In Praise of the Christmas Card

 Recently I heard some younger than me radio commentators question the need for Christmas cards.  Their rationale for not sending cards included the following:

1. Nothing of worth comes via snail mail any longer.  Communications are conducted primarily, if not exclusively, through text, messenger, email.

2. Everyone is on social media.  Throughout the year, everyone has shared with everyone else anything of note happening in their lives, thus negating the need for not only a card, but also the often mocked Christmas letter.  If you already know what's happened during the past year, why regurgitate it in a Christmas letter often populated with adjectives of excess (the best!  most wonderful!  amazing!  so blessed!).

3.  Cards themselves require a fair amount of time to create, if in fact you don't simply purchase a box of cards at the local Hallmark or Target or Walmart.  First you need to choose a company which produces photo cards, then download photos from the cache taking up storage space on your phone.  This has the potential of sending you down the scrolling rabbit hole for a couple hours before you remember why you began swiping the screen to begin with.  Next comes fitting and editing the chosen images onto the card, along with a select greeting (Merry Christmas?  Happy Holidays?  Peace, Love and Joy?  Seasons Greetings?), and perhaps a narrative for the back side of the card.  If you can keep your yearly news short and sweet, this block of text can eliminate the need for a Christmas letter.

4. The commentators agreed that it's preferable to download the addresses and have the company pre-print the envelopes.  

5. You still have to stuff the envelopes, add stamps--which continue to increase in price--and a return address label, not to mention transport them to the post office.

6. Finally, the commentators felt that so many of the cards are sent to people you only contact this one time of year.  What's the value in that?  they asked.

What's the value in that, indeed.

I have sent a Christmas card, with photos back in the days before the advent of photo cards, accompanied by a letter, for the 51 years of our marriage.  The initial list included everyone who attended to our wedding, and these were the once a year contacts that, I'll admit, after a while I wondered about the value of slapping the stamp on the envelope to one of my mother's friends or one of my father's second cousins.  

When we spent Christmas with my parents in Chicago, one of my traditions was to sit on the couch in their family room and go through the Christmas cards they received, which my mother kept in a basket in the entry way. Each card called up a memory of the person who had signed it, which I might share with my mom.  I remember she once told that someone mentioned to her how nice it was I still sent them a card.

A few years ago, one of my New Year's resolutions was to stop writing, "We should get together" on the Christmas letter and actually get together with people who had become, over the years, the once a year contact.  Putting this into action has brought the proverbial great joy into our lives.  For me, then, that's part of the value in the Christmas card.

The other lies in addressing the card.  As I write, I do see the faces of the recipients, if not an experience enjoyed with them.  I think about them, wish them the highest and the best in their lives, before writing their names on the envelopes.  I like to believe that connection moves through with the card, into whatever home it lands, and perhaps someone thinks how nice it is I still send them a card.

So yes, this is probably another one of those generational differences that feel to me as if they are rolling downhill at me with each birthday.  Maybe Christmas cards will go the way of other forgotten or neglected holiday and cultural traditions but my plan is to keep at it as long as I can.

And if you send me a card, thank you.  I read it when it arrives.  It goes into my version of the entry way basket.  I read it again before I clip the photo for the O'Brien Wall of Fame, now located in our lower level.  And I will think of you every time I go downstairs.

Merry Christmas.  Happy Holidays.  Seasons Greetings.  Happy New Year.  And, in my ethnic heritage Polish, Wesołych Świąt.