Do you still send Christmas Cards?

Yes we do, about 30 each year. I enjoy selecting just the right card for everyone but not possible this year as card shops closed. Yes, cards and stamps are expensive but many of the people on our list we don't see from one year to the next but we still like to keep in touch. So I am making mine this year. But I suspect we may not receive many cards this year.

Lucca

Greenfinch

Best wishes to you anyway. Cultivate your GN friends. I know you post quite a lot.

Possibly too much (today ).

Sorry all to bring down the mood. As soon as it stops raining I shall do my five mile walk and feel better I’m sure.

Enjoy your walk Lucca. Hope it's around pleasant surroundings and the sun is now out.

I've just come back from my walk with the dog. Had to take her to the vet so did a detour and walked along the trail by the river. My walks are sometimes the highlight of my day. Lift my spirits, which are at a low ebb at the moment.

For a few years I have made my own (we send out about 30).
This year, we've decided to send only 3 (immediate family). They will go into their parcesl with presents.

Others will get a either a phone call, email, facebook or Whatsapp message. They are easy ways to keep in touch with everyone. We're asking them (if they wish) to do the same.

I'm saving about £40 (stamps and craft materials) so that + a little extra is now going to Cornwall Air Ambulance. We donate to them as much as we can throughout the year. Mainly through Easyfundraising.

Yes - always charity cards - about 40

Greenfinch

Best wishes to you anyway. Cultivate your GN friends. I know you post quite a lot.

Possibly too much (today ).

Sorry all to bring down the mood. As soon as it stops raining I shall do my five mile walk and feel better I’m sure.

Yes I send about 120 cards! This year it’s especially important to keep in touch!

Urmstongran

Lucca you come across as a strong cookie with a marshmallow centre.
?

Yup.

Does anyone actually open e-cards they’re sent? They were a bit of a novelty when they first came out, but I don’t see the point now. I do like the Jacqui Lawson Advent calendar though - my DGS do the activities all year long when they get on my desktop!

Iam64 and Witzend, I agree with you regarding the charity donation re Christmas card issue. It’s not an either/or. Christmas card sales are a major fundraiser for many charities and I dare say some will be left with unsold stock this year having had their high street shops closed for long periods.

At the beginning of December , I get my address book out and write out our cards.
This year we have decided to stop doing that and only send out to those who have sent cards . In past years we have always sent more than we receive .

We send birthday cards to people we see all the time so why not Christmas cards ? I shall send my usual 20/30 ad I love receiving them, especially this year! I will buy charity cards though and make a donation as charities have suffered such a lack of funding this year. Whatever people choose to do, no judgement here x

I do - even now , it may be the only contact that I have with some people and I think that this year it will be even more important to send cards to let people know that they haven't been forgotten!
My mum used to send cards to people that she hadn't seen for up to 50 years but it fell to me to make a not of in latter years, those she had not had a card from - in case they had passed away.

I love sending cards and receiving them. I would be quite happy just to receive cards at Christmas instead of presents that aren't really wanted.

I do send cards, I buy them online as I am housebound, Also we have a shop here in Brighton who sells postage stamps much cheaper than the post office, so I phone them pay with my card and they post them to me. The stamps are 1st class but are cheaper than 2nd class you would get in P O. They appear to be maybe last years Xmas stamps or special editions, all legal and all useable, saves me a fortune. I do not decorate my flat so Christmas cards hung from ribbons on the door is my only decoration

Lucca you come across as a strong cookie with a marshmallow centre.
?

Want to send a big hug to Lucca - that was a very sad post.

Yes of course...

Best wishes to you anyway. Cultivate your GN friends. I know you post quite a lot.

Many years ago my mother was dying at Christmas time, so I didn’t send any cards. The following year I noticed I received far fewer than normal, so I’d been ‘struck off’ lists because I didn’t reciprocate! I have a few phone calls I make at Christmas, and enjoy a telephone chat far more than a card.

We normally send 70-80 (and prune the list regularly) but this year have decided to send only to nearest and dearest and do electronic ones with donations to our preferred charities.

I can highly recommend Jacqui Lawson e-cards (www.jacquielawson.com) - beautifully illustrated cards with lovely music. I've used them for years

Greenfinch

Lucca I have a friend who I think feels exactly as you do. A few weeks ago,after more than 10 years she phoned me. I was absolutely delighted. She did not want to talk about herself but asked me lots of questions about my family and was able to see we were not the perfect family she thought we were.So pick up the phone and contact just one person. It will make their day.

I know you’re right but I prefer to avoid that just now !

I still send cards but they are getting fewer and fewer as the Years go past. I'm of the age when most of my friends don't have electronic devices and its the only way to keep in touch.

We send a few to those who are elderly or are not able to receive a Christmas online message. The money we save in cards and postage goes to a nominated charity - we’ve done that for years.

Sorry JE. I have a bad time around about now, and I realise I should just avoid any threads about Christmas, don’t know why I don’t really.

@Iam64, I do agree.
I’m well aware that the cost of postage is a major reason why people stop sending them, but I’m sure there are others who just can’t be bothered. Admittedly writing cards can seem like quite a chore. And that’s fair enough, only so often it’s turned into a rather pious virtue-signalling thing instead.

In particular I know two couples, both very comfortably off (I do know this) who cite ‘the environment’ as well as charity-giving instead - something of a joke when in normal years they think nothing of 3 or 4 holidays involving flights annually! And could easily afford charity donations as well as cards.
If anyone’s fed up with the hassle of buying and writing them, why not just say so?

I stopped sending cards a couple of years ago. When you think how many you throw away after Xmas and also the cost of postage. Even me and hubby stopped buying them, just saved them from years gone by. I just donate to charity now