One my favorite parts of this season is the sending of cards, a practice begun largely by the Victorians after the queen herself sent the first. This was followed by commercial production of cards which people could purchase to send Christmas greetings to family and friends. Perusal within Google assures me that now widespread, the sending of seasonal good wishes is far from dying out as I had unfortunately assumed.
When I was a kid, the sending of cards was always accompanied by a letter highlighting the events of the passing year and hopes for the one ahead. These were considered an important part of staying connected to relatives and friends far a field from where we lived and in some cases the letters of several pages were the longest sent during the year and so were prized by the recipients. With long distance calls being expensive, mobile phone non-existent and computers and the Internet a matter of science fiction, putting pen to paper or typing out and copying a letter to send with cards was labor intensive and often begun at our Thanksgiving holiday.
My own approach is a small, hand written note simply letting the individual or family know they are thought about. I am still written to by a longstanding friend from childhood, a former blogger and neighbors long gone from this locality. among others. Remaining family, not so much.
What about you? Any interesting card traditions?
Christmas card circa 1870 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Images
10 comments:
I receive very few cards, and like the ones I get, though I send hardly any these days.
Doing the cards was one more of the many, many things I "had" to do when I was a young mother. And now I just...don't.
I send less cards than I did. Which is partly because our mail is soooo unreliable. A card I posted (within my own city) last December took until the end of January to arrive.
I also stopped sending cards over a decade ago. I do get a few and I appreciate them, but would understand if they stopped coming.
The beautiful habit of sending greeting cards has practically vanished here. We live in a different world. We can send our blessings by email from our home and not going out in the cold to the post office. Besides, postal expenses are high these days.
I send a few cards but nothing like twenty years ago.
I used to send out a lot of cards during the holiday season. I no longer do that.
We traveled and my parents were both very social. Mom, particularly, kept up correspondence with a number of close friends.
I inherited her appreciation and though the number of "close" has never been many, I continue to decorate cards, this year with glued-on, glass, seed beads in vibrant colors.
I used to make our cards, but being nomadic in a small vehicle, I don't have room for all the materials.
My spouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico sends me pictures of ones we receive, but over the years the number has dwindled.
'Tis a fyne tradition!
I agree on both counts. I enjoy both sending and receiving but most I know don't bother which is sad really.
We have had mail strikes here, in fact half of Britain seems to be on strike right now. It has resulted in our getting only about 1/4 of the number of cards we usually do and there is apparently a big backlog. It's damaged many peoples traditions ... I know I haven't sent as many cards this year. It's kind of a shame although I do send ecards instead.
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