As I finished up this year’s handwritten Christmas cards, I got to thinking… The list of people I send cards to by mail is quite short now — it used to be much longer. It may be that I was able to prepare and send cards each year because the list got shorter. But I have sent them for years. It has often been the only time of year that I connected with some far away friends and relatives. There were years of short notes, years of full family newsletters and school photos, and some with silly recipes and jokes. I often find myself humming this song (Again by Melanie) as I prepare to start on my card list, but I know there has been at least one song written sentimentally about a Christmas card and also a movie that I have yet to watch. My curiosity also led me to confirm that the first Christmas card was sent in 1843 – 170 years ago.
My list of addresses still include those we have lost touch with or lost due to death or illness. Some just stopped sending. I don’t think technology, social media and e-cards are the main reason for this — people are really busy and/or Christmas cards just aren’t their thing. I could let it go too, but a part of Christmas that has always been important to me is the re-connection to people and the time to do that, even if only a card exchange in the mail. I found it interesting that both my older children are exchanging printed cards with a few friends. I wondered if their choices with cards were because of my influence, but then I read this news article which mentioned a survey done two years ago which found:
“Surprisingly, the majority of young Canadians — aged 18 to 24 — said they preferred receiving cards in the mail to electronic alternatives. Two-thirds suggested cards in the printed version carry more meaning than their electronic counterparts.”
There are other interesting bits in the article about Christmas mail and the influence of technology, but now I am thinking that handwritten and mailed Christmas cards will continue to be a part of this season for me. And that is okay. I have added a few new names to my Christmas card list and now I have written a blog post about it – I didn’t really expect to do either this year. I welcome your stories or thoughts (or predictions!) about Christmas cards in the comments as well.
I would also like to take the opportunity with this post to send best wishes for the holiday season to those I connect with through this blog. May it be just the way you like to spend it!
Dec 17, 2013 @ 23:39:25
Oh my goodness, Sheila, you’ve done it again! Written exactly what I’ve experienced. I was noticing this year that my list is shorter – a few deaths, a couple moves, one or two I haven’t heard from in years. Every year I curse the time needed to do “The Cards” and yet, every year I do them. Why? Connections. Merry Christmas, Sheila. God Jul!
Dec 18, 2013 @ 10:15:51
Thanks, Nancy! We are our own worst enemies… but in a good way 🙂 Some people I send to don’t use social media, so yes, I want to keep the connection going and also send out of respect.
PS I need your home address.. haha
Dec 22, 2013 @ 05:19:18
Hi Sheila!
It’s good to drop by your “home”, yet again. 🙂 Even, if it is a “blog” home. I’ve been snowed under with two courses. My Coetail course requires one blogpost a week and I can barely keep up. I don’t know why I decided to add in the second course! Thankfully, that second course was over and done with in a month but I had a rather grumpy November because of it.
Generally speaking, I enjoy writing but I have to be in a certain “mood” and frame of mind to write and enjoy it. I have some blogposts that I hope to eventually write (one which I told you about). They are on the “back-burner” until I get into that “place” where I can write about them. Doing my assignments depletes my reserves so I have none left for any extra blogging. 😉
I’ve been writing Christmas Cards since I was ten and my first memory of a Canadian stamp was 14 cents and I remember thinking it was terrible when they went to 17 cents! I wrote my cards to just about everyone that I knew and a lot of them were teachers or people (adults) at church. It was great fun to address them and to put a stamp on the envelopes. I would count the days until the mail would arrive at its destination–a good week for Canada Post, I’m thinking! (I am completely dismayed that my children 9-17 years old don’t know how to address an envelope still! Do you remember being taught at school how to do it? I do!). I remember my father scolding me and asking me why I have to mail a card when I could telephone! There’s just something exciting about Christmas cards, Christmas Stamps—all those shiny papers and colours! Christmas is a time about magic and the magic includes gold & silver stationery. They’re like eye-candy or paper jewels. I saw that @bachtrac also sends out Christmas Cards with Christmas Stamps. She posted a pic of them on Instagram.
I don’t remember any of the adults returning cards to me. They didn’t “get” how excited I was to send to them and I didn’t “get” how busy and uninteresting it would be for them to send a card to a child… :p
Like you, my list keeps on getting shorter each year. Many people stopped returning cards and then I stopped sending too. I hesitate over some names in my address book and wonder if they’ve “passed on” but I have no polite way of knowing so I leave them in my book. One faithful friend has been sending family “Sears” photos of her family since they were newborns. Now, they look like grown men and women in the pictures and I feel the years passing by… I guess they feel the same way about my family photos. Christmas letters are a good way of documenting our family histories before they are lost. Writing them forces us to reflect about what was wonderful in that year and to be grateful.
I agree that Christmas is that only time of the year where I connect with people again via real stationery. It’s also so meaningful to receive something in “hard copy” in the mail. You know the person has extended him/herself to mail it to you. A few years ago, I had the option of mailing photo cards direct from Moonpig but I chose to have them mailed to me so I could handwrite in the cards before sending them off. It took more time and was more expensive but I was afraid that sending a Christmas Card direct would be as personal as those generic company cards. I couldn’t do it.
Ironically, because of social media, I think I “know” more people than I ever have before at any given moment before social media. Maybe we should start a new tradition that we send a “real” card during this season (whatever season you want to call it) randomly to a few people in our PLN. I think it would bring a big smile and also prove that our online connections can grow to be as meaningful and as important as our “offline” connections. I keep on saying that with my children, their offline connections become their online connections; their online connections become their offline connections. The differences between the two “camps” will blur more, over time. Pretty soon, we will hardly make or see the distinction. I had a “Tweet-Up” a few weeks ago with two educators that I “met” through Twitter. We had a great visit face2face and it didn’t feel like I was meeting them for the first time.
Thanks so much for starring so many of my Tweets when I send out notification of a new blogpost/blog assignment and reading my blogposts. I feel guilty that I’ve not been able to return the compliment “au cause” to being so snowed under with assignments. Thanks for your support, as always :). One day, it would be great to meet up with you, @Bachtrac, and @JMitchinson in my much missed homeland. Hearts turn towards home during the holidays…
Until then, I wish you and your family a wonderful holiday season and the best in 2014!
~Vivian
Dec 23, 2013 @ 12:01:37
Thanks for dropping by, Vivian! I really appreciate your update, thoughts, stories and reflection on this. It is interesting to think about a time when getting a Christmas card from someone we haven’t met F2F (and only online) might not seem odd at all. Tracy did send me one (in fact it is in the basket in the picture!), but we have met F2F a few times now. Your idea could be the start of something. There are those “chain blog posts” going around right now for fun and connection….. hmmm 🙂
Take care and enjoy the holidays in your corner of the world!
Dec 23, 2013 @ 18:58:39
My list is extra short this year because I didn’t get around to getting cards created. The late Thanksgiving holiday combined with the crazy last few weeks of school and an inability to find card-worthy pictures of my crew to keep me from getting cards made. Maybe I’ll write a Christmas post and email it to everyone on my list, but it’s not the same as a real, snail-mailed Christmas greeting.
Dec 24, 2013 @ 12:30:17
Understandable for sure, Philip! I am sure a New Year’s (late) greeting would be just as appreciated too. I have received greetings different ways on social media this year, and all appreciated. But I still cherish the cards via snail mail 🙂
I guess I appreciate our earlier Thanksgiving in Canada a bit more now 🙂 Hope things are peaceful and pleasant over the holidays!
Dec 26, 2013 @ 10:49:42
Vivian and I had been in contact via Twitter and blog posts and we ended up setting a time online for a f2f hangout. It was so great to connect in real time and have a proper conversation. I hope someday we can all meet up and go for lunch or supper in the flesh. In the meantime, maybe we should all plan to have coffee In a virtual f2f hangout? It’s pretty much on par with sending a Christmas card by post. Worth the effort!
Dec 26, 2013 @ 11:11:04
Good idea, Jane. Adding to my list of some new things to do in 2014!
Dec 28, 2013 @ 08:17:07
Hi Jane and Sheila
A google hangout sounds like a great idea! There will lots to chat about as Canadian news lately, is not boring 😛
I did see the chain blogs going around. It sounds like a great way to connect with people and to find out more about each other.
~Vivian
Jan 02, 2014 @ 15:09:28
I’m a little late to the game here as the holidays are now coming to a close and I am back to work, begrudgingly, and attempting to get back into the routine of things! I loved reading all your comments and can relate in so many ways. I suppose I’m a bit old fashioned but I’ll never forget my grandmother scolding me for being tardy with my birthday gift thank you cards. “Because it’s the right thing to do,” she would say. And so it is that I find myself still handwriting dozens of birthday cards each year, thank you notes, anniversary wishes, and of course, at least 100 Christmas cards – mind you, that includes all my handwritten business Xmas cards, too. It’s very much a nostalgic process for me; making tangible connections with friends and families and my business partners. I still believe there’s nothing quite like receiving a card in the mail, all decorated with paper jewels as Vivian described! 😉 I’m also one that sends pictures and looks forward to receiving updated pictures from friends and family. Our fridge is plastered with these pictures. Even my kids look forward to updating our fridge every Christmas. As much as I appreciate receiving holiday emails or scanned/pre-printed Xmas cards from the copy store (many businesses do this), I choose to handwrite all of my cards. Because it’s about relationships, in business as it is with personal. And because I truly believe that making that little extra effort to appreciate those connections, as my grandmother would say, is the right thing to do…cheers to you all, I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season filled with love, joy and happiness with your friends and family!
Jan 04, 2014 @ 02:04:29
It’s also great to connect with Sheila, Tracey, and Jane here on your blogpost without the limitations of the 140 characters on Twitter or that little Instagram comment box 😉
Jan 04, 2014 @ 11:45:37
haha, Vivian.. maybe we could return to chat along here all year until next Christmas… 🙂