Who has stopped sending out Christmas cards?

[vegasnative]

Nope! I decided this year I am not sending them out. In years past I have sent them to everyone, and I mean everyone. People that used to be neighbors, and we have long since moved....people that we casually knew but haven't seen in 10 years. Not to be rude but I guess I just don't see the point with sending to 'those' people anymore.

In August, I happened to snap a cute pic of our boys, so I had 5X7 prints of that shot made up. I've already mailed a Christmas card with that pic inside the card to my Grandma who lives in England. Also, my 4 sets of aunts & uncles in England will get a Christmas card & the pic of the boys. I never get to see them, and none of them are on Facebook so they don't ever get to see my boys and I know they like the updates.

I have no siblings, but my parents will receive a Christmas card, as will my husbands, and his brother & sisters. My total of Christmas cards I'm sending out will be 12! They are all family. Even my closest friends will not be receiving them this year, whether they live near me or across the country. No real reason other than I don't want to spend the money on that this year.

 

[cari12]

I do send cards every year - but only about 15 or so. Most are friends and family from out of town and I include a picture of the kids. I love receiving cards in the mail. It brightens my day to see that person thought to send us Christmas wishes.
I find e-cards less touching. I guess because in a couple of clicks you have wished everyone on your list Happy Holidays. Really there is very little effort or thought in that so it feels very impersonal to me (IMHO).
Also, there is always a chance of a virus in clicking "Happy Holidays" type attachments.

 

[MickeyMomOfThree]

I haven't done Christmas cards in years. I bake like a crazy person and take tins of cookies and fudge to the few close friends I want to, and a few other important people like our pedetrician who I adore.

So far I have received 2 cards this year. One was preprinted, nothing personal and the other wasn't even signed, the only way we now who it was from was from the return address. Last year we got an empty envelope from one friend. We just laughed but on FB she said the kids were helping her hurry up and stuff the envelopes and she didn't realize till they were out that they had an extra, I told her it was me who got it and we laughed but truth is seeing this makes me think people think of it as a chore and not something tey truly want to do. I wish they didn't feel the obligation to send me one, it's a hectic enought time of year without added pressure.

I should say we don't have family, our friends are a small amount but very cose (they get the goodies) so maybe it's easier for me to not do it.

 

[blackforest]

Wow! I am really surprised to find myself and our family in the minority. Our card "lists" total about 200+. This includes family and friends, my husbands work (he's a partner). All those cards get mailed. And 50-75 of that total go to church where our youth pass out the cards. I guess I'm old-school! My grandmothers and my mom were and are huge caed senders. I also average 20+ cards a month for birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions! But, I love to send the cards, so I don't find it a chore!

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

I send cards to the elderly people we know and are related to. I know they look forward to their mail every day. I make a special effort to write a short letter in theirs and include some pictures because I know it means so much to them. But as people are passing away over the years, my list is getting shorter. I include a card with presents we give but I don't mail those cards.

 

[edk35]

I have slowly decreased the amt. of cards we send out each year. Not so much the cost of it, but I get irritated at sending a card to someone that we never hear from any other time during the year. I mean why bother in my opinion. If I don't hear from these people via phone or email throughout the year...then I am no longer including them in our annual newsletter and photo card.

 

[*love*2*shop]

I HARDLY SEND anY ANYMORE....with facebook and emails, i keep upwith everyone.... ( i dont recv any either)

 

[pearlieq]

I'm not sending any this year. I used to always send one to my grandma, then I would do a few more since I was already working on them, but we lost grandma this year and there's really no need to send the others out.

While they're nice, I suppose, I think most Christmas cards are kind of pointless. At best they have a quick handwritten "merry Christmas" on them and more and more it's a preprinted photo card that's totally impersonal. Why bother? I guess they just don't seem to be special enough to really be worth the effort.

 

[drcmk]

I stopped sending out Christmas cards after our first baby was born (fourteen years ago!). I think I read an article at that time about choosing which traditions were most important and letting go of the traditions that just stressed you out, so I knocked cards off of the list. Since that time I've come to consider the environmental effect of the things that I do more and so in addition to saving time and stress, I avoid cards to save trees now too. Over the years, our correspondents have gotten the message, I guess, because we only receive a handful of Christmas cards now.

 

[ancestry]

I don't do Christmas Cards anymore. They seem to be a waste of paper and money/stamps. Most people don't write anything in them so what really is the point?

 

[patsal]

I cut my list down to about 12 people and will send those. I like to get the cards and I display them on the back of the door through the holiday season. I don't do facebook so the card is the only way my friends and family will hear from me.

 

[rubato]

I love sending them and receiving them. I have an arch over an entry that they go on as soon as I get them. Yes, the numbers have declined. I save the ones I received last year and mail to those people. Plus, all the elderly people I know who can't mail them anymore. I think we are losing all of our old traditions and it makes me kind of sad. Plus, I need to keep my husband employed. Since he's a mailman, his salary comes from stamp sales!

 

[angierae]

I send cards. To everyone - people I rarely see, people I see every day. And it has nothing to do with who sent me cards last year or anything else. I go through my address "book" (a google documents file we've kept since our wedding invites went out almost four years ago) and I send out 40-60 cards every year. They aren't expensive photo cards - just $4.99 a box cards so I spent about $15 on cards and then postage.

For coworkers (Not included in that 40-60 up there) I just leave them on their desks instead of mailing them, although some of my coworkers do mail to us.

I love sending Christmas cards, and mine are late this year - I usually have them done over the long Thanksgiving weekend and into the mail on Monday.

 

[QVCshopper]

I just finished mine. There are 30 cards in total, to people who I don't see everyday. I spent $9 for the pictures of my kids (People People had a great deal of 6 sheets for $9 a while back). As for the cards themselves, I used up ones I had around the house and picked up "free" ones from Hallmark with this weekend's $5 coupon. So, the whole package was $9 plus stamps, which is an expense in and of itself. I have handed out cards in the past at my DD's b-day party in mid-Nov. to save on stamps, but everyone picked on me. Too funny! This year, I wasn't organized enough before Thanksgiving. That said, I like giving and receiving them, but wouldn't mine cutting the list down a bit.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

We don't send them out at all...never have. I'd rather spend the money on nice holiday photos of my kids to give to my family instead.

 

[Poohbear5]

We've cut back on the cards but I remember how much my father-in-law treasured receiving cards when he was in a nursing home so I make sure to send one to the our elderly family members and parents of my friends who are shut-ins. We also have family members who look forward to getting a yearly photo of our family as we do from theirs so we're not quite ready to give that up.

 

[tink2dw]

ME!!! I never have stamps. So if it is someone I want to wish Happy Holidays I send e-cards!! So yoou better have an email address that you have sent me!

 

[Mrs.Reese]

I did the first year we were married but stopped after that. We don't have any kids so no one's going crazy to see a baby update.

 

[IluvDonald!]

Do you mean Rock City, as is Rock City in either NY or PA? The place with the HUGE rocks??? Asking because that was right in my back yard!

 

[kkwis2]

I am so ready to dump sending cards! I'm not on Facebook, so it has nothing to do with that. As others have said, I just think it's kind of silly and wasteful both in regards to money and paper.

I also HATE getting cards that have absolutely no personalization. A picture of whomever with the pre-printed Happy Holidays Love the (fill in the blank). I have sent that kind of card as well, but I have taken the time to put a personal greeting in each one and sign all of our names with the ages of the kids. I mean, if you're going to pretend that you're thinking of me and my family this holiday season at least put some effort into it!

I have actually passed the job on to my DH the past few years which has meant that they haven't been sent until well after Christmas - March one year!