<p>Ok, I am one of those that does send out Holiday Cards, and have never missed a year.
I feel that it is a nice way to connect with old friends, share some warmth, even if only once a year. It is a way to communicate with far-flung relatives, and also with the friends of my widowed father, who lives very very far away from me.
I never have sent out the "brag sheet" letter (some of the ones I get are always totally annoying, and some people always write the most droll ones, resulting in me ROTFL), but I have always included a photo or two.
I also enjoy the creative artistic aspect of it, the crafty project with aesthetic expression.</p>
<p>Holiday cards are not inexpensive: the card, the photo, the postage, the time...
Do you enjoy receiving them?
Do you like sending them?
Are they out of date with all the social networking on the net? or a welcome break from all that?
Are you still sending them? To whom?
Do you still receive any? From whom?</p>
<p>I am very interested in your thoughts.
Happy Holidays, btw...!</p>
<p>I love holiday cards and look forward to receiving them each year! (the sending is not as fun…but I always do it!) I agree that teh “brag sheet” can and should be left ouT…but please include pictures! We send out a holiday photo card every year and I try to fins a different “look” or theme each year…I’m filling out cards this weekend with the hope of mailing all by Monday!</p>
<p>I love sending AND receiving cards…especially with photos. Not a big fan of the newsletters - most are annoying, but my aunt sends a humorous one every year so I always look forward to that. </p>
<p>My home business is as an independent distributor for a card company - so cards are literally my business and a bit part of my life. This is always a fun, exciting and busy time for us.</p>
<p>I love holiday cards, and we usually make our own, and I am doing the write up this year, because there are things we want to convey to people. We don’t do a holiday photo, but a drawing, painting, lithograph or seasonal photo. Barnes and Noble has been carrying a gorgeous line of stationary from Italy that I may use this year. I love receiving them and long newsy reports about family members. I like writing them, also.</p>
<p>Same here, Katie!
How many are you sending out this year? Has this changed much over the years? has your list changed?
How many have you been receiving in recent years? vs. past years?
We are down to about 100 now. We seem to get about 100, too.
My husband is now writing notes to his family and to those whom he is closer to, so it is a family project.</p>
<p>This year I am doing a simple Shutterfly photo fold-over card with a navy frame of a photo of the two girls in a summer setting. (They do not change or grow up much anymore, so I can use photos from any time now!) Probably the simplest ever…</p>
<p>I used to do a fold-over card with a beautiful image on the front and the photos(s) hand pasted inside…
I hand-address and try to write a little note in each card. It does take time and work, but it helps me to think about these people for a few minutes!</p>
<p>parent 1986 - I love homemade cards, too! It’s nice that you take the time to do that - I am sure your recipients treasure the cards they receive from you. </p>
<p>performersmom - I do love my business and yes, it does get very busy this time of year! I sent you a PM with a link to my personal website. There are a lot of SendOutCards distributors and it is easy to end up on someone else’s website. I appreciate you checking it out!</p>
<p>I do send greeting cards each year and I include a little printed ‘newsletter’ with a sentence or two update on each of us.
I started this a while back as I became tired of the long process of writing the same info into most cards.
This year’s has the rare photo of all of us together, news about my mom’s passing, the last college grad, the engaged couple.
I love hearing the bits and pieces of other folks, too.</p>
<p>Yes, last year my mother passed away in early Oct, so I was able to acknowledge condolences and support during her illness and afterwards in my holiday cards. I made sure to end on a positive note about the future. It was a bigger list than usual…</p>
<p>performersmoms…I find I am receiving fewer each year I think people just don’t mail things anymore. I know going to to post office to buy stamps for holiday cards is a once a year experience for me now!
I have almost always done a fold over card with a picture on the front…once or twice when I was running way behind a “photo card” from the mall (hey atleast I didn’t miss a year even though I was disappointed with my card!)
This year my D is a senior so we used some of the senior photos and our photographer did an amazing job with a 5x7 “card” . One large picture on the front with a nice saying…in black and white (with a sheen that makes it look almost pearly) and then three smaller photos on the back in color with red background…very striking. Only problem is there is no space to write a note! I may have to resort to a short handwritten note tucked inside the envelope for close family/friends who I would feel badly just sending a card with no personal note/signature/etc! My hand is staring to cramp already just thinking about all of the enveloped to address!</p>
<p>I still send them, though I 've cut back (maybe 30 or so.) I love getting them. I love newsletters in them–rare are the ones I get that I’d call “brag sheets” but on the other hand, if good things happen to people I care about, why wouldn’t I want to know?</p>
<p>I started enclosing one for the same reason mominva does–handwriting is getting harder and harder for me, and by the time I’d written the same thing over and over, it was pretty well unreadable. I try to stay light, informative, and amusing.</p>
<p>We use a photo iin our cards, not necessarily family (almost impossible these days.) I buy those photo cards that you can slip pictures into rather than sending them away to get turned into cards (I’m not a fan of the postcard version, as those are harder to tape around the doorway).</p>
<p>I send to family, friends i don’t see too much (distance), and some neighbors if they send to me.</p>
<p>Edit–despite the newsletter, I do handwrite salutations and signature on each.</p>
<p>garland–I hang the cards I receive on the wall also! I have a wall in the entry way where I take down the pictures each Christmas and have a beloved advent calendar that a I hang and then surround with the cards we receive! ( the advent calendar is a cloth one with little pockets that hold 25 characters for the nativity scene that you remove from the numbered pocket and velcro onto the scene above!..we are now short a star and a cloud, but still have the rest of the characters after almost 18 years!..I think the star and cloud fell off one year and were stolen by our cat!) The wall looks especially festive if filled with photos cards of family and friends!</p>
<p>We send photo cards and have been doing it since the first year we were parents. The recipients say they love them, so we keep it up. I don’t send a newsletter or brag sheet, but I LOVE getting them. </p>
<p>Every year we fight about whether to use all of us (mom, dad, son, daughter) in the photo(s), or just the kids. This year I found a wonderful compromise. Shutterfly now sells 2-sided flat cards. So the main side (front) shows beautiful portraits of the kids. The back has a smaller “snapshot” of the 4 of us, along with a pre-printed greeting (we wrote) and ample space for a hand-written note. </p>
<p>I’m old fashioned and require a hand-written note with each card and hand-written addresses. No labels.</p>
<p>I love Advent calendars, too- but without the girls at home, we have stopped doing one.</p>
<p>I usually prop up the cards on the front entry table, leaving the flats ones flat.
I may do something new this year: hang them from the chandelier and along the stairway railing in the entry hall, stapled on several at a time, along long ribbons!</p>
<p>Another thing I have done is save the fold-over cards till the following year to use as gift tags. I cut off the front page with the image on one side and the blank on the back side, print the message on the blank side, punch a hole in the corner and tie a ribbon through the hole to secure it to the package.
I like the idea of recycling such gorgeous images for others to enjoy again!(It is also nice to re-read the cards from others a year later as I do the next round from us.)</p>
<p>I send about 150 handmade cards each year. I include a family photo, but no newsletter. Over the years I have been receiving fewer and fewer in return, but I enjoy making the cards, so I persist. Ironically, I get a lot of compliments on my handmade cards via e-mail!</p>
<p>We are a military family and send out lots of cards each year. We also send a photo and usually a typed letter as well. Sorry folks, I just will not write 100 letters that say essentially the same thing; it’s an annual update. Our friends can throw it in the trash if they don’t like it. I try to be funny in the letters and all of my friends find me amusing (which, by the way is WHY they are my friends). Many of our friends also send the letters and I enjoy the update. I think military families just look at things a bit differently, so I get the idea that they enjoy the letters.</p>
<p>I went the the post office last week and asked for 100 Christmas stamps. The guy at the counter is a funny guy and he asked: “Do you have 100 friends?” I said, “No, but I have 100 people that I send Christmas cards to.” He laughed.</p>
I think people just don’t mail things anymore. I know going to to post office to buy stamps for holiday cards is a once a year experience for me now!