Every year I mail out Christmas cards to various people and more than half are to people in the UK. Now granted a lot are family, but some are to friends and acquaintances in the UK. I was looking through my list of who I had received cards, letters, notes and photos from last year. I received only a couple of letters from people. Remember the majority of these people I don't talk to from one year to the next.
Due to the lack of communication other than a Christmas card, it makes me wonder if they actually want any contact with us, and only send us a Christmas card because I send them one? So this year I am giving them a "way to get out of sending us a Christmas card ever again card." I composed my annual Christmas letter on Monday and mentioned that due to the cost of postage for us and how busy everyone else is, that if they wanted to stop sending us a Christmas card that was fine. If they wanted to just send us email greetings, I have included my email address. The choice is theirs; as to my mind if they can't even be bothered to include a few lines in a card I am quite sure they won't care one way or another if they mail us a Christmas card?
I am sure this will tick off some people, but I am also sure some people will be thankful that they don't have to trail to the post office for an international stamp. Is there anyone else that feels this way? I plan on having at least the Christmas cards with UK addresses on sent by the end of the week. Stay tuned to see what happens. By the way I asked dh about this and as he pointed out if it was up to him, no one would get a Christmas card!!!
Thanks to the temperatures being warm still on Monday I also managed to get some of the Christmas lights hung up on the deck, so another job out of the way. Just as well as by Tuesday am it was flipping cold and after the rain we had late on Monday I now have an ice rink for the birdies:
26 comments:
I am sending out exactly 7 Christmas cards this year and only to great Aunts/Uncles that are to far for me to visit and do not have email. 4 of them are in Nursing homes so calling them isn't a option either sadly.
I realized last year that there were just to many people that I sent cards to who really didn't give a hoot about us. So this year I figured out the postage and what I would spend on cars and sent it to the Red Cross instead. And it was much more satisfying
I stopped sending Christmas cards a few years ago. I visit my local heart charity and give them a donation instead - they appreciate that much more than anyone would appreciate a card from me.For me, it's a good way of using the money that I would have spent on cards and stamps.
What a gorgeous photo of birdie :) I agree with you. One year I forgot to send some cards to "friends" and realised that they didn't send us a Christmas card because I didn't send them one. They are no longer on my list.
I think a lot of people would welcome your letter Gill. Always lovely to get a card in the mail but electronic cards are becoming very popular.
I was not participating in Facebook until this year - connected with a lot of family that live in the USA that I used to send cards to. This year I will be sending electronic greetings and messages instead. I am only giving Christmas cards (left over from several years ago) to those I can hand deliver them to. Postage is creeping ever higher and I would rather spend the money on immediate family gifts. As for the birds, seems you shall have to craft up some little bird skates!
I stopped sending Xmas cards a couple of years ago except to immediate family. I send an email card to all my friends and then donate £20 to charity. I know to some this sounds lazy, but I still spend time on the computer, but I save money and trees! xxx
I totally agree with you, our cost of postage now is awful, and as many as I can, now get a lovely 'old world' animation card from Jacquie Lawson (I think), including birthdays. Sorry to advertise, feel free to not post this if you want.
We send too many cards- I prune my list every year!
At church we have a big pinboard, and you can put up ONE card and then put a donation to charity in the pot.
On Monday I am going to a committee where we have been each asked to put one card in the basket and pull one out. We address the card to 'my friend on the committee'
Did you say you have your Christmas decorations up already!!!????
I don't think it will tick people off: when you move away people get on with their lives and new associates and friends move in. I have moved over 41 times and I can count the number of friends I have from past areas on one hand. It isnt because they are neglectful or nasty, just busy as are we. I buy a cheap subscription to an email card site and I send email cards to everyone from my past who have kept in touch enough to give me their email addy: it is often enough to spur an up-to-date catch up and then that will be it for a year. Also, when we move away from places we tend to view it a little with rose tinted glasses and our friends become perfect and if we are honest, if we had stayed living where we were it is very possible these friendships would have died out a natural death anyway. So go for it or send e-cards.
I stopped sending Christmas cards last year and no one complained. A lot of the usual people who you descibe (sending a card once a year and never hearing from them any other time) didn't send one to us either. So it goes to show that they probably felt the same way. I'm happy ... saves me money and stress. Sue
I think most people will understand. I do not send to many cards anymore. B
Ha attach some skis to those birdies little feeties. I LOVE sending and receiving Christmas Cards, I love getting Happy Mail ... I only sent to the usual who I have received back from and added a few new friends to my list. A few of us on Cindy's Recipe exchange has opted to send each other cards, this I am really looking forward to ... a little fun for not too much cost :). but I agree for those who you feel do it because of obligation and not because they want to if it is only the time they communicate through the year. Good plan, Gill !
I think your card/email option is a good idea. Any way I can out-fox the companies wanting me to give them my money at Christmas is great.
Christmas cards seem to be going away here, as well. There are a few that I send yearly regardless of reciprocation. Last year I let the ball drop on a couple and wish I hadn't and hope to change that this year. However, gone are the days of filling out 2-3 boxes of cards and having a door covered with those I received. I rather miss it but with stamps what they are, I am sure that the tradition is going to be further diminished.
I love sending out Christmas greetings and receiving them as well...it seems my list changes every year. Over the years I have shortened the list but there have also been a few add ons. Mostly I send to family and close friends though. I like the idea of adding an alternate way of communicating, such as an email address however...I still prefer to get that hand written card in the mail...I am old fashioned that way. xx
My friends and relatives used to send each other their childrens' school photos in their Christmas cards. Now that I don't have kids at home, it is a perfect time to make a change! This year I am only sending cards to older relatives who don't have email. For closer friends, I will be sending a handwritten letter, and for the rest of the Christmas list, a group email!
I hope you feel a bit better about it now.
Jane xx
I don't see anything to be ticked off about...though I will say I love getting and receiving cards. I don't put in a letter...some I write a personal note in. Sometimes I even set some aside that i want to add a note to, only to end up not doing it. But with the price of postage, we are getting fewer and fewer cards...and I may cut down more this year.
Hi Gill, Guimauve here from PH. I can't say I agree, I am a card sender...no matter if someone sends me one or not. I have a "thing" for certain social niceties, greeting mail is one of them, and it saddens me that the art/act of thought is lost.
HOWEVER, I think you are already pretty much there with a generic letter (if I understood correctly?). *I*, wouldn't appreciate so much a communal letter, I am very much a write me my own card or don't bother type.
Of course...to each her own ;-)
FWIW, I actually got my stamps through the heart and stroke foundation with a donation, and I got my cards this year through a donation to a local youth crises center.
I have cut way back on both Christmas cards and Christmas gifts. While my mother taught me that I must always send a boatload of both cards and gifts for the holidays I got discouraged because many people wouldn't even acknowledge that they received these--not a big deal with cards but I kind of like to know if the gift arrived or not just so I know it didn't get lost. So after years of doing this I threw in the towel--now a few cards and gifts go out to just a few close friends and relatives.
Hi Gill! First off, thanks for the nice comment you left on my last blog post!
As for Christmas cards, I have never sent any of my own since it never fit into my budget. I have a lot of Christmas gifts to buy, so cards just have always gone by the wayside.
I'm afraid to say I don't send Christmas cards any more, bah humbug, what a tightwad I am. I have even told my best friend not to send me one. We speak on the phone, that's enough.
I am impressed that you have already put up some of your Christmas decorations!
I've been wondering what to do this year. The cost of internal postage is so high now never mind the for international ones. Problem is for the first time I bought loads of cards in the January sales!
I would much rather give the donation to a charity than the Post Office!
A couple of years ago I stopped sending cards to people who only sent a card signed by them and not even addressed to me and my family.
To be honest, I'd prefer to donate the money I save on postage to charities. It's not much. but it goes to those who deserve it more.
I email seasons greetings and only send cards to a few friends. I felt guilty the first year.
For close family and friends, I send gifts only with a hand made tree decoration that can be displayed each year.
Postage is expensive everywhere now. I live in Sweden and have family in NZ (home)and Australia, as well as close friends in Canada when I lived there a few years ago.
Someone needs to invent a teleporter for gifts and cards, lol!
Hamitana
Post a Comment