the rest slide. We’re planning to pick that up again tonight. I think we have about another 30 left to do.
We write out all the addresses and messages by hand. We keep the mailing list in Microsoft OneNote and pick out the people who are strongly her friends or strongly my friends, and we’ll write those cards and sign for ourselves and for the other spouse. With family and mutual friends, we usually each write our own message in the same card.
Doing Christmas cards is one of those things that I hate the idea of sitting down to do until I’m actually doing them, at which point I really get into it. I have no explanation for that.
I don’t do it to make others feel happy (although they may), I do it to make MYSELF feel good.
I made my cards one year, when the dog was still into having her picture taken. For some reason she has developed a fear of cameras lol I got a nice card from my friend last year that was a cute pic of her dog. This year they had a baby, I wonder who will be on the card…
DMark I assume your cards are a picture of the two of you in holiday garb? Or did you just make some art and turn it into a card?
I never send them. Don’t see the purpose in most cards, but a mass mailing to most everyone I know makes the least of sense to me. Not very personal and to make each one personal is way too much effort to take.
But being selfish is by definition a concern for one’s own welfare or advantage in disregard of others. Sending out cards to people is inherently regarding others, whether you have good intentions towards them or not (or none and it’s for your own satisfaction). Yea, I’m nitpicking, but I’m also pointing out that you’re really not being selfish by sending your friends and family Christmas cheer.
Say I am a super rich CEO and I decide to donate $1,000,000 to a charity solely for the publicity. Yea, my intentions may not have been good, but I don’t think anyone could call me selfish.
I’m doing them this year. I’ve learned to appreciate the postal system a lot, and how nice it feels to get a letter in the mail. NO specific lists or any of that, but picked out several Christmas cards of different sorts, with a person or two in mind for each card or decision I’ll figure out whofor later, then write them out, one by one, as I get to them. I never finish them all tho. I sent out Halloween cards this year (who knew they had those?) and still have a couple left over (I wonder if I can use them for Christmas, or Valentine’s Day?). I’ll write whatever comes to mind, how I’ve been lately and what I’ve been up to, thanking them for somethingorother if that’s applicable, wishing them well, all that crap in size .6 font.
I hate Christmas. Words can not describe my hatred for all other December bullshit, but I LURRRVVES christmas cards. I even like the impersonal bragging letters tucked in the card.
Ours are half gooey pretty World Wildlife federation and half smart-assed Leaning Tree. I handwrite a short but heartfelt comment in each of the 150-ish cards, and make point of doing them all on Black Friday.
Except this year. This year I didn’t mail a single card.
I’d feel guilty, but I havn’t received any either.
I buy the Humane Society cards. Usually, we send about 50 cards. It makes me feel good to send them, and I hope it makes at least one of the recipients feel good, also.
I just made out my last batch, and they’re going to be sent out this morning. There may be a few more sent in the next week, or so, from those straggler cards that come between now and then.
Oh, and I do it to be festive, damnit! It seems like there’s not enough ‘festive’ happening at our house this year, for some reason.
I buy secular cards–the funnier the better–and a few completely non-specific “holiday” cards for people I know don’t celebrate Christmas (hey, pretty much everyone celebrates New Year’s) and one Hannukah card. So I mail out probably 30-35 to my “imaginary friends” on teh internets, and hand-deliver 20+ to co-workers, plus mail probably 5 to IRL friends and relatives.
I always buy secular cards. I’m firm on this one. I don’t even have anything religious on my tree. But I don’t send a lot, maybe 12-20 every year. This year I had this cute one with a penguin and a polar bear sledding down a hill. The pictures was sort of raised off the page, and it’s a very cute card, and inside it says simply “Tidings of Joy!”
Oh, and I always send one Hanukah card.
I’m also anti-kid but I love getting pictures of people’s kids. Two of them, his niece and his cousin, I put on the fridge every year. One year I didn’t get a picture of the cousin.
We do picture cards as Santa and Mrs. Claus, which is who we are for one month each year. Well, every day really, but just not in costume. I also order gift tags with the same pic, and give those to kids who see us everywhere we go.
This year, I’ll have between 75 and 100.
No guarantee they’ll all get mailed before the day, though.
I like secular cards. I usually get those…the HSUS ones are generally secular. Before I started buying those I always got ones with snowmen or serene snow scenes on them.
There is a definite dearth of cards so far this year. I have gotten 3, one of them being from my parents.
I was all set with my cards, except I couldn’t find the address of one friend I’d recently got back in touch with after 10 or so years. I was bummed - I’d spent about 30 mins looking online for her address. I gave up and said I’d wait until she sent me a card (hopefully) and would then send one using her return address.
That afternoon I went to the mailbox and found not only the stamps I’d ordered, but a card from my friend! Not an hour after I’d given up on finding her address. It’s a Christmas miracle
I also do the humane society cards, but cats, not dogs. I have one cousin who told me he always looks forward to seeing what the cat is doing this time, which was enough encouragement to keep me going forever! This year it’s a bunch of cats, in a sleigh. Hope he likes it. I also look for ones that just have generic holiday wishes as I am secular…
I was inspired by the Doper kid card effort and after sending those out, I started asking friends if their kids would like cards - I’m sending to kids only this year, and it feels great! I’m putting a couple of bucks or a check in each card - this is purely selfish - it made me feel good.
This thread just saved me 15 bucks! I was gonna show you the cards I picked out, but when I went to my order page at Amazon, there was a note that the cards wouldn’t arrive until January. I could use them next year but I’d forget where I put them.
I cheat on the addresses – those get printed on labels – but I write something in the cards. I like getting them and I know others do too.
This year’s card is a snowy view of the Brooklyn Bridge, just because I liked the art. Usually it’s birds or something old-fashioned, like Currier & Ives. I send about 30.
