Mama in the City

A blog about raising my family in downtown Vancouver

Do You Send Out Christmas Cards?

The truth is, I love receiving mail and I'm not talking about the electronic kind either. I mean the enveloped, stamped, addressed and posted type of mail. In turn, I also enjoy sending off thank you notes or random notes of cheer to dear friends through out the year. However, it seems that the more on line we are all getting makes for less snail mail sent out. It seems that you can thank people for gifts via text messages or pull out all the stops and send well wishes via your Facebook status update. You can even use your Twitter feed to wish people in your life Happy Birthday and just leave it at that.



Every Christmas I sit down and write out Christmas cards and post them off with just a hint of excitement thinking about the cards that might come my way. I love going shopping and choosing the cards I'll send out. I adore switching from my regular address labels to my Christmas ones. Last year, overly tired from my pregnancy with Josie, I sent off about 50 hand written cards to family and friends. I was sent about 10 in return, each year it is less. It seems that people are just forgoing the tradition of sending out Christmas cards in lieu of the big Merry Christmas wishes via social media.

I think that we need to stick to some Christmas traditions and not let our social media use replace the Christmas card. I don't want to hear that you don't have time to send out Christmas cards or that life is just too busy to sit down and address cards. Back in 2008 when Ben was an infant and cried nonstop and didn't sleep more than 45 minutes in a row, I stood dancing with him in the sling and wrote them on our mantle because it was important to me. It took me a lot longer than usual but they were posted out in the mail nonetheless.

Receiving a card in the mail makes me feel thought of and connected, which is what the holiday season shines with. Every single Christmas one of my dear Canadian cousins, whom I only really connected with during our wedding in 2005, sends us the most brilliant Christmas cards. If you are wavering about sending out Christmas cards this year get motivated and hop back on the postage train. Take an evening with a glass of wine or a hot chocolate and make it an event!

Go read up on the history of sending out Christmas cards. If you are still sitting on the fence about sending out Christmas cards this year, go check out Tinyprints for some inspiration on personalized Christmas cards.




11 comments:

I love receiving a Christmas card in the mail. Wow, good for you for being so dedicated you wrote them while standing with the baby!! This is our first year in the same home so I'm extra excited to send them out from "us". :)

-Michelle
Holistic Health Coach
www.REVIVE-healthcoach.com

November 22, 2012 at 11:15 AM  
Alyssa Jones said...

Hey! Funny and timely post as I was totally going to get started on that this weekend. Sometimes it feels like a chore, which is why in the past I've missed years. But I totally agree and think we need to get back to it.

November 22, 2012 at 2:20 PM  
mitzerella said...

mine are addressed and waiting to be stamped!

November 22, 2012 at 3:55 PM  
Kristin said...

great post. i used to hand make all my christmas cards and make them to sell as well. i stopped doing that about 3 years ago though. this post has me inspired, maybe not the make them, but to post some for sure. we have the added incentive of sending out our big gal's first kindergarden school photo inside that card! that is fun!

November 22, 2012 at 7:28 PM  
Erin said...

I just placed our order last night for ours to get printed (and rush delivery... whoops! Left it a bit late!). I really got into the habit when we moved away to another continent, it was a way of staying connected to people here. And now that we're back, I'm doing it in reverse!

November 22, 2012 at 9:39 PM  

I love sending and receiving tangible cards through snail mail. I was very disappointed with how few we received in return last year and I also love when people write a letter. I don't think we even got one letter last year...

I was about to give up but you have inspired me to continue. I guess it shouldn't be so much about what I get out of it but rather what I give.

:-)

November 23, 2012 at 1:55 PM  
Josline Hartnett said...

Thank you!! You have given me the inspiration to get started on Christmas cards this year. I haven't done it for the last two years and was getting lazy about it. Need to get back into this great tradition of correspondence.

November 24, 2012 at 9:54 AM  
Lisa said...

I'm just like you - I love sending out cards, pulling out Christmas labels and stickers and buying holiday stamps - I do it every year! We don't receive many in return but I don't mind, I love to send a bit of cheer to my family and friends mailboxes.

November 24, 2012 at 1:53 PM  
Krista said...

I love Christmas cards! Usually I'm so terrible at getting birthday cards in the mail on time, but for Christmas you have a whole month to get it right! Every year I make a special trip to the Art Gallery gift shop to pick my cards - they have such a beautiful selection and I don't mind spending extra since it supports the gallery. (I picked out a special one for Mr. B. again this year!)

November 25, 2012 at 10:27 AM  
Sarah M. said...

I used to be on top of it and loved sending them but in the past few years I haven't managed to do so. It doesn't look promising this year either. I think one year I did New Years cards instead.

November 27, 2012 at 11:46 AM  

I love sending Christmas cards and they aren't difficult once you get a card selected, stamps and stay on top of addresses. And what a treat! Something hand-written in the mail. Hurrah!

December 9, 2012 at 10:01 PM  

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