Christmas cards 2007

[Teresa]

I quit christmas cards about 8 years ago. something had to give. there is just so much to do during the season. but, I really try to remember birthday cards (not e-cards) and send out letters/cards for no reason throughout the year. I think this is more meaningful anyway. you don't just sign your name - you actually write a message or letter to the recipient. nad include photos if possible.

I see no reason however to subject anyone to a newsletter about me and my family. ever! I just feel that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who send out a holiday newsletter about themselves and those who would not even think of doing so. of course, I kind of feel the same about myspace pages.

 

[peapod1980]

"Blessings from Jesus and Our House! We've had a great year. Mr. Perfect got a huge raise, which he has always deserved, so we built a 12,000 square foot house with servants' quarters. After a month at the beach, we spent the rest of the summer in Africa feeding starving children with food we grew ourselves. Our daughter is in the fourth grade, but she's smaller than her classmates because she's only seven. Her pre-algebra classes are going well. Little Junior is only in kindergarten, but he's already the president of the student body. I've had a quiet year. After single-handedly decorating my own house and the houses of all my tacky neighbors, I read the New York Times Bestseller list and wrote freelance reviews for all my favorite magazines. I got a letter last week from my old friend Laura Bush congratulating me on my use of literacy. Meanwhile, our marriage is perfect and our lives are wonderful. Merry Christmas."

NoHall, this is awesome! (And exactly the reason I can't handle them.)

Is there a happy medium with these holiday news letters?

Evidently not, based on the ones I receive and NoHall, too, evidently. Here's my feeling: if someone is sending me a letter that is full of information that is news to me, we're not close enough that I should even be sent such a letter. Honestly, I think most people tend to overestimate how interested others are in their lives.

 

[dbuck]

Don't feel bad Pea, cards aren't being sent from this house either. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, this year ..... I don't. Let this be my official Christmas Card.

MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"GOD BLESS US EVERYONE"​

 

[Mermaid]

It's not looking good for us getting them out this year. It's taken me far too long to get a photo of the L'il Peas, and the one I had 40 prints made of is actually awful, I'm afraid. So, for the first time ever since I've had kids, I think we might sit this one out.
Anyone else not sending cards this year?
I'm actually thinking the Valentine's Day card is looking appealing... ;-)
P.S. If you send out a longwinded Christmas letter with your card, 'fess up and defend yourself.

Today I finally sat down and started the cards. I'm not used to writing by hand much any more so I couldn't get through them all. My penmanship was down the tubes by the 10th card and I had to quit and crack open a beer. Those that don't receive cards from me this year will get them next year, and those that do this year might not next year. That's just the way it works. ;-)

Since I don't know how to work the computer except to write in excess of 6,000 posts and undocumented PMs, there were no photos to enclose because--guess what!--I haven't a clue as how to find the photos let alone print them. I'll blame this problem on Bill Gates, which is what Merman does when the computer gives him problems.

Long-winded Christmas letter, printed on fancy Christmas paper? That what you're talking about? I did it only once in my life and I'm very glad that I did. My mother-in-law was dying during the holiday season in 2001 and I knew that I'd never again write anything to her. So I sat down and wrote and wrote, and before I knew it I had eight typed pages. It was the best gift I ever gave her because it made an old woman happy to hear about her son and her grandchildren so far away from her. (And practical Yankee that I am, I thought it was a shame to waste all that verbosity so every friend and relative got a copy. I think I stunned a lot of people that year...and not in a good way...it was like, shaddup already...)

 

[peapod1980]

Don't feel bad Pea, cards aren't being sent from this house either. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, this year ..... I don't. Let this be my official Christmas Card.

MERRY CHRISTMAS
AND
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

"GOD BLESS US EVERYONE"​

and
dbuck, I love it!
Mermy, you get a pass because of the circumstances and the fact that it was a one time offense.
P.S. Johnrudy, which DTB CD were you listening to? I'm on emusic now looking at all their CDs, and I still have some downloads left this month. I have a feeling John R might be familiar with them.

 

[Mermaid]

Outstanding Nohall!

I received an e-mail "Holiday Newsletter" this year. I had no idea one family could have so many illnesses, surgeries, accidents, deaths, sad stories, hard luck, no luck, etc. Every paragraph began "So and so is great- now! You probably didn't know, but she had blah blah blah". This went on for an entire page and covered 9 family members. I didn't know any of them and barely know the sender.

I was so depressed after I read it! And if I had written it, I would have been really down in the dumps, to see how bad my year had gone, visible on one page. It did make me feel blessed!

Is there a happy medium with these holiday news letters?

Ha! You know what's worse? When you dig through your trusty 20+ year old box of Christmas cards, you know, the box with all the odds and ends of cards, address labels, torn-off addresses of received cards, beat-up old address books, and you wonder, as you write a card to someone, if you've sent them that exact card last year, and the year before and the year before that. They really oughtn't make boxed card sets with more than 20 cards in them since the opportunity for repeats is enormous. Especially when your Christmas card list gets smaller and smaller each year because of your 'forgetting' to do the chore more years than not. (Did I just say chore? You know I didn't mean it!)

Oh, and the other thing is looking through your address book and noting how many people in it have died. You tend to accumulate a lot of corpses when you've been married a really long time.

 

[Beachbummette]

I got off a few cards, but have been so busy I did not get them all out. I meant to send one to every single one of y'all....really I did. Y'all know I love ya anyway.

We get a lot of corporate/business type cards at work and I can't tell y'all how many of them were not even signed. Why bother?

 

[dbuck]

I got off a few cards, but have been so busy I did not get them all out. I meant to send one to every single one of y'all....really I did. Y'all know I love ya anyway.

We get a lot of corporate/business type cards at work and I can't tell y'all how many of them were not even signed. Why bother?

EXACTLY!!!

 

[NoHall]

Mermy--you DO get a pass. The letters I describe are nothing more than, "Hey, friends and family! Let me tell you why I'm better than you!" There are acceptable ones--I get letters from friends when they've been abroad doing missionary work, when they've had a tragedy (and we all want to know but are afraid to ask), and I've had a couple of friends send page-long letters after a "miracle baby" comes, accompanied by pictures of fat-and-happy cutie pies. I love getting those letters.

My gullfriend's SIL sends letters telling about acreage they've bought and their children's complete academic transcriptions. Bleh. When her oldest son was born, her husband would introduce him and say, "This is Junior. We think he has below-average intelligence..."

I usually send out cards to all my clients. Hand-written, hand-addressed...I don't understand any other kind of card from a company unless it has money in it.

 

[Beachbummette]

Here is my card to you all.

Happy Alcoholiday!!!