Christmas Cards

I agree with GrannyRose and lemongrove.Sending and receiving cards is a very important part of Christmas for me. In fact I will be sending more this year because of all the people we have been unable to visit due to the restrictions. It is possible to give to charity AND send cards.

GrannyRose15

For me Christmas cards are an essential way of keeping in touch with old friends. I love to receive cards and read the little notes, or long tomes, that are included. It's often the only contact I have with people I haven't seen for years but have been important in my life in the past. It will be a long time before i give up sending them.

I feel the same as you GrannyRose
I always send cards to all friends, and the few relatives we have, plus neighbours.One of the nice things in the run up to Christmas are the cards plopping through the letterbox.

Yes. I’ve got to say we weren’t too upset about losing touch with them after that.

Ugh, MaggieMaybe, prime case of sanctimonious virtue signalling. With the ghastly ‘hey guys’ ? on top.

We once had an email from a couple of friends, sent to all their contacts, telling us that they were donating to charity instead of sending cards, detailing the charity’s work at great length, and ending on the lines of So hey guys, what’s your excuse for not following our lead and supporting this great cause?

In the spirit of the season I refrained from replying that our “excuse” was that we prefer to give to the charities of our choice as well as keeping in touch with our friends at Christmas.

Some people post an ad in a national newspaper saying that they are not sending cards, but wish all their friends and acquaintances Seasonal Greetings.
Some also add that, and invite others to do likewise, and donate what they would have spent on cards and postage to a selected charity.

I stopped sending them years ago and really wish people would stop sending them to me. It's such a huge waste of time, money and resources. I make a donation to the local hospice who also collect Christmas trees, in the New Year, for another donation.

Oh, yes, I was dying to be old enough to do the Christmas post! And enjoyed it once I finally did it.

Good idea, Callistemon, about special rates!

On a similar tack, when on holiday in S Africa, I noticed that they had special stamps for postcards - lovely ones, but the same price wherever in the world you were sending them. V sensible IMO.

I agree with your comment about postage costs, winterwhite.
It would be good if Royal Mail offered a special offer on Christmas postage.

Oh yes, I had a Christmas post round. I was covering for two regulars and all the men (which they all were at the time) in the sorting office were outraged on my behalf when I staggered out early every morning with a bag bigger than me. It was a hilly round and a harsh winter and I had to grab drainpipes and trees as I slid past them to stop myself falling. We were strictly forbidden to take any post back to the depot at the end of the day, so when the light started to fade I’d push what was left through the last letterbox I got to and make a run for it. DH had a dead easy round at the same time, finished at lunchtime and earned so much more than me because a) he was older and b) men and women had different pay scales.

Another Hear hear to the comments by Callistemon and Witzend about Christmas cards seeming to be subjected to more widespread public censoriousness than many other ‘unnecessary’ pleasures.
I’ve also love Christmas cards. As children my three DSs and I played wonderful games with them when taken down. I used to make up stories about the people on my favourite ones, we invented versions of happy families, gave them marks out of 10 for various characteristics. Surely others did too.
Increase in postage costs must have much to do with it. And understandably. Anyone else remember delivering the Christmas post in student years, and later on Boy Scout local deliveries? All gone, and a great shame IMO.

I bought a few packs of lovely cards in our local hospice charity shop yesterday, after the volunteer in charge said how worried they are that the shop will have to close again soon, when they are just starting to get some of their desperately needed funding back. The other charity shop in the village has had to close, I don’t want this one to go permanently as well.

I stopped sending Christmas cards a couple of years ago, as did some of my friends. I put a message on social media and last year sponsored a guide dog. I do send a few very special cards but not to the extended list of acquaintances some of whom I only hear from at Christmas!

We stopped sending them about 5 years ago, when I forgot to post them. No one seemed to mind so we make a donation to a charity with the money. We realised that there was an element of one upmanship too, who has the most cards etc

I always buy Charity cards. Back in the day, my three children used to help me write them and do the addresses. OH never gets involved! Now, I have a label system which I set up to which I can add or delete addresses. Anyone who doesn’t send a card for two years, is removed from the list! Some people get a personalised round robin, some don’t.

I feel it is sad to stop the tradition of sending Christmas cards. I always buy Charity cards directly from the charity, where the cost goes 100 per cent to the charity.

Hear, hear, Callistemon.
So many things that a lot of people enjoy are not necessary. You don’t hear of anyone saying they’re no longer going to buy e.g. magazines, and will give the money to charity instead.

Christmas cards do seem to be singled out for a particular brand of piousness.

Re using them as decoration, we still get quite a lot and I blu-tack them to various painted surfaces in the hall and sitting room. Nice and cheerful and Christmassy, but OTOH I haven’t bought any actual decorations for a long time.

Hetty58

Frankie51, they're still environmentally unfriendly. Think of all the energy and water wastage involved in producing them. Then the impact of transporting them and delivering them. They're a frivolous, unnecessary drain on precious resources, OK, traditional - but outdated.

Pubs and bars are unnecessary and frivolous too.

Think of all the energy and water wastage involved in producing beer - which then goes to waste down the nearest loo.
But! People enjoy pubs and bars and beer? Its production and consumption involves thousands of jobs, as does the waste produced.

People also enjoy sending and receiving Christmas cards and their production and selling involves thousands of jobs, much of the profit going to charities which have lost out on so much this year.
The recycling of the waste involves many jobs too.

There's enough misery this year without adding to it.

On the other hand it's estimated that the greetings card industry is responsible for the jobs of 100,000 people in the UK. It's strange that we're constantly being urged to support some areas of the economy, particularly at this time, but others can just go hang.

Particularly this year, it might also be worth considering that charities have already paid out for the stocks of Christmas cards in their shops. We don't buy them, they lose out.

Frankie51, they're still environmentally unfriendly. Think of all the energy and water wastage involved in producing them. Then the impact of transporting them and delivering them. They're a frivolous, unnecessary drain on precious resources, OK, traditional - but outdated.

Card are usually produced from recycled card, the trees used for paper and card are not endangered ones but the type that grow very quickly like pine . (I'd be more concerned about furniture made from hardwood.) I love getting Christmas cards, it's nice to keep in touch with people, I go through my list every year and take off people I don't get a card from though and that cuts down the cost a bit. It is costly but it's a tradition for me.

19Maria61, it's easy peasy - just don't send any cards.

I don't bother with them any more. I never enjoyed writing them all, in fact I really resented the chore.

I don't like receiving them either, feeling obliged to display them somewhere.

It makes no sense whatever to waste energy and resources on them.

Just text or email close friends or family with your best wishes. Send an e-card if you really must - but they're annoying too!

(Yes, I do know that some people love them.)

It's better to hang Christmas cards as decorations than buy plastic tat ornaments.

I enjoy receiving cards as I think they brighten up the room for a few weeks. As I enjoy receiving them, I have to send people cards.

As I buy charity cards, I feel I am contributing to good causes.

It's plastic - tiny bits which are very damaging to the environment.

Some is made from cellulose but I would think that is a tiny percentage of the total.