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Christmas cards clarification

Posted December 20 2010 by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett


I’ve been receiving private emails from dear friends about Christmas cards and my blog post from the other day, and feel that maybe some clarification is called for.

First, the only cards I truly object to are those mass emailed holiday greetings that present a simple greeting. The images tend to be washed out, the words hard to read. And the fact that they’ve gone out to a hundred–maybe a thousand–of the sender’s closest friends and colleagues does not inspire the Christmas spirit, at least not in me.

I do enjoy emailed cards that contain lots of photos or images. Yes, they’ve gone out to a bunch of people, but the sender has also put some time into the creation of the card.

I enjoy holiday letters. Yes, they’re a recap of the year, but so what? The only thing I don’t like about them is when they’re written in the third person. Someone in the family: Take ownership! Make it your letter and write about you and everyone else in the family.

What about the paper waste? Well, yeah, there’s that, and I don’t mean to minimize it. But I’ve a feeling that those who are complaining about paper waste also happily take cardboard cups from their local cafe, will order take out (which is boxed), use paper napkins, use paper and plastic sacks from the market rather than bring a cloth bag, and use all sorts of other paper. The “waste” comment doesn’t hold up for me.

The main thing is this: It’s the one time all year that you make it a point to send holiday wishes. So why not make them count? Put some time into creating a card at Smilebox.com or another online site. Who wouldn’t love that? I do.

Opinionated post…beware….

Posted December 17 2010 by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

I haven’t made a personal post here in quite some time and I maybe shouldn’t right now as I’m feeling a tad under the weather, but because it’s timely, and I’m not feeling all that great, I should just let it spill, right?

It has to do with Christmas cards. Does anyone else dislike emailed Christmas cards as much as I do? Perhaps my dislike is out of range. I should just appreciate any communique a person sends, right, whether of the paper sort or email?

But I don’t. I receive a card via email and I feel offended, not appreciated. Okay, I’m old school, I admit: I like the personal attention you have to give to writing someone’s name on an envelope–or even printing out a sheet of address labels, writing your name (a preprinted card will do) and affixing a stamp. We only do this once a year, right? No one sends out Valentines Day cards anymore, or Easter, or Halloween or Thanksgiving. So how much trouble can it be?

Now, if you don’t have someone’s address and you want them to know they’re in your thoughts, that’s different. And of course I want everyone to have a great holiday.

But if someone has my address and still sends me an email card, I hit delete. I don’t think, how sweet, how nice, how thoughtful. I think: Well, that was easy. I hope they feel good because I feel worse. I don’t feel appreciated at all. Rather, I feel minimized.

At this point, I should delete this post because I know I will offend some of my friends and colleagues who send email cards. In advance, I apologize. My sore throat and general lousy feeling made me hit “publish post.”

I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this. Am I being too cranky?