Are you sending and receiving as many Christmas cards ?

I have cousins living in Ireland and they started sending Easter cards a couple of years ago. They will never receive one from me, the postage there alone is awful. I would rather receive a friendly email than a card love from E and J.

I to found that after a loss cards get fewer but i think people are scared and how to word them but i found my wifes xmas list and sent them all one p.s take care

Well I love getting Christmas cards, cheers me up that people remember and I like all the glitter and robins. Happy New Year everyone.

I have sent less this year, and also received less. One day perhaps cards will be a collectors item on antique road show., like the beautiful Victorian ones are now. I still keep special ones from loved ones that are years old. When I go I'm sure they will be binned.

We’ve had about a quarter of the cards we had last year. I think more people are simply not bothering or are going the ‘donation to charity’ route instead (or are pretending to). Like another poster, our adult children don’t send cards at all and I’ve always been a bit irritated by the exchange of Christmas cards on Christmas Day at family gatherings. What’s the point of that?

I’m very pleased that we’ve also received far fewer cards for other members of the extended family which we’re then expected to pass on like a family sorting office. I once had a card pushed through the letterbox from the postman informing me that they had a ‘large letter’ for me but couldn’t deliver it until I’d paid excess postage on it. I’d no idea what it was but foolishly went and collected it and paid several pounds for the privilege only to find that it contained about a dozen Christmas cards for members of my immediate family. Tartlet the postlady again. I was hopping mad at being so taken for granted and at the sender for only having stuck on one second class stamp. It’s easy enough to ring and ask for an address surely?

So dwindling chrustmas cards is good news to me. I confess to having moved the cards on the mantelpiece yesterday to dust and haven’t put them back.

MawBroon, love the name! I got The Broons and Oor Wullie every year of my childhood and as I look like Daphne, still have a soft spot for her.
When my Dad died, Mum said she couldn't afford the postage on 200+ Christmas cards and I realised what a tyrant this custom is and said she had the best excuse in the world to cut down that list to real friends.
She sent about 12 and after the next Xmas, hardly anyone outside that small list bothered to contact her.

I now send Jacquie Lawson's animated e-cards which delight my close friends as most of them have e-mail. The one or two hard copy cards I make myself on the computer
.

The thing that has upset me is that since my husband died some people who always used to send us Christmas cards have stopped doing so. I hasten to add that they are in a minority. I still get cards with lovely messages from real friends.

Its also the oldee family members who I find are using social media the most. My younger relatives who are newly settled/wed seem to be the ones still going down the traditional route with cards & people with new babies

I would actually say I have particularly noticed the reduction in cards Ive had from the older generations. The "standard" older family friends and second cousin types who always sent them previously are the main group that seem to have cut back this year.

I didn’t notice last year as the “sympathy” cards were coming in, but I am aware of definitely fewer cards than in previous years.
I can accept that some people may be sending fewer, but not usually those of our generation, and this year I am conscious of perhaps feeling the need for a friendly word from distant friends .

Oh yes definitely down this year. Whilst I like seeing the cards up, we both find writing and sending them an absolute chore. I think at one time when my husband was still working we'd have well over a hundred, on retirement it was around 70, now it's down to roughly between 50 and 60 which is the number we send out. My husband still gets cards from a handful of clients who he has maintained a relationship with, I could well imagine not getting such cards if he was no longer here.

I would also add that our adult children who have established their own households don't send cards, they never got into it, in spite of having a wide circle of friends, far wider than ours quite honestly. I think card sending will eventually die out, the younger generations don't communicate with each other in this way and keep up with acquaintances who they don't see for various reasons, in other ways, hence there is little need to reaffirm the relationship annually by way of a Christmas card.

We still send nearly 70 cards though

I don't send/ give cards to anyone I see on a daily/ weekly basis. I just wish them Happy Christmas when I see them.

I am sending and receiving fewer cards each year, I've found. People I knew years ago but never see now and who only ever sign a name in their card have gradually fallen by the wayside. It seems a pretty pointless exercise, really.

On the other hand, I was very pleased to receive two cards today from people whose health has been precarious, so that's the up side.

I suppose I post about 50/60 cards and receive the same, which is down by about a third on ten years ago. My mum always gets loads, though, and she's 91! Mind you, she talks to any-and-everyone she meets so she probably knows the entire population of her town.

I have had less than a quarter of my usual amount of cards this year. And I haven't been on a friend dumping rampage or anything like that ?

I have also sent roughly half my usual amount.

I think they are out of favour and your recent bereavement is a coincident.

That said, despite cutting right back on cards in general, I made sure I wrote to those who were recently bereaved.

I haven't sent cards for the last 5 Christmases since dh died.
I still rec some but not a many and to be honest I'm not really bothered as I see most of the people anyway.

The cards are cheap enough to buy but the cost of stamps is horrendous, I would rather put the money towards the food bank etc etc

I still buy cards for dds and gss and my mum and dad.

Perhaps people are in touch on social media a lot of the time and there isn't the need to send a card to people you rarely see. Also the cost of postage is so high these days.

Sad that people are treating you this way. A friend of mine lost her DH about 10 years ago. He was only in his 50s. They were part of a cricket 'the in crowd' so to speak. After her DH died, most of them stopped contacting her altogether. She was hurt but said she now realises who true friends are.

Pensionpat do forgive me for laughing at your post. Typical isn't it as if you need to be reminded ?

Up to now I haven't had the same flurry of cards landing on the floor as in recent years. I fear that the " Beast from the East " took its toll. I know I lost 4 friends this last 12 months but others at distance I don't know. It scares me really.

I've still written the usual cards ( around 30 ) in the hope that they all remain in the land of the living. My living room door is usually covered by now in blue-tacked cards.

That was mean and thoughtless of them Maw but the good news is that you don’t ever need to contact them again, they are not friends quite obviously.

I enjoy sending and receiving cards at Christmas, they brighten the place up, so do send by post about 30 cards ( for once I counted them as needed stamps.)Hand deliver about 15.

We’ve had one from our MP
We’re not sure if he sends one to all his constituents or just the ones who regularly plague him with emails

We had a good quality glossy Christmas card with four smiley faces on the front, delivered in a good quality white A5 size envelope, from our local councillors!
They wouldn't know me (nor me them!) if I walked into the room and what it cost to provide one for every letterbox in their ward goodness knows!
Sticks in the throat a bit when, for example, local public loos are being closed and other cuts are being made, due to lack of cash!
On the bright side the envelope it came in was blank so at least I have a free envelope to use!
Best bit? I didn't and wouldn't ever vote for any of them

pensionpat, that made me laugh as that happens here too! Always the first card (a company starting with F? But I’m sure there are many others). Hope your husband is keeping well!
Maw that does sound a bit heartless and probably one to cross off next year’s list?

Missed a ? Although it was a rhetorical question.

Sending fewer and receiving fewer. However I make a specific effort if a friend has has a brereavement or particularly difficult year to acknowledge that in a carefully chosen card with an enclosed note - an act of love at best and a courtesy at least that I was on the receiving end of many years ago that meant a great deal to me in the face of others’ indifference/embarrassment. I stored away the kindness in my memory and have replicated it many times to friends, neighbours and acquaintances. Why would we not try to soften the pain of others with a little thought. Sometimes it is the little things that are the bigger things.