We DO send holiday cards despite the annual increase in postage rates, and the popularity of email and online greetings. There’s something about writing a personal greeting to a distant (or near) friend that electronic communications simply cannot replace – at least for Grenville and myself.
Some folks buy cards and add their name at the bottom of the pre-printed message or worse yet send cards pre-printed with a photo and/or greeting AND their names – also pre-printed and nothing added.
NOT US – we prefer personal greetings that include an original photo taken sometime during the year. Also, the card stock doesn’t have an imprinted greeting which means – heavens – we handwrite each greeting. This year’s cards contained one of the following images, all taken in January 2010 when a series of small snowstorms hit the VA eastern shore. (Any amount of snow is a really big deal here.)
This male cardinal was perched on a crepe myrtle branch and photographed from our kitchen window (great viewing place).
This scene was taken from our front porch.
Here’s where it was shot from – the Frog & Penguinn
The image below is our personal favorite.
%5B1%5D.jpg "penguins snow (4)")
Interested in a snail mail card exchange next year?
12 comments:
I exchange cards with a letter I print out. My letter starts with a verse I write different each year, with nice paper to put it on.On the back of this I personalize a message and usually write a full page. For my neighbors I send a card on top of a plate of goodies.We see each other often enough that I know they all know about me. One always wants my letter however, just because she likes to read my writings and share it when her son comes.
love the penguins but the other photos are so beautiful. We send out a card with personal note. I prefer to receive some note or letter.
Steve, thanks for the reply and it's no surprise that with your writing and story-telling talents you would be creative with holiday greetings as well. It's really nice that you send neighbors some treats as well as a greeting - sure they appreciate both very much. Doing the cards helps me to get more into the spirit of the season which is not about shopping for things.
Yes, Carole, the penguins were our favorites too (for obvious reasons). Just wish we had some frog lites as well. Thanks for sharing your card tradition; it's a good one!
I have done my own cards and even my own envelopes. I have also done newsletters with many pictures (kind of like a blog lol). Bu this year I signed a card. Period. It was time for a break as letters get repetitive. I'll probably get back to it next year.
I take the photo myself, but lets a company print out them with the holiday greetings. You will understand why when You see how I write :-) :-) :-)
I almost never print out photos any longer, that´s the curse with digital cameras I´m afraid. I take photos, show them in my blog and then I delete them.
Have a great day now!
Christer.
We send cards (pre-printed message inside), but I do manage to sign our names. I'm guilty of not always writing something personal....I did wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season in my hand-written greeting.
Thanks AC, Christer & Mona for sharing your comments and letting me know how you prepared holiday greetings this season.
AC, I agree that newsletters and letters can get repetitive based on the ones we have received - most typewritten missives detailing every accomplishment since the last one the previous holiday season. We have never done the envelopes as far as using address labels or printing address (if that's what you meant). Handwriting them is still what we do. And we do sign some cards and send them, especially when we're out of photos :-)
Christer, there are so many great internet photo deals that perhaps next year we will let a company print both the photo and the greeting and then add a short note. I'm sure your photos are wonderful based on those we've seen on your blog.
Mona, it can get exhausting with writing personal greetings. One reason it takes me over a week cause not all are done at one sitting. There's probably a few more still to compose but the majority are on their way.
Most years we talk about cards, letters and all, but each year they get to some point and mostly never get mailed. One year we found a book that sounded so good in reviews that we bought a lot of them and planned to send them to many friends. We wrote IN THE BOOK a personal greeting and then read one of them only to find out it was marketing crap and I still have those books in a pile. This year we put up our annual letter as a blog and put a url sticker in the cards we sent out as it would have been 6 pages. We sent actual cards to many, including to those we have not been in touch with in many years who have faithfully carded us each year. We like reading long and short annual letters, but the photos are the best part.
Hi Ron, that was quite a good story about the gift books - maybe you can donate them somewhere, but then that personal greeting inside each one could be a problem. Does this mean that you can't tell a good book by it's cover cause you might get a really bad one? I enjoyed your annual letter on the blog. Thanks for the comments here too.
I do send out cards by snail mail, and a lot of our friends are still old school and don't do the Internet stuff, so that is the only way to connect with them. I don't include letters with all of them, but the ones I do are usually done on the computer. The old arthritic hands do better on a keyboard than with a pen. There are so many great ecards out there, and I also send those out, a lot to the same people, but a few people just get the ecard. I like receiving both kinds of cards, so I guess I have no real preference one over the other.
Elaine, we only do the "snail" mail cards and much prefer the "old school" way. We don't include letters either, just shor notes and sometimes a photo. Let's do an address exchange and next year we will send you a card via postal mail. Merry Christmas!
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