December 5th, 2006

The Gone Christmas Cards

Posted by Lifecruiser in Odditys, Swedish
Lifecruisers modern Christmas card
♥ A more modern Christmas card ♥

I’ve noticed that people here in Sweden are not sending as much Christmas Cards as earlier years. People seem to send less and less Christmas Cards for every year and today, many of my friends has stopped completely. (And not only to me ;-)

Many of us send webcards or cards by email instead. I both like that and don’t like it. Sure it’s much more easy, but is it as personal as real Christmas cards is? I don’t think so. It takes at least some effort to write by hand.

When I was writing as most Christmas Cards, I was sending about 70 cards. I had the time to do it, since it was rather quiet at work and we were allowed to do other things during working time. It was when I worked in an IT Helpdesk in the eighties. Not so much problems with their IT systems then!

OK, 70 cards isn’t that much, but when you consider the fact that I didn’t only write our signatures - in Calligraphy - but also drawing a lot on them, it becomes more time consuming. It took me about 14-21 days every year to write these cards - every spare time I had.

Phew! But it was something I found fun because I knew that they were special. (I only regret that I didn’t take any pictures of them, it would have been nice to see them today).

Then it gradually started to decrease as my workload increased. First off were the friends that weren’t that close and so on, until today. I’ll only send 5 Christmas cards by real mail this year to my friends, special ones or the ones without a internet connection.

This is my last 5 Christmas Card from my collection of Christmas cards I collected in the eighties, hundreds of cards. Now I’ve come to the last ones. Does this mean that it will be my last Christmas cards ever that I send? I don’t know yet. Can I let it go totally? I doubt it.

It’s a pity, but people don’t seem to appreciate it as much as before and they say that they don’t have the time for it or want to spend any money on it.

Are the old tradition on the way to die completely…? How about you yourself and how is it in your countries?

Cruise list: Deb, Norma, Jon, Maribeth, Mar, Froggie, Sandy, Gattina, Marie, Sean carter, Suzy, Irish Church Lady, and Happy and blue 2.

15 Responses to ' The Gone Christmas Cards '

Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack to ' The Gone Christmas Cards '.

  1. happy and blue 2 said:

    We hardly send any Christmas cards anymore. I don’t think many people do. I guess it just is too time consuming like you said..

    Lifecruiser: Yes, I think that it’s the time factor that’s most crucial.

    December 5th, 2006 at 2:28 am

  2. Irish Church Lady said:

    I’m first!

    Well sending Christmas cards is still pretty popular here, in Canada, I think. However I could be wrong because alas I haven’t sent Christmas cards for 15 years. I stopped sending them when my children were small. It was just one thing I had to stop doing because I was always so busy and exhausted with four young kids, a full time busy and challenging job. Getting ready for Christmas with that many was a handful in itself. I still have a little bit of a dislike of Christmas and the commercialization it brings. I hope to start sending Christmas cards again soon. This year I may start by sending a few. Probably a good start would be to get the addresses of my Mum’s old friends and send them all cards. I had met many of her nursing friends when she and I traveled for her reunion in 1989 in England. I don’t think my Dad is sending them cards (I could be wrong) and if he is not I will volunteer to send them each a little note wishing them a Merry Christmas in memory of her.

    I hope that you send and receive as many cards as you would like to, Mrs. LC.

    Lifecruiser: Well, that sounds just terrific, that your’re thinking of start sending cards to your Moms old friends. What a joy it would be for them!

    December 5th, 2006 at 4:16 am

  3. Suzy said:

    The Christmas card you have pictured is just adorable. I would have certainly loved a card that someone took such care in sending to me.
    Now that I am ill, I get ‘thinking of you’ cards and they really touch me. There are so many people out there that are genuine and caring, aren’t there?

    Wow….70 cards your list was! Amazing!

    Here at our house, we try to do something different each year. Last year we made our cards by hand, a note from me updating missed friends on our life happenings, a drawing included from little luv and Sissy wrote a list of what she was thankful for.

    This year I don’t think I’ll have the energy to do that, yet I’m still trying to make some personalized gifts for special friends. Our received cards are getting fewer and fewer though, which I find sad.

    Okay, now that I’ve written a book, I’m off to read other posts.

    Loved this post. It got me to thinking again about changes….not all changes are good ones, I suppose.

    Lifecruiser: Yes, there really are some amazing people out here. I love the blogosphere :-) I liked that you try to do something more personal there.

    December 5th, 2006 at 6:43 am

  4. sean carter said:

    Hey even i love sending and receiving Christmas cards. Its the best way of sharing warm wishes. That is a really cute card you have put up. Must say, 70 cards is quite a big number. Bravo!
    Check out this amazing Holiday Blog at http://christmas4all.blogspot.com for some really unique gift ideas and loads of other fun stuffs.
    Happy Holidays.

    Lifecruiser: Thanks Sean. I’ve checked it quck now and there are some interesting posts - it’s really a christmas blog - but I have to come back and read more later. Happy holidays you too :-)

    December 5th, 2006 at 11:28 am

  5. Marie said:

    I love to send Christmas cards and spend a great deal of time selecting the cards and writing in each one. But then I am far from “home” and it is a way for me to still keep up those connections. As I write, I think about the particular person and remember times we have shared together. I hope the art of sending cards never dies.

    I haven’t noticed a lessening in card sending in Sweden in the six years I’ve been here. It’s just that people send them out much later than they do in other countries. My mantel is full of Aussie cards at the moment, but no Swedish ones yet. I guess they will filter in after Dec 16th.

    Lifecruiser: I’m glad to hear that there still is people that like Christmas cards. Maybe it won’t die out completely, who knows. Maybe the trend will turn later on and it will be trendy to be oldfashioned enough to send them? *S*

    December 5th, 2006 at 12:10 pm

  6. Gattina said:

    Here I don’t agree at all with you ! I always found Christmas cards writing boring and only sent one to my “left overs” in Germany and my aunt in USA. 3 cards in total. Then of course I answered to the cards we got, but mostly by phone. This was cheaper and you could at least ask how people were. When I think what a fortune each year went in the garbidge ! I put the once I got on our open fire and after New Year I throw them away.
    Since 3 or 4 years I send emails, and there are so nice once with music and pictures. To people who live near us I have never sent a card and they didn’t do it either. I have to say that in Belgium it’s not so in use maybe than in other countries. And it’s right, people are sending less and less. Last year we got two !

    Lifecruiser: Well, we can’t always think the same about everything and appearantly a lot of people agree with you since it has decreased :-) But I bet you would have loved to get one of my old special ones… LOL

    December 5th, 2006 at 1:16 pm

  7. Gattina said:

    I forgot, is there no “Tackle on Tuesday” today ? I haven’t found anybody so far !

    Lifecruiser: I’m sure there is some Tackles up there later, I’ve noticed that people are late, but this time, no tackle post for me because I’ve not done the tackle ready because of all other stuff happening. And I’m not well. so it have to wait to next tuesday.

    December 5th, 2006 at 1:17 pm

  8. Gattina said:

    Lol ! Mrs Moon ! Do you need my personal therapist, as I don’t need him anymore, being the Empress ?

    Lifecruiser: He he… Maybe I’ll break the therapist down totally. *LMAO*

    December 5th, 2006 at 4:15 pm

  9. Sandy said:

    :-) Yes, I have definitely seen a decrease over the years. I think with the postage going up has helped kill the sending of Christmas cards too. I used to send out a lot like you were talking about. This year I have sent out about 25 so far. I only send to those that I do not see. I do not send to those that I talk to on a regular basis here on the computer. I figure that once a year is a good time to keep up with those friends that I never get to keep in touch with. It is getting very expensive. Will I ever stop? Who knows..but it would be odd for me to completely stop. I think someday it will though and that will be just sad…Sandy

    Lifecruiser: Yes, I do think that’s a very common approach to christmas cards. Let’s hope that it don’t stop totally though.

    December 5th, 2006 at 4:38 pm

  10. Froggie said:

    I still send Christmas cards… though I don’t tend to write much. I do make my own cards though with my artwork. :)

    Lifecruiser: Ah, I bet your friends love to get your art cards :-)

    December 5th, 2006 at 5:56 pm

  11. mar said:

    First: I love your new look, much prettier than the pink october! but I know it was for a good cause.
    I still send Xmas cards, but only to older relatives and a couple of special people. So I am down to about 15 a year. It’s fine with me, I get about the same amount every year and yes, it used to be a lot more but mostly a compromise and not truly from the heart.

    Lifecruiser: Thanks Mar! I totally agree, the pink was terrible, awful, horrible, ugly - but fun :-)

    December 6th, 2006 at 12:03 am

  12. Maribeth said:

    I still send them out. I love them. I sort of look at it as a little gift to the people I love in my life.

    Lifecruiser: Good spirit to take after for the rest of us :-)

    December 6th, 2006 at 1:11 am

  13. Jon said:

    I’m in Washington DC and I still send Christmas cards every year, mostly to people I don’t see often or distant family.

    I have however noticed that most of my friends under 40 years old don’t send them. I guess as a society we are all too busy shopping (and stressing over) finding the absolute “right” present or the perfect tree, that we often forget to wish people Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

    Lifecruiser: Ah, that’s probably too true - that we’re so busy that we forget to wish people Merry Christmas. And forget about the real christmas feeling… But now we got a reminder, didn’t we? *s*

    December 8th, 2006 at 3:03 pm

  14. Norma said:

    We send about 175–some are handed over if we know we will see the people. Ours include a letter about our year. We used to get more, but I think it was because we both worked and people exchanged with co-workers.

    Lifecruiser: Well done Norma, that’s quite admirable - 175 *whistles impressed*

    December 8th, 2006 at 10:25 pm

  15. Deb said:

    We have sent around 50-100 hand-written cards the past few years. It varies by year as we never keep a list and have to recreate it each year! While our friends and family seem to keep sending cards (we are in the US), and while I agree they are touching and pretty and in the spirit of the season, I have always had an environmental problem with that much paper being used for cards and year-in-review letters, and then tossed out or recycled if we’re lucky.

    So this year I created our own holiday video card which links to our year in review video. On one hand, I’m happy that we could reach over 130 people this year just to say “we’re thinking of you.” We just wouldn’t do that many by hand. And our own images and music selections make it personal, not to mention that it’s different from just a picture greeting. Plus, there’s no paper to waste, just the electricity to run your computer which was probably going to be on anyway. :-)

    I do worry, however, that no matter how much hard work I put into perfecting a video so it moves well and is interesting to watch, some people will assume it’s a quick form letter anyway since the message wasn’t personalized for each single person. *Sigh* You just can’t win sometimes, can you? :???:

    Lifecruiser: Well, it’s always like that, you can never pleased them all. We just have to make a decision for ourselves and then accept that and don’t think about the other alterantives :-) I’m sure thouth, theat they really appreciate your efforts with this video - and if they don’t - well, then they aren’t TRUE friends….

    December 15th, 2006 at 5:58 pm

Leave a reply

:mrgreen: :neutral: :twisted: :shock: :smile: :???: :cool: :evil: :grin: :oops: :razz: :roll: :wink: :cry: :eek: :lol: :mad: :sad: