Our list has shrunk too. For the past few years we have sent about 30 but I think that it will be less this year.

Many people are not bothering but of course will send one if they receive one.

seagrass_gw Cape Cod

My DH has taken up the reins of our Christmas card sending. I have a chronic illness that leaves me with no reserve - I call people I care about and talk to them around the holidays.

I've written a synopsis of our year for 35+ years that's more pictures than words, love my microsoft publisher!! I've had a list of 60 or so it went out to. As we get older we lose touch and the list has dwindled. Irony is those left already know all about our year, family and our closest friends. I did move a large group who get my missive via email. Postage is too stupid to mail in town.

my wife makes them, individually different ... we send out about 100

60-70

I used to send out about 100, when the kids were small, and we sent picture cards. Since then, not a one.

About 30. I print my own on my HP printer, from photos I've taken. I'm thinking of cutting back also, the price of ink is insane. However, I have people tell me how much they enjoy the cards and that they "have saved every one". These same people used to send cards but now most often don't. Do they really expect my cards or just saying that to be nice? If I stop sending to them, and they find out other friends received one, how will that go down? ha

None.

We dropped from about 30 to around 12 over the past decade.

Haven’t sent cards for nearly 40 years. My mother was appalled when I stopped.

Maybe ten and I include a note. Not a Christmas letter but just a quick note to people i never see but don’t want to lose touch.

I send 20-25 and do the same as dedtired. A note in each, although sometimes quite brief. I do still get a couple of those generic type Christmas letters each year. They don't have a very personal feel, especially the one that comes from the wife of a man DH used to work for and still meets for lunch, shares phone calls. Her Christmas letters lean heavily in the direction of her Faith.

I also slowly whittled my holiday card list down over the years before I retired. I felt it necessary to include a hand written personal couple of sentences at minimum in each card - otherwise what’s the point of sending a greeting? While working I had long hours & long commute plus working after hours at home. I decided some of the holiday traditions brought me no joy but did add to my pressure cooker work life. I stopped doing many of the typical expected holiday tasks including sending cards. First to go was cards to people who lived in my area & who I saw in person at least once during holiday season. Then came those I was sure we’d never see again - such as friends made while living other places during DH military career. Now I send cards only to elderly relatives & ones that are chosen with them in mnd. This list of living relatives is now too short. I’ve never missed doing any of these holiday things. I enjoy the holiday lights others display but always look forward to anticipating the new year. Not looking forward to this coming year though,

Around 10. I write a chatty note of greetings and good wishes in each one. I send online cards from Jacquielawson dot com to a few people, too. As many of you have experienced, my list has shrunk as people have died or fallen out of my life.

I used to send 25 to 30, but now I'm down to about 10. A couple of friends send me e-cards (I think Jacquie Lawson, or something like that), but I always mail mine. I used to spend quite a bit of time making my own cards using clip art, Photoshop, and Quark (20 years ago), but I do not even have Quark on my computers anymore, although I do have Photoshop.

I used to send 60=70 and most of them are dead so I'm down to five, maybe four since a cousin also died this year. My daughter gave her dad a b-day card and it cost $7.95 so she said it's the last one she gives. I told her Traders has one dollar cards.,

Haven't counted yet this year, but under 20, I'm sure. I'm less interested in sending them, but several are to elderly relatives and friends, and I hate to not send those.

The ones we send are many dtly to far off rekatives or DH’s work past work colleagues.

If I am late in sending, I notice who is sending first. Orgers Infeel are a card out if po,

Others have stopped and after a few years we have reassessed the list.

We sent seasonal cards, consistent with our own areligious beliefs and also out of respect to the recipient list that included people with most all possible types of beliefs as well as those with many types of non-belief. I think it's rude to wish someone who you know doesn't share your beliefs or faith, a happy "whatever" that you celebrate, that you know they don't.

We stopped maybe 10 years ago. It was my job to survey which of the year's photo(s) to use, select a card and layout and get them printed, write the annual letter, and then address the envelopes. I stopped because I lost interest in both the work and the result. I think most people reach that stage at some point.

Agree with Elmer’s comment about the card choice. The group we did send “holiday“ cards to were an eclectic mix. In addition to what I already posted, card choice was another one of my stressors about sending cards - the time I had to devote to choosing an all inclusive card. When it became incorrect or impolite or inconsiderate (pick one word) to throw a Christmas party & they all became holiday parties, the act of sending cards became a chore & task rather than the sharing of joy, peace & comfort of the season. So, yes, I have to agree with Elmer that long ago I lost interest in doing that work.

Yeah, I agree about sending to relatives that you see or hear from often, and then always share the holiday with. I could eliminate them, they actually never acknowledge my cards anyway and don't send one to me. The price of stamps is another factor for some people.

I send cards to business associates...my dentist, my ortho, my vet, my PM, my HOA PM, my neighbors....so about a dozen or....a box of cards.

People used to tell me they looked forward to my Xmas letter. They weren't bragging ones, but just what the kids were up to and then later the grandkids. I stopped that a few years ago because I thought who even cares?

I remember watching my mother make out the Christmas cards every year. It was a HUGE box full, she hand wrote a note and hand addressed each one. It looked like such a chore that sucked the joy out of the season. And i KNOW we did not receive the same amount of cards back. I asked her one year about it and she just said that it was expected. I send 2 cards each year, with cash, to 2 of my nephews who are also my godsons. And hopefully that can be replaced soon. As they are turning 15 this year, I hope a Venmo account for each of them is forthcoming. So I can just send it over. I find even finding, addressing, finding a stamp and mailing those 2 cards too much of a chore for me. I receive those photo cards from random cousins that I do not know if I have ever spoken to in person, certainly not as an adult. And my siblings send the same cards that are festive pictures of their families. Those I keep just as regular family photos. I do not send any back and I cannot imagine that any of them expect it of me. I drop a card into my elderly neighbors mailbox. This year I will likely hand deliver it. She cannot walk all that well anymore.

I will be sending one more card this year. A former coworker of mine is currently in federal prison and I will send her one. I liked her a lot and while I know she has a loving family, I want her to know that she is not forgotten by people who are not family to her as well. I will include a short note detailing some gossip from work that she probably has no interest in. But again, just to let her know she is not forgotten in there......

@amylou321 I love that you shared your plan to send your former coworker a card. What you are doing is truly an act of kindness and is what the holiday season is supposed to be all about. You made me feel good for a moment here & I’ve needed that these days.

Thank all of you for sharing your stories about Christmas cards.

I only send to my siblings now but last year, I was in a funk and didn't send any at all. My husband sends to his siblings and niece and nephew also, he sends them from both of us. He's more into sending cards than I am.

When my Aunt was still living, she would send me a very sweet card with a note that wasn't more than a paragraph but in the little paragraph, she would tell me what they'd been up to. I really miss hearing from her.

I think mostly I'm in a funk because slowly but surely, my family is dying off. It makes the holidays very sad to me. Also, the ones that are still living are in another state and I haven't seen them in a long time.

I design my own holiday cards with a photo on the outside, a haiku on the inside and a photo of us on the back. I write a letter too. I just ordered this year's card. DH sends out about 25 and I do the rest.

Yes it is a bittersweet activity as I see the names crossed off in my address book, but then it triggers fond memories of people I haven't seen in years, so that's the positive. I still remember my Mom doing xmas cards and she had the most lovely handwriting.

But every year, we receive fewer and fewer. I also notice a lot more people opting for the simple postcard style rather than the folded card.

I send 80. It used to be 100. Christmas cards have always been a big deal to me. When I was growing up, my parents and I would sit at the dining table and open the day's arrivals, commenting on each one. Later, when I worked at Lincoln Center we received some very creative and otherwise fabulous cards, and they were always admired. For the past 20 years or so I've been using my own photography and text, having them printed by Mpix. They do a beautiful job. Between the printing and the (ugh) postage, it's expensive. But meaningtul to me.

I'm a writer, and as I look back on my cards from recent years there's quite a range of messages, not all of them cheery. The same can be said of the photos, I guess.. In 2019 I used a photo of my big black cat, Pogo, up a pale colored tree in winter, snow dusting his back and forehead. The text was from a John Lennon song.

I usually include a Christmas letter, but not always. In 2021 I used a photo of my ice house, and the text was a poem I wrote about it. The poem said everything I wanted to say, so no letter that year. Sometimes the letters are newsy, sometimes not.

I don't know what I'm going to do this year. About anything.

I send one or two. This year I plan to send one, to an old friend who isn't on Facebook. She's also the only person I send a birthday card to because I have no other way to contact her. In the past I would send out a card if someone sent me one, but I'm not doing that anymore, especially since everyone else I know is on Facebook.

Just the other day, I just blocked one of my brothers on my phone again because of his hatefulness. I removed him from Facebook a few years ago after he was spewing hatefulness on there.

Kath I too have a brother that has turned mean and dark with his political stance. It is as if he has lost his mind! He is so consumed with all the hate and anger and the irony is that he has a pretty darned good life and lacks for nothing.

Right now he wife is having physical and medical problems that she will probably never recover from and she may be on that downward slope of old age.

So, I try to call him to show that I care about them and he is always trying to bait me with his hateful views. Even while his wife if probably dying, he in consumed with the darkness.

He had told me and my sister that we need to be lined up and shot.! It is as if he is possessed by demons. He lives in southern rural area and is surrounded by others just like him.

I feel as if I am looking at the face of pure evil!

I am 73 years old and have never seen this in my life like this!

I can imagine how the persecuted people of Europe must have felt when that evil took over Europe and we sent our American troops to defend democracy and to die on that hill!

Both of my brothers were soldiers and both served in Viet Nam. Both put theri lives on the line for democracy. My oldest brother is buried at Arlington.

I never thought that America would become this.

I am sick to my soul!!

@amylou321 Nice of you to remember your former co-worker. It will probably mean a lot to her.

I send fewer cards every year. Maybe 2-3 this year. Of course, we are receiving fewer cards each year too.

It used to irk me that people I would hear from only once a year, via Christmas card, would send a card and just sign their names, no quick update or any other words. What's the point of that? All I learned is that they are still alive!

I got a new 4-pack of ink cartridges for my HP printer this morning at Staples. Includes the black cartridge and the three colors (blue, magenta, yellow). Cost: $110 with tax........ugh. But thinking on it, these cartridges last me appx. one year, because I don't print other holiday cards like I used to. Perhaps birthday or thank you cards throughout the year tho. And all three colors are very low. There's still a decent amount of the black ink left, but when printing cards you have to watch closely when the black is low, not run off too many multiples or you'll find some cards with muted color.

Last year, Walmart's price was the same as Staples, didn't check this time.

Depending on what you print in color, it may be cheaper or at least of higher quality to have such tasks done at a Staples or FedEx office location. Or use the "standard" cards offered at these places online or also by CVS or Walgreens. Choose and customize the image, trigger a print, go pick them up. Usually $1 or less per page.

Color cartridges for ink jet printers are a rip-off.

I send about 120 cards a year, short letter with just the facts:grandkids ages, where everyone is working etc and a picture some years a picture of each family, some years a picture of us and one of the grandkids. Last year we had a whole family picture, this a picture of us with our grown kids and one of us with the grand kids. I bought them at Walgreens 79.00 for 120 cards with envelopes. , Got them during one of their half price sales. It is so easy just take a picture, send it to Walgreens and order the cards and they are done by the next day. Cards are my favorite part of the holiday and don't like that it has fallen from most people do. Always think it is odd that people stopped sending them after it go so easy. I remember writing by hand letters to everyone, hand addressing all the envelopes etc. Now the labels are printed on the computer and it is a generic letter to everyone.

Oh yeah, I agree that having them professionally printed is inexpensive. I actually did that the year before last because I had just gotten this new printer and I could not figure out how to create my cards on it. I had the process down pat on my old one. Last year I was able to work it out, and I just prefer the look of the cards done on my printer. Plus I enjoy doing it.

I ordered my Christmas cards yesterday. I've been waiting for Mpix.com's annual Black Friday sale, and it's going on now: 50% off cards. I ordered 100 this year, and they cost a total of $98. As I mentioned, I create my own and have Mpix print them. They're 5x7 flat cards, very nice surface and weight (rigid). The envelopes are not at all flimsy. I'm always delighted with the quality. Mine this year have a 5x7 photo on the front and one smaller photo on the back. I've done them with no photos on the back, and with multiple photos. Mpix also offers a large selection of card designs and layouts so you don't have to DIY. Anyway, that's my Christmas card news for today.