Yes! I have noticed!

Oakley, send me your address via my email (debysnell@gmail.com) and I will send you a real Christmas card. Better make it snappy if you don't want a late one. LOL!

Done! Anyone else want to play?

We still get quite a few Christmas cards. I do get several picture cards (although not from Walgreens, many people seem to be using snapfish), but those are usually of children, which I love to get. I save those from year to year.

I love sending the cards and keeping in touch with old friends, so I don't feel like it's a PITA to do them. I do mine early, but don't mail till usually the first week in December. That way they are over and done before we get involved in so many other activities.

I am part of a message board which has become a close circle of friends and have been for at least 10 years. We are spread out and I always look forward to receiving those cards.

tina

Just like tina does, I write out all my Christmas cards early to get "the job" out of the way. I set aside the Saturday after Thanksgiving to complete the task, then mail them out the first weekend of December. Our list has slowly dropped down over the years, but mainly because my DH doesn't keep in touch with his college/early 20s friends any more. I usually wait for about 2-3 years of another person like that not sending a card before I don't send a card. I know very few of the young women (early 20s) at work send Christmas/Holiday cards because they all keep abreast of friends on Facebook. They say sending a card to people who you "talk to" on Facebook almost everyday is silly. I see their point, but since I don't use Facebook or Twitter, it's Christmas (and Hannukah) cards for me.

Oakley! I want to join your Christmas card list! We can exchange Real cards, and I even have some vintage ones that I can use.

We've received about 10 cards so far this year and usually get about 20 total. Most are the kid photos and now we're guilty of that, too, but I always enclose a personal note with each card. I really don't like the newsletter kind but understand why folks send them.

Yes, the economy probably has a lot to do with the fewer number of cards this year. If we've sent a card for a year or two without response I usually take that name off my list only to receive a card that same year. Another friend has contracted with an online company and sends electronic cards for birthdays and holidays now. Cute and creative, but just not the same. I'm a (youngish) old fuddy duddy!

Colleen

We seem to be getting about the same number as usual. My issue is with people who get the preprinted cards, use labels printed from their computer to address them, so you get a card that could have been sent by anyone (or a machine!). No evidence that human hands have touched them. That's just my pet peeve. The cards we sent have a photo (of the kids, or this year, of the whole family for a change) and our names are pre-printed on the card, *but* I also write a little something, even if it's just "Merry Christmas!" scrawled across the bottom.

Colleen, send me your address! I'll get one out today or tomorrow. Hurry before I run out of cards. lol.

Tina, I met three women on a message board over ten years ago. Now we are extremely close and we don't even talk about the subject which brought us together anymore! We send each othe cards and gifts throughout the year and talk on the phone often. Cyberspace really pays off, doesn't it?

We are not getting as many cards, either.

I think that a lot of people just could not afford to buy Christmas cards at retail just before the holidays and decided not to send them at all.

We send out a holiday card and newsletter to about 70 people. We started doing the newsletter a year ago and got an incredibly positive response, so this year we continued.

But, it takes planning. I hit the sales in late January and keep an eye out at the thrift stores. If we bought Christmas cards and newsletter paper at retail it would be very expensive. Sueb, we do write individual messages in every card, but without those computer printed address labels, our hands would cramp up and we would give up halfway through the M's.

We don't get as many holiday cards as we used to but we still send them out. I follow the same form as folkvictorian and not send them to folks we haven't received them from for 2-3 years. I belong to a message board and receive and send cards to between 20 and 30 women and I have to say how nice it is to receive cards from all over. There's something to be said about a hand-penned greeting...somehow we need to get back to the human aspect of the holidays rather than the "cut and paste" mindset that seems so prevalent.

Like Tina, I love the photos and always save them. They get stored with the Christmas stuff, so it's fun re-discovering them every year.

I think we're getting about the same number of cards each year. We live away from family, so cards have always been a form of communication. I only include letters with a few, but I always write a short note. It's so disappointing to receive a card with just a signature.

This year I was having trouble sitting down to write cards. My mom passed in February and her 2 surviving sisters less than a month later. So loss figured prominently in a number of our families this year. I decided to go through my mom's photo albums from the late 40s through the early 60s looking for Christmas photos. Found photos from all 6 of her siblings families and scanned 30 of them. Put together a Smilebox Christmas slideshow card and sent it to all my cousins and 2 surviving uncles. The response was incredible and it was the motivation I needed to sit down and write the paper cards.

Btw, I always visit Barnes & Noble the day after Christmas to buy cards & calendars at half price.

There's something to be said about a hand-penned greeting...somehow we need to get back to the human aspect of the holidays rather than the "cut and paste" mindset that seems so prevalent.

I agree. I have a large stationery box where I keep all my greeting cards for all occasions, even old Christmas cards when I don't use them all, plus addresses.

Don't get me wrong, I love receiving pictures, but I miss the prints that are INSIDE the card. Those can be ordered and just as inexpensive as the picture cards.

Used to be, one of my favorite times at Christmas was receiving the cards and looking at the Christmas scenes on the front of them. This may sound silly, but every year I'd pick the "winner" of my Christmas card contest I held for myself. lol. It's not fun anymore. :(

I've received less cards this year but I don't attribute that to the economy because the numbers have been dropping steadilly every year anyway. I've been doing the same thing, decreasing the number of cards I send out each year too. I think the main reason is the cost of stamps!

Don't make so much of it Oakley. You said your self you are sending less cards also.

Natal, that is a wonderful thing you did with the old photos! What a sweet idea.

You can buy nice (actually expensive) Christmas cards at places like Tuesday Morning, TJ Maxx, etc. I'm the same way about shopping right after Christmas as I am shopping on Black Friday (I don't do it LOL). I bought my cards in September or so at Tuesday Morning. Bought a couple of extra boxes later at TJ Maxx. We send around 75 cards.

I'm a sap, but I always buy the Christmas stamps for my Christmas cards! LOL

tina

This year I'm working @ a grocery store. They're giving away Wedgwood Stainless pots & pans when you purchase so many groceries from them. So...............I'm giving people pans, instead of X-mas cards and doing it early! :0) If times are hard they can regift them. I've given out 4 so far. All to adults over the age of 50 I might add. All have children, one is getting a divorce, one has a brother who is a chef.....

I just decided to do something different.....:0)

I've only received 2 x-mas cards, from people I haven't seen in over 10 years.

I love getting Christmas cards, so therefore send out lots of Christmas cards. I send about 75 and usually get about 50-55 in return. I buy them after Christmas on sale. I have to admit I print my address and return labels on the computer, I also include a letter listing the highlights of our year. But I always hand sign every card with a Merry Christmas with Christ underlined. One year I skipped the letter and everyone complained, so I'm back to letter writing. I receive mainly regular cards with just a few pic cards, but I love'em all and have saved the cards from the last 13 years. One day I'm gonna make ornaments or placemats or something out of them.
Syble

It is definetly less so far this year. I really like the photo cards though especially the ones with multiple pictures on them. Several of mine also has the "holiday" letter that many don't like, but I do. I think it is nice to hear what people I don't see often have been up to.

I sent cards to a few people who are shut-ins, but I'm definitely not sending out the amount I have in years past. I just don't feel "into" the whole holiday thing this year at all, and would rather not spend the money to mail cards. Call me Scrooge.
;-)

I'm sorry Tina, I didn't realise I was making a "big deal" out of it. I was just wondering, that's all.

Received more cards today, one a "regular", the other a picture card with a stamped signature.

I prefer the old-fashioned Christmas cards, too. Much more personal. I don't like feeling like I'm on someone's to-do list of cards to send. Though I love having a photo tucked inside.

I think it's nice, and even important, to miss the good old days when things were less hectic and commercialized, and more personal.

We used to send lots of cards when we were first married. It was something I looked forward to every year. I guess it was just another sign that we were now 'grownups' and starting our own traditions.

But now that we've been married for almost 40 years that initial excitement is long gone. It seems almost silly to send cards to people you see frequently. So I only send to those that I seldom see and I always include a handwritten note. Frankly sending a preprinted card, even with a lovely illustration on the front and a beautiful printed message inside doesn't seem like much of a greeting to me unless there's something more personal than a signature. So that's why I write a personal note to each person who receives a card. It's time consuming but I feel it's important to me.

Mcmann, I agree. The card means little, no matter how attractive, if there's no note, letter, or photo. It's almost as if why bother.

A little sad to hear some consider the practice a contest. I hope none of my recipients are in that camp.

Tina, I had no idea that's where I was headed when I opened those photo albums. It seems photos were shared among family members back then. I remember the tradition of each family visiting the others over the course of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but didn't remember the photo-taking. I only wish my mom was still here so I could thank her for her wonderful scrapbooking skills and informative notes!

Btw, I highly recommend Smilebox. I always used the free service until this card. For $4 I was able to share a full screen version and add my own music. Well worth it!

Here is a link that might be useful: Smilebox

I have an 18 month old and this year I designed (on the computer) from scratch our christmas card (with his picture) and brought it to a local printer to be printed on 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 cardstock - staples sells envelopes this size (half a letter size sheet) and it's standard postage to mail (I did his first and my niece's second birthday invitations this way as well). This was all MUCH less than ordering custom cards (on cardstock) online but I like them so much more than the cards on photo paper. I then put crystal glitter on the snowflake on it to give it a little extra something. I'd share (since I have the digital image) but it has our last name on it - but they came out really pretty. I did not include hand written notes in them though - I don't write by hand much anymore and it doesn't take long for my hand to cramp. I did hand address them though!

Family seems to be really enjoying them - all except my MIL who told me that I had better things to do with my time than put glitter on holiday cards and not to bother sending them. Oh well :)

Natal, why do you always come into a topic and pick on certain people and start something over NOTHING?

You bend over backwards trying to start something with some of us. I wasn't going to say anything but I've had enough of you deliberately twisting mine and other's words just to make us feel BAD.

The "contest" isn't a contest, it's actually a "favorite". Every year my family gathers around OUR tree and picks out our favorite ornament. Ditto with the Christmas cards. Every year I pick out my favorite Christmas card. THAT's IT. So please stop with your not so veiled snide remarks, okay?

You always turn my threads into garbage, just like the perfume thread. I'm one of the very few who will stand up to you, but your actions are pretty darn obvious. You sure know how to clear a room. ;)

Kg, I'm so sorry your MIL said that to you! Maybe she's jealous of your talent? You put a lot of effort into giving your pictures a personal touch. Kudos! Hey,don't send her one. lol

"...all except my MIL who told me that I had better things to do with my time than put glitter on holiday cards and not to bother sending them."

Gheesh, If it were my grandchild I'd sure want to get one ;o) The fact that you took the time to make it personal is thoughtful.
We've gotten cards from family and friends over the years with photos of their kids on them and we've saved every one. Someone mentioned that it's like watching them grow up, and it is. We don't get to see some of them often and it's a nice way to stay in touch. We just got one from DH's cousins and we commented on how big the kids are getting (one is almost a teen) and how great it is to still be getting photo cards from them.

I don't send any and consequently I don't receive any, reckon why? (lol)

....Jane

Oakley, you asked how we felt about Christmas cards for cryin' out loud! Why does it always have to turn into all about you? If anyone dares offer a different viewpoint you get your feathers ruffled. I deliberately avoid many of your threads now for that very reason. I think others do the same.

Oakley, I sent your card out yesterday! You can enter my card in your competition. Win or not, I love those cards. LOL!

My favorite cards come from someone who makes his own. Look forward to them every year. That said, not everyone is an artist. If I had to make my own, no one would get any.

Oakley, that was such a sweet story you shared with all of us, of your Christmas card and ornament traditions. It's nice to hear some people appreciate their cards so much, reading and reflecting back over them all again after the holidays. I have most all of the cards I've ever received saved : ) I could never throw them out.

I love Christmas cards. I especially love ones with a family photo tucked inside. I even love the Christmas newsletter. After all, I am interested in you and your family.

Last year I chose a pretty, snowy day scene of our house. (It was the ONE day of that year we got snow...and it was a pretty fluffy snow.) and had it printed as a fold over notecard. We inserted a news letter and hand signed the card. One of my better ideas.

This year has been a significant one for us so I'm doing a newsletter that heavy on photos and brief with words. I'm having those printed in color at Staples and folded into a red or green envelope. Gotta get that done, I'm way behind this year.

One thing I'm not liking is a few of my young friends are sending email cards. Uh, no thanks. I want a little bit of time and effort put into our friendship. We keep all the photos and put them on our fridge or in a basket to pray over later in the year. If I only have an email version, I'm afraid I just won't bother to print it out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Creative Soul

Oakley, your card is all ready to be picked up by our posty on Monday morning! (If I tape a $20 to the back will it help the voting process? Juuuuuuust a thought! :) )

I'm a saver of cards, too, and have the baby and childhood pictures from over the years. It's fun to look back at the kids as they grow, even though we've moved away and haven't seen the parents in a long while. Traditions are wonderful and make the Christmas season so special.

A little Christmas card history for you all:

Here is a link that might be useful: Christmas card article in the WSJ

Oakley, you asked how we felt about Christmas cards for cryin' out loud! Why does it always have to turn into all about you?

Stop your innocent act, Natal. YOU are the one who made it about me with your thinly veiled comment AS IF none of us would notice it. lol. You said:

A little sad to hear some consider the practice a contest. I hope none of my recipients are in that camp. insert your text

Do you think I'm that dumb not to recognize an insult when I see one? "Some?"..uh, you mean ME? lol At least I don't hide behind rudely veiled comments like you do.

If anyone dares offer a different viewpoint you get your feathers ruffled. I deliberately avoid many of your threads now for that very reason. I think others do the same.

Oh reeally? You must have missed my recents threads which YOU reply to all of them. ;) Admit it, you live for my topics. hee.

Now, lay off the eggnog and have a very merry Christmas! Dh and I have already been out shopping and out to dinner and I refuse to let you ruin my Christmas spirit.

Sorry to everyone else, but sometimes ya just have to get it off your chest. :)

Awn03, he nailed it! One thing that bothers me is all the wonderful artists won't be "coming" to my mailbox as much anymore.

I received another picture card today.

I liked how he said the cards represents us..more or less. I always take my time picking out cards and I don't spend a bundle either. I dread the day the printed cards disappear.

Oh, anyone notice the artists had a "contest" with their cards? Love it!

Oh lord. Not interested in a bickering match with you. Find someone else to play your silly games. Merry Christmas Oakley!

Yes, that article was amazingly on point with your posts, Oakley! A lot of people feel as you do. I've been hearing it for years.

I find it harder to buy beautiful cards these days. Used to be a better selection, IMHO. We had a nice stationery shop in town that had some lovely ones, but the store closed. Guess I should shop online next year.

oakley, hopefully you feel better getting everything off your chest and have not let your Christmas spirit be ruined.

This year I was having trouble sitting down to write cards. My mom passed in February and her 2 surviving sisters less than a month later.
I'm so sorry for your losses this year, natal. It must be a bittersweet holiday season. (It was the first one I lost my dad.) Your mention of wishing you could call your mom got me pretty choked up and serves as a reminder to me of what's truly important. What a sweet gesture for your family, scanning the photos, and what a priceless gift!

Natal, if you're not interested in bickering with me, why then did you send me a nasty email?

Please leave me alone and don't email me anymore. I always delete your email except the one you just sent had a weird topic heading.

Stop feigning your innocence. You just proved my earlier point about acting all innocent when you're not.

I will no longer reply to you and I'd appreciate you staying out of ALL my topics. And if you dare say you didn't send me a nasty email, I will be more than happy to forward it to others, that way I can't tamper with it.

UNCLE. Leave me alone. You win, okay?

This really needs to be carried on in private, not in front of the rest of us.

Whatever happened to peace and goodwill and the holiday spirit?

tina

I appreciate the sentiment! And that's what I will take from this thread. Thanks!!!