34. Stop Sending Christmas Cards

“Stop sending Christmas cards? You’ve got to be kidding,” moaned a friend of mine. “It’s my favorite thing about Christmas.”

If, like my friend, you love sending Christmas cards, by all means do it; this suggestion is not addressed to you. It is addressed to all those people who start grousing in mid-July that they haven’t picked out their Christmas cards yet, and to all the ones who are still mumbling by the end of November that they haven’t gotten around to addressing their cards yet, and to the ones who are still grumbling by the middle of December that they haven’t had time to pick up the Christmas stamps from the post office, and they don’t know how they’ll possibly get them mailed in time for Christmas.

This is also addressed to those people who send printed-signature cards. Hand-picked or lovingly hand-produced Christmas cards are a joy to receive. What is surprising is that in these days of environmental awareness there are people and businesses that year in and year out are still sending the printed-signature, rubber-stamped, or signed-by-their-secretary Christmas cards. I’ve never been able to figure out what the message on these cards is, or why anyone would bother sending a card they didn’t have the time to at least address, sign, and stamp themselves.

For many people, the printed-signature holiday card has become the symbol for what’s wrong with Christmas. It’s impersonal, it’s commercial, it’s expensive, the real message is not a positive one, it clutters up our lives, and it’s an environmental waste.

If you’re ready to stop sending Christmas cards, you can begin to let people know that this is your last year for doing cards. Or, cut your list by half or more and send cards only to those you truly want to keep in touch with. The chances are good the other people on your list will understand, and it may free them from feeling they have to send cards as well.