Your Christmas card habits?

[Dinsdale]

Do you keep a list of who you send X-mas cards to?
How often do you “revise” it?
What types of things get folks added to/dropped from the list?
Do you automatically send to everyone you get one from?
What kind of cards do you send: religious; seasonal; humorous?
Do you buy cards cheap immediately after X-mas and save them all year?
Do you personalize each one?
Do you or your SO (if you have one) do more of this than the other?
Do you include photos, letters, anything else?
How early do you send them?
How many cards do you receive?
Do you display the cards you get?

Mrs D and I probably send out about 50 cards a year. We keep a list that gets updated each year. Some are my friends/relatives and I do them, others are hers. More are mutual friends, and whoever gets time first does those.

We also keep track of who we get cards from, tho that does not necessarily mean we will send one in return. Other than family, we tend not to send to anyone we do not otherwise communicate with during the year. In recent years we cut off several friends from many years back after realizing we never speak with, write, or see them other than exchanging cards once a year.

Definitely nonreligious, generally a picture of a nature scene, or a “modern” drawing of a tree/wreath/etc. The first few cards we get are put up on the mantel. Then they end up in a bowl on a side table or something.

We start thinking around Thanksgiving that we should send them out. We usually end up getting them out just in time for them to arrive before X-mas. We include a family letter, and some folk get a picture of our kids. Sometimes we get the pictures made up into those long card things.

How about you?

[SoMoMom]

I wait as long as possible to figure out how to get a picture of the girls in the cards. (I just figured out last night that I can do something on the computer for this purpose. Too broke to have professional shots taken this year.) Then I make sure and send a card to all of the people who’ve sent us a card (it’s usually just days before Christmas at the time) and to all of the people that we miss even though they didn’t send a card. That’s about it. The cards depend on my mood. This year I don’t have much Christmas spirit so it’s a cheesy, cheap card with a cute picture of a snowman or something. I do not personalize them, because I don’t have time when I’ve waited that long to get them ready. I display the cards we get, if I feel like it, which isn’t looking too good for this year.

[delphica]

My Xmas card list is essentially my address book, which is not actually a book anymore, but on the computer. Address changes are made throughout the year as I hear about them. The program has a box you can check for “Xmas cards” so when I print out the list, I just get the addresses I have checked for cards.

You would probably have to kill someone to get dropped from my list. And even then, it might depend who you killed.

If I receive one from someone who wasn’t on my list, I drop a card in the mail to them, and add them to my list for next year.

I get a few kinds of cards … religious Christmas for family and some friends, Chanukah for my friends who celebrate Chanukah, and general seasonal as well. I like receiving humorous cards, but I’m not a humorous card sender myself.

Oh yes, I buy cheap cheap cheap cards immediately after x-mas!

I personalize them a tiny bit, like “looking forward to seeing you” if in fact we will be seeing them, or “let’s get together in 2001!” … no one gets more than a phrase though.

Mr. Del is not overly committed to the xmas card tradition. I do them all, and make him add something to the ones for his family.

No photos or letters, but I love reading the letters that I receive! I feel like our lives are not exciting enough to do a letter. Sometimes I see things that sort of make fun of people who do letters, but I think it’s so nice to read them and see what people have been up to all year. No kids here, so no photos.

I like to have them in the mailbox by Dec. 10. I usually manage that within a day or two.

I send out about 125 cards (that seems like a lot, but I start writing them early and get them SO CHEAP at the post-holiday sales). We have those double doors (French doors?) in the living room, and I thumbtack several ribbons running from the top to the bottom of each door. The cards then get stapled to the ribbons as they come in. There is always one rogue card that keeps falling off, and I grimly re-staple it daily. It turns into quite a little war, me vs. the card, and by the end of the holiday season, you can see one mangled, shredded card stapled about 50 times to the ribbon.

Here’s another question … what do you do with the cards after Christmas?

[robinh]

We send out about 40-50. Our list is on the computer so we print out labels. Not having to write out the addresses makes it easier to take the time to write a short message. We always include a picture of the kids. I make them coordinating outfits and have a portrait done. I give the grandmothers a framed picture each year and put one on the wall for us as well. We have lately started including a short letter for people we don’t see as often as we would like.

Our card always has a non-denominational “Happy Holidays” type greeting. Generally, I favor simple, classic designs, though one year I did go cutesy with Anne Geddes cards.

What to do with holiday cards? The usual advice is to use them as gift tags. You could also use them in scrapbooks alongside holiday photos. If you have kids they could use them for craft projects.

[Baker]

I send 40 to 50 cards. They are definitely religious, preferably with a Scripture verse, although it isn’t always just the second chapter of Luke. It’s almost the only time I send serious cards. For birthday, Halloween, St. Patricks Day, Bosses Day, or whatever I like to send silly cards. Well, sympathy cards are serious too. I try to find the best puns possible for the funny cards. I don’t keep track of who sends me cards, but if someone sends me one before I send them one I get theirs out right away. Sometime I will have to revise my list. There are a number of folks on it I don’t really see, but for nostalgia’s sake, or simply that I don’t want to finally lose touch, I keep sending the card.