Why do people you never hear from send Christmas cards

Aely

I have received a card today from somebody I don't even know! definitely addressed to me, postmark says Lake District (I know nobody there) and it is signed Ron. The only Ron I have ever known was my husband - and he died 26 years ago!

Very strange.

Blimey. Maybe someone from Ancestry is testing the water.....

Slimswim

I know there’s another thread regarding Christmas cards but my question is, why do people you never hear from send Christmas cards? I ask the question because someone I know sent one but how do they know if we are both still alive as we never hear from them.

It's a test to see if you're dead or demented yet.

You passed, with a score of 8/10.

You'd have scored higher if you'd mentioned
any interesting gossip about them, or any dull news they put in the card.

Aely

I have received a card today from somebody I don't even know! definitely addressed to me, postmark says Lake District (I know nobody there) and it is signed Ron. The only Ron I have ever known was my husband - and he died 26 years ago!

Very strange.

We still haven't worked out who our unknown card sender is.

It is definitely not the one vague possibility and the other two died years ago.

Please, St Anthony, help!

I have received a card today from somebody I don't even know! definitely addressed to me, postmark says Lake District (I know nobody there) and it is signed Ron. The only Ron I have ever known was my husband - and he died 26 years ago!

Very strange.

Cronesrule

Xmas cards tell someone you are thinking of them and wishing them well. It is irrelevant whether or not you ever see them. To me that is all the more reason to send. Unless of course you dislike someone and don’t want to send good wishes! I suppose I am eccentric to think a text or email instead of a card is rather insulting.

I did say to DH after a rather frazzled day involving going to the Post Office twice (don't ask!) and going to buy yet more cards, I did say perhaps we should sent electronic ones next year.

However, Xmas cards tell someone you are thinking of them and wishing them well. It is irrelevant whether or not you ever see them
I agree, this is why we send them.

Xmas cards tell someone you are thinking of them and wishing them well. It is irrelevant whether or not you ever see them. To me that is all the more reason to send. Unless of course you dislike someone and don’t want to send good wishes! I suppose I am eccentric to think a text or email instead of a card is rather insulting.

I stopped sending cards 5-6 years ago. With a sick husband I stopped sending. Now, with postage cost there is no way anyone but my 2 great grandchildren will recorve a card..and they will be hand delivered on Christmas day when I join them for dinner.
Cards can be bought for pennies, postage runs into £s.

I do send quite a few Christmas emails, with a core of material to all, but personalised.
Last year I still got cards from some of DH’s friends. If I knew them as friends as well, I still send, but if not, I don’t.
I’m still unsure which members of my local groups will get cards.

This habit may soon be a thing of the past due to the increase in the cost of postage stanps.

2nd Class 87p
1st Class £1.70p.

Some will be recycled and sime will. end uo in a landfill.

So help save the planet

Send them a Christmas email or text instead

I had a friend from my time working in London who was at least 25 years older than me.. after I moved away we always sent Christmas cards with a little catch up letter.
I hadn’t heard from her for a couple of years so sent a card with a note on the back asking the recipient to send me a text if they knew anything about my friend and received a lovely response saying that sadly my friend had died the previous year but giving me contact details for her family.
I was very grateful.

I write a few lines in each giving high - and sometimes low - lights of the year rather than just a card. Most friends do the same. It’s often the only contact we have through the year as many live far away. Works ok for us so far.

My mum uses the address stickers charities send at this time of year to seal the envelopes of Christmas cards. At least then the card can be returned if the person has moved.

I received one yesterday from an old work colleague and her husband. I only hear from them once a year and it’s always the first card I receive. It’s somehow a huge sense of relief to know that neither of them is pushing up daisies!

I think it's nice to send Christmas cards, especially to older friends and relatives who you don't see very often but they are thought about and especially at Christmas. I have a few ex colleagues who I was in touch with and we used to swap birthday and Christmas cards but they have gradually fizzled out. I think sending Christmas cards is a tradition we need to uphold! It shows you care 🎄🥰🎄

I think that if you receive ANY cards through (our exceptionally dysfunctional) Royal Mail then the sender has done it to demonstrate that they are rather well off, given the eye-watering cost of a stamp.

I can't see the point in sending cards, any cards, to people you see all the time. You wish them Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday or whatever and then give them card, it's as if you are saying "I've written it down as well". I love the thought that someone has taken the time to think of me even if we never meet up in person, I love it even more if they put a bit of their news in as well, I always do.

I have just telephoned an old friend to make sure she is still alive. She is nearly 90 and I know she can't get out much to buy and post cards, so I like to check for fear of upsetting her family with a card if she had died. We've only met up a couple of times in the last 25 years, but I'm very fond of her and I like to keep in touch.

Over the years we've had lots of cards from people we rarely see or hear from but we still think of them often and get invited to major things like golden wedding parties. But my DH has friends from his Uni days that I've never met and DH has never met their wives and nor do they phone each other. He has no idea about their lives, what jobs they did, children etc. I can't see the point in that.

I have one friend, an ex-colleague from 45 years ago, who moved around the country quite a bit and led a very busy life. She retired to live within reasonable distance from me and we renewed contact about 10 years ago and found we still got on well. I even got to know her sons and after her death% last year we are now in touch too.

Charleygirl5

It irritates me because all they say is love from X and Y. I received a card today, haven't heard from them for years and it was giving me a change of address. It would have been good to know why they moved.

I haven't decided yet whether to send them a card.

Write in your card thanking them for a change of address, hoping they are settling in to their new home, adding a line or 2 about what you have been doing.

Cabbie21

Now it has been mentioned, I find it a bit awkward regarding cards for people in groups I belong to. Who to give to and who not? Or none at all? I don’t like the idea that some of the group are my ‘friends’ and some are not, but really it is a bit much to give cards to everyone. It is awkward if someone is handing out to some and not others.

That reminds me of the old 'Birthday party invitations' at school thing. People feeling left out, people being invited because you just didn't want to leave them out, and the awfulness you felt if you WERE left out . !!!

We also used to receive several cards every year addressed to the previous owners for whom we had no forwarding address. One had a local postmark and was obviously from a family with children - it seemed strange that they weren’t aware for 15 years that they’d moved. The other writing looked as if it was from an older person and stopped after a few years. It made me rather sad.

I have stopped sending cards to people who I don't see or talk with.

Now it has been mentioned, I find it a bit awkward regarding cards for people in groups I belong to. Who to give to and who not? Or none at all? I don’t like the idea that some of the group are my ‘friends’ and some are not, but really it is a bit much to give cards to everyone. It is awkward if someone is handing out to some and not others.

I gave up sending cards around twenty years ago, money to local homeless shelter and dogs trust, I still receive a couple of cards from folk who I assume have me on their list.

A way to stay in touch !

I only hear from some people once a year. I do wonder what the point is when they don't write anything in the card. I do send a christmas card to someone with my email address in it, in the hope that when they pass on someone will let me know. They don't send a card back.