Christmas Cards? Do you send? Do you like to receive?

[NMW]

I send about 75-100 photo cards every year. No message or note. I make them in December on a website like Shutterfly that always has sales this time of year. I just paid about $58 for 100 5x7 photo cards. I made and ordered the cards yesterday morning and last night I got an email letting me know that they have already shipped.

I love to get Christmas cards, especially photo ones from my friends I don't see on a regular basis.

 

[rubato]

Love sending, love receiving. My hubby is a mailman and their salary is paid for with stamps, so I'd better buy some! I buy cards for half price after Christmas and only send to my favorite 60 or 70 people. Not too bad.

 

[lisaross]

I also love sending and receiving cards..i started sending photo cards after my 1st son was born..i usually use a photo that i take while on vacation..sometimes just the boys sometimes the whole family...i upload and order from snapfish or other online site.or sometimes buy the the card and put the photo in - like to change up each year! Sometimes i send out the cards Thanksgiving to be a bit differenet but still w/the photo!

I love receiving cards especially the photo ones - i hang them all on my mirror so they are displayed! I keep all the photos and throw out the cards.

I love displaying the cards i've sent out over the year...love to see how my family has changed!

Happy Holidays..

 

[jagafen]

I too view it as more of a chore due to tradition and "what we did last year", and I know that's not the right attitude to have. Postage this year was expensive ($50). For the first time, I was trying to "slim down" the christmas card list a bit. Due to DH's work schedule, 100% of the christmas responsibility falls on my shoulders...shopping, wrapping, cooking, baking, decorating, writing, addressing, and mailing of the cards....I've decided to shave our christmas card list for next year as much as possible just to save a bit of my sanity. And help brighten my holiday mood. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas , but really really have a hard time with sending out the cards.

The one thing I've found that helps, is to buy next year's cards on clearance this year. Also, right after thanksgiving, I start on the cards, and it's the first "chore" that's gotten out of the way so that I don't have that hanging over my head.....

 

[PatriciaH]

I love Christmas cards and send them out every year. I usually get Mary Englebreight cards since I really like them but last year sent a picture of DH and I in Paris and this year did the 50 free picture cards posted on here too. I love getting cards but cannot stand when we get piture cards of only kids. I don't know your kids- I know you. I can maybe understand family sending pictures of just kids but not friends. I am friends with you. I want to see what you look like now Just wondering why someone would not include everyone in the pic? Can you tell me? If you hate pictures or how you currently look then why not just send a card?

 

[ceecee]

We don't send as many or get as many. I guess it's nice, I don't love it by any means. We get a Christmas letter each year from DH's elementary friend, this year it was 4 pages and 2 photos (with postage due of .17!!!) Telling about all of their vacations in detail and exactly what kind of cookies she baked (who cares about the chocolate crinkles???) It's actually amusing, last year they sent a photo CD which we never did get around to watching. You don't hear what the 4 kids do anymore since they are all grown and out of the house, now you hear about them visiting the kids and their DOGS! One page on 3 dogs.

 

[mommyof2princesses]

I love sending them, but more I love to recieve cards. They mean more to me that presents at Christmas. It is just a reminder that you are remembered this time of the year by those you don't get to see often. I still mail cards to my Aunts and Uncles and I am a grown woman!

 

[NCRedding]

I love receiving cards! I keep all of the cards and have a huge Christmas box with all the ones we have received in the past. I love to re-read the letters, see how the children have grown, where people have travelled, etc.

I also like to send, but after reading all the vents/complaints that people post on the DIS, I'm almost afraid of sending them because something I will do will offend someone: I use labels instead of hand addressing (bad); I don't write "Dear so and so" (bad); I only send a photo of my daughter not me (bad); I sometimes send a Christmas letter (bad).

Of course, if I don't get my act together, I'm not going to get them out this year.

 

[Goofy'slady]

Love sending them (actually in my office now trying to write out a few -shh...don't tell my boss) and love receiving them. I've been apart of several card exchanges in the past but decided not to do one this year. I have scaled back on the number that I send but I'm still sending holiday greetings and well wishes for a Happy New Year to close friends, family and co-workers.

It just wouldn't be the holidays if I didn't send out a card or two and get a few in return. I save on postage by handing most out in person and my job actually allows me to send out a few using their postage. I don't go overboard but I might do between 5-7dollars.

T.

 

[Worfiedoodles]

I've become disenchanted with sending cards -- because I'm not receiving many. I spend so much time addressing, stamping, labelling, writing the newsletter and sealing -- and then we get so little response. So, this year I'm not doing a newsletter. And if you never ever send us a card, I'm not sending you one. This has prompted dh to take a photo of ds and make his own cards for his friends. Fantastic! He thinks we should send cards to these people whether we've ever received one in the past 15 years. So, he can be responsible for that. I will take care of the people who do send cards, and write a personal note in those cards. My list has gone from over 70 to about 20, and I think I will actually enjoy doing the cards this year. I've already addressed almost all of them, and I'm going to start writing them this weekend.

Maria

 

[AndreaDM]

Love sending and receiving! It's so nice to get something in the mail other than bills and magazines! DH's family and a lot of our friends live in other states, so it's nice to know they're thinking of us and it's nice to see pictures of the kids we rarely get to see. I did our's a little different this year, used beach pics from our trip to Puerto Rico this summer and instead of Merry Christmas, they say Feliz Navidad, and that we're sending them WARM holiday wishes. A nice change from the kids in their sweaters in front of the fireplace, lol.

 

[toledo13]

We get them, we send them.... OK... WE get them, but I send them (DH do that? HA!) My mom makes a lable spreadsheet every year to address them- takes less time than handwriting them all. I don't send THAT many (not as many as her) so I just handwrite them. In the card, I don't put a picture or anything- just a "Mery Christmas (or Happy Holidays... depending on who I'm sending the card to) Love, Brenton and Ann"

That reminds me... I need to do that this weekend. I've gotten 4 or 5 cards already...

 

[G's mommy]

I have sent Christmas cards every year since my son was born in 1996. Last year was the first time that I let it slip and did not send any. My dh was very ill at the time and I had no money or energy for the cards and our son was 12 and the photo was not such a big deal. This year, I have decided to send a few to friends and family we never see. I had a cute photo of my ds, now 13 years, out in the snow in front of our house. Yes, we live in GA so snow is a big deal around here and we did have one day of beautiful snow in 2009. I redeemed some coke rewards for 20 free photo cards from Snapfish, so I ordered them a few days ago and they just arrived. I still enjoy getting cards from friends and family with their kids' pictures. I like to see how the children have grown over the last year. So far, we have gotten zero cards except for a couple from businesses.