I do the letter too, and this year I had to dig deep for pictures. We didn’t go anywhere. My letter has a lot of cat pictures. We lost one and gained one. And I don’t write everything good. I write what I thought was important to remember for the year. I save 2 copies and put them in folders for each kids. Someday they can read what their mom felt was important in their young lives. Reading some of the old ones are hilarious. I don’t send the letter to everyone - just older relatives and people I don’t keep in touch with. I do love receiving them too. I am not on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, whatever else is out there now.
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I only send a letter to those that are far away. I still keep up with a friend I worked with close to 40 years ago through annual cards and letters. I am not funny enough to send to local friends that know the news!
I sent a letter for quite a few years. I would spend a lot of time on it and tried to be funny. I agree it is a good way to look back. We had a couple of rough years and I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The photo cards now have options for text on the back so I write a quick update. 2020 has been a tough year so I only included the positive things and didn’t include the negative things. I send maybe 100 cards, and receive maybe 40. I hang them up on ribbon in my kitchen area and they make me very happy to look at. They are always the last thing to come down. I have a few friends whose card I get very early, but the majority of my friends are procrastinators and I get a lot the week before Christmas and always a few around New Years.
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I have never understood the travel log letter. I have zero interest in where anyone went that year. I also shake my head at the month-by-month letters as though there’s a need to distinguish what you did in February from what you did in June. I like short, breezy, and funny with zero brag. When my BF and her husband retired, she wrote, “DH and I retired this summer and joined the ranks of those wondering how early is too early to eat dinner or go to bed.” Hers are the best.
I really like this feature and have used it to keep the update short.
I remember helping my mother send out probably 150 cards each year with photo enclosures and personal messages. I kept up the tradition after her death, and even succumbed to the chatty family newsletter for a while, but that’s tapered off since the kids are grown. I brought up a box of cards this year, thinking maybe people would like to get mail during the pandemic, but the only one I’ve sent so far is the one with the tip for my newspaper delivery person.
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I love getting the travel log letters and the full year updates. I hope people I know don’t stop sending them because some folks don’t like them.
If people don’t like getting mine (card or letter) I don’t care if they chuck it.
The ones I don’t care for are the “signed name only” or “wrote one line.” Why bother other than to keep the post office in business?
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Haven’t read all the posts.
I still send Xmas cards. For decades I have purchased charity Christmas cards. I would much rather give the money to a good cause than Hallmark. I receive and send fewer each year though. Part of that is because my kids are older. I no longer see a need to send a card to my children’s playmates’ parents, unless we are still in contact. People drop off the mailing list each year due to not having seen them for many years, or especially if they never bother sending me one.
Yes, I think cards are dying out, but I am happy that my daughter chose to send a card to her friend in Montana yesterday. Maybe the youth will revive it.
I am sure I will ruffle a few feathers, but…
I HATE your family photo Christmas cards. If it’s a family member sending it, fine. But each year, I throw your kids in the recycling bin. I don’t need to see your kids growing up. The whole point, IMO, of a Christmas card is to send a greeting of happiness and good wishes for a nice holiday season. A nice, Christmas-y cardinal, or angel, or lights, or snowmen, or whatever, to look cheerful around the house, and to know that yes, you are thinking of us. Those are the types of cards I like.
I definitely get less cards. I think this year I’ve only gotten one so far. Some people now post a family photo and holiday message on Facebook. I used to love it when people sent photo cards that were real cards on nice card stock where you actually had to insert the picture. I love seeing the photos and the families grow. I even like the occasional update letters.
I could see my oldest starting to send holiday cards if and when she has a family. My other daughter sends apaper holiday to her grandparents. Both of them write and send paper thank you notes.
@conmama I want new flatware. I want something heavier weight. I hate having the spoon bend when I am spooning out ice cream. I’ve always had sets I’ve bought at Ross. I would love something nicer but I don’t want to spend William Sonoma prices.
I think I’ve sent 50 holiday cards this year, split between friends and patients. Many tell me it’s the only card they receive. My longer notes go to people I don’t speak to regularly. I’m sure it’s a dying tradition, but I’m a dinosaur 
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While I don’t send cards and receive very few I saw a cute idea on what to do with your old cards. PUnch a hold in the corner and put them on a separate key ring each year. Fun for kids to flip and look at each year or older people - or anyone!
Im not one to hang onto them except for photos of some families close to us but this idea might work for those who hate to throw them away.
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Ross usually has sets of Oneida. I’ve bought extra flatware there or at HomeGoods.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I did see a set at Homegoods that is a possibility. We have an IKEA in town, but it’s a little further out, I’ll look online.
@Lindagaf, I put the card a silverware on one question, because I’m getting sick of starting a thread and having it look weird and glitchy. It doesn’t have the box above the letters that I see when I “reply”. When I start a thread the box scrunches up and all I can see is the box to the right. Is that the same for you guys?
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My grandmother had a friend who sent the family photo card every year for years and years. She used to display them all together. As a child I was fascinated to see the kids grow up. I think I like the family photo that also looks festive. My mother always did a standard card and included a photo and letter separately. She had a huge list, (that’s what happens when you move every two years of your adult life), and I think there were many people on the list who didn’t get the letter or the photo.
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I don’t see my kids sending them out… they stay in touch with everyone via social media. I think they are going away.
I love getting holiday cards, but hate sending them. I sent them in 2018, but haven’t felt like it since.
And here I sit trying to write the obligatory Christmas cards crossing people off my list and adding others. My problem is I love getting them but hate sending them! I like the photo cards especially with kids but just the thought that someone took the time to address the envelope is enough. Good time of year to say “we know you’re still here!”
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I’ve always held the philosophy that everyone should do what they like with the holidays. Keep traditions like like, toss those that don’t. I have no issues with people tossing my stuff in the trash. I toss almost all cards/photos after the season myself. It was sent with good intentions and I hope they realize that.
But if you want a feel good story about an Xmas letter. My in-laws have been friends with two couples for ~80 years. (or my FIL was friends with the guys and over the years added spouses.) They did everything together all the time. But one couple was on the opposite side of the political spectrum. Several elections ago, the rift broke them and my in-laws apart. If you mentioned their name, a long ugly rant would start.
They were always on my Xmas card list and I continued to sent them one. They never did anything to us. I never sent them a letter because they always knew what went on in our lives. But one year, I tossed one in there. A few days later, we received a handwritten note saying how glad they were that they got it. They missed us and wished they could reconcile with my in-laws. H called them and had a good talk. He took the note to his parents and had a long talk. They agreed to try and mend fences. And thus they did. It isn’t the same as it once was, but the the couple does come up from time to time to visit. My in-laws are in very poor health and can’t visit them.
But had I never sent that letter, I highly doubt they would have seen each other again before a funeral.
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We spent all day doing our cards. We have used up the last of the supply (I always buy them on sale right after the holiday). I planned them just right this year, and this year will probably be my last. Its a lot of work!.
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More than 30 years ago now, I decided one year to do a Christmas letter to put in my cards, along with a few photos. That morphed into a letter that included photos, and I always put some humor in the letter. I did this every year until about a decade ago. I think I sent about 50 or so cards out.
After a parent’s death in December, I didn’t do any for that year. It was freeing, and I haven’t sent cards since. We get very few cards in the mail now. It occurred to me yesterday that my siblings miss a lot of what’s going on my life, as they aren’t on social media (but their kids are). I was talking with H just yesterday about what would go in a newsletter if I were to write one for 2020. It would be an interesting exercise to document 2020 for the future (and I even had a very humorous incident I would put in there).
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I don’t throw picture cards out. I keep all of them in one box. I like to look at some older ones, kind of bringing the moment back.
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I just saw this headline this morning “Isolated by Pandemic, Americans Are Sending More Christmas and Holiday Cards to Stay in Touch” This may be a big card year (so far I am on track receiving from the same people I do every year).
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