I finished up my holiday cards this weekend (and have some left*; want one?). I will be showing it here once they have time to be received, though you can probably guess who is front and center this year, based on recent years (2024, 2023, 2022, etc.).
*In the past, I have ordered two dozen, which is almost enough so I make do, but this year the best deal I found was for 40, so ... extras!
But I've found myself thinking about what you might call the philosophy of sending cards, FOR ME (not judging anyone who feels/does differently, I promise), and wanted to work it out in my head, so here you go.
- I like sending cards. There is certainly an argument against it from an ecological standpoint, but I get a little spot of brightness in my day when I receive a card, and hope that those who get mine feel the same. You can't put a price on that. There's so little happy mail in the box these days.
- I also try hard not to feel bad if I don't send cards in a given year. Life happens. I do this to feel good, not bad. No judgements.
- Similarly, I enjoy getting cards, a lot, but I do not keep track of who sends me one, and have zero expectation that anyone I send a card to must send one to me. This isn't a transaction, it's me doing something I want to do. I hope the recipients are glad to get them, but only because it makes me happy to think so.
- I want to send cards, and therefore will pare down my own rules in the interest of doing it at all. I like the idea, the theory, of writing a little note to everyone on every card, but in practice that became paralyzing, to the point of not doing it at all. So I took an idea from many of my friends who do photo cards, and switched to those, with cat photo(s), and a little message on it.
- I ordered from a different place this year, and at checkout they offered to send me self-adhesive envelopes. Yes, it cost a little more, but I am someone who tapes envelopes closed (after more than one paper cut on the tongue incident, I stopped licking), so I decided this might be easier. I am a convert! Worth the extra pennies!
- Speaking of Photo Affections, the cards are very high quality and I am impressed. I used it because I got a Groupon, but would order from again.
I think that's all I wanted to brain-dump about cards! Any thoughts, any questions, want to vent your own feelings? This is a judgement-free, safe holiday-card-related space.
I love getting cards and receive them from a very random group of people. Not always who I expect! I do New Year's cards, not Xmas ones. It fits better for me.
ReplyDeleteOne year I think I did Valentine cards instead!
DeleteIt made my day when mine came, and I wish you could have seen the instant smile. Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteI love EXCHANGING cards! So I am not like you in that I keep a list year after year of cards sent and received. Depending where I send them, it's $1.25-$2.50 to send a card, and then there is the expense of the cards and the time it takes me to do them. It's a labour of love, I do love sending cards, but if I don't receive one I cross the person off the list, as I feel it's not a priority for them. I guess it's transactional, but for years I sent cards to certain people and didn't receive any back, and it made me feel very bitter and resentful. That's not how I want to feel during the holidays! So now I amend my lists and I send to people who send out cards.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely do understand why you feel that way! I think it's important for everyone to do what's right for them, even if that means not sending cards at all, or what's the point?
DeleteI love this! I 100% agree that it's such a JOY to open the mailbox and find greetings from people I may or may not have talked to for years. Cards are my favorite part of the season, and even though they are getting ridiculously expensive, it's still worthwhile to me.
ReplyDeleteSelf adhesive envelopes!!!! That sounds so wonderful! I have also considered paying the extra amount to have the card printer print addresses on the envelopes... but haven't done it yet. (We usually delay updating our addresses document until the last minute, so it's not practical.)
I do address my envelopes by hand, but with the amount I'm sending, that still works for me. I'm not upset by anyone who prints them instead!
DeleteI used to send cards, but it added to my considerable workload at holiday time, so I stopped. It was one time-consuming thing I could cut and feel okay about, so I did.
ReplyDeleteIt's lovely to receive cards. I enjoy seeing them, and if the sender includes a little note or letter about what they've been up to, that's even better.
I do understand that, for some people like Nicole, it may be a case of reciprocation. And that's okay. However, it's not that I don't care or think of those people--and not just at the holidays!--it's that I don't need a part-time job, especially at the holidays. And I won't do something I don't enjoy just because someone else does.
Good for you, getting the self-adhesive envelopes! I'm ancient enough to remember when self-adhesive stamps first came on the scene and were much heralded. It won't be long until this is the standard for envelopes, too.
Oh, yes, I hated licking stamps, the taste would linger in my mouth and just ugh. All stamps being self-adhesive is good, and all being Forever stamps also works for me, no having to buy penny stamps every time the price went up.
DeleteI would love to get self-adhesive envelopes. Then my husband could help me with that part of things. Did you know envelope glue contains gluten!?!? That's crazy.
ReplyDeleteI love getting and sending cards. They'll have to be far more expensive for me to stop sending them.
I did not know envelope glue contains gluten! That is so crazy, and annoying. Well, I'm here to say that peel-and-stick worked for me.
DeleteI love photo affections! I’ve ordered from there for a few years now. My philosophy is similar to yours, but I usually don’t skip cards (because I always look forward to sending them) and I do clean up my list every once in a while. I don’t mind if I don’t get a card from someone back in a year, but if I haven’t grotten one from a person for a few years, they get crossed off my list eventually. It’s just getting too much otherwise (I send around 70-80 cards right now as it is, so I need to make cuts somewhere).
ReplyDeleteI have definitely made cuts over the years, people that I seemed to have fallen out of touch with. No feuds, though!
DeleteOh, back in the day I used to write a letter in each card. At least to people that this was our only communication. I didn’t write one up and print it, I hand wrote in each card, asking about them, telling them what was going on. It was a lot of work! I still hand write my cards, but now I write a short note. I’m in touch with most people in some way or another, Facebook or text or blog or all of the above, so I don’t feel like the letters are needed. I don’t keep track of who sends me a card. It actually never occurred to me. I just enjoy doing it. I took one year off, in 2014, when my rheumatoid arthritis first flared and I couldn’t write, and it made me so sad.
ReplyDeleteI love your holiday card philosophy! I don't always send holiday cards, but some years, I decide it's worth it so I take the time. I always write a little note, so they take longer and tend to be a labor of love!
ReplyDelete