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An unpopular opinion. Don’t sue me…

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Christmas cards started rolling in right after Thanksgiving.

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Lovingly selected and filled with handwritten sentiments of holiday cheer from friends and family scattered across the country, continent and globe.

For some of the cards we receive, it’s the only time of year we’re in contact with the sender. An annual what’s up! and long distance wave.

In an era of instant digital communication, I look forward to this tradition of old school well wishes.

And then, there are these:

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I can hear your snorts of annoyance… but please, a moment.

While I’d love to receive a current picture of you and your family in a Christmas card, I’m not a fan of the photo card in general.

Preprinted holiday greetings with no explanation of whose grandchild is who, why you’re embracing an iguana in a tropical rain forest or who the strange man with the lightning bolt tattoos hovering in the background might be. There’s no handwritten note, no unique flourished signature and Hell, a lot of people even print out their address labels.

You can hate me, but I find them impersonal.

*Disclaimer- to each his own and if you’ve included me on your list and sent me a photo card? I sincerely appreciate the thought and would rather receive one of them than nothing… it’s just my opinion*

So as you curse me for being rude and ungrateful, imagine this –

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Me. Chained to the table for days, hand cramping from writing and addressing cards and envelopes, A through H completed and rubber banded… hoping I can still my flex my fingers by Christmas Day.

🥴

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37 thoughts on “An unpopular opinion. Don’t sue me…”

    2. Sure, nobody ever writes “Little Johnny went to jail again, no bond this time, and little Susie is pregnant again. Not sure who the daddy is, but I am sure this qualifies her for a section 8 upgrade. We got to skip rent for 18 months, and these “mask mandates” allow us to shoplift without being identified. Oh, John finally got a job in Sanitation, but got let go the next day because he spent to much time “picking” through the stuff. No matter, we are making good money breeding all those dogs in the backyard”.

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      1. And no one understands how depressing it is to receive these little braggy letters when the recipient is dealing with job loss, physical/mental illness, death of a loved one, or financial woes.

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      2. Take heart. They are embellishing their ass off. Their lives are disasters in one way or another. Kind of like FACEBOOK, Snapchat, Instagram, TicToc…..people can say whatever they want and cover their misgivings with photoshop.

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  2. I actually stopped sending Christmas cards, most of them aren’t recyclable. As a graphic designer, I used to do a family newsletter with pics that I am sure annoyed a lot of recipients. No longer. Since I stopped most people don’t send me cards any more, which I am also happy about. It is a lot less holiday work for everyone. But I do enjoy the rare family picture cards I get. It’s fun to see the kids growing up and to compare wrinkles with the adults.

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  4. How could I sue you over this? Is there a Christmas Card Attorney at the hand just waiting for a time such as this?
    I do the photo card, with an explanation of the people in the photo and a small highlight of our past year. I do write a note to each person too, so I do it ALL. You’ll be glad to know I won’t detail or include purchases from the past year (home/car, etc) or expensive vacations.

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  6. I’m with you there, I hand write my annual Christmas cards every year. I also find the preprinted with picture card redundant and impersonal. We don’t really need to see you wearing the same ugly sweater this year again. While I’m sure it’s expensive to make those cards, think of how much money ones could save writing said cards with genuine warm holiday wishes.

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  7. I love giving and receiving Christmas cards…well, any kind of card actually. So refreshing to get a card in the mail instead of an electronic communication. I even handmade my cards this year. Yup, painted a design on the front and used stamps and ink to create sentiments etc. I did print out address and return address labels though. In past years I have included a Christmas letter (never a braggy one…just a realistic telling of my year, warts and all) but since creating the cards took so long I kinda ran out of steam (and time) for writing a letter too. Next year!

    Deb

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  10. Hate me, but we don’t do xmas anymore, or any holidays. They’ve become too commercial, and being atheists, the holidays no longer have significance in our lives. I am with Bitchy after 60. I think of all the trees cut down to create xmas cards and other cards during a year, and I can no longer justify the loss of life for human celebration. Same goes for “real dead” xmas trees. What a waste of good living beings. We should all be ashamed, though I know there are few who even think about how many lives are so uselessly taken…

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  12. I tend to agree. The best cards we got were photo cards from a family of 4 (I knew the parents in college) with 3 or 4 family vacation shots on side one AND a highlights of the year on the back. The summary was succinct, illustrative, and NOT braggy. Loved getting them every year. And then their kids moved out and the empty nesters are too busy to continue the tradition. I get it . . . but I don’t like it.

    Now we get cards with nothing but a signature OR photo cards with no update OR newsletters that go on and on and on leaving nothing to the imagination.

    Tis the season to be crabby . . .

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  13. There’s personal touches, and there’s too many personal touches (those photocards). It’s a dying tradition, but it is a good tradition. Even better is handwritten letters. Will anyone born in the last 20 years have a handwritten letter from a loved one to hold onto? Much these days is a FB message, no card, not even a more personal text message for your birthday.

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  15. I completely agree. Last year I sent out hand-written cards detailing what I’d done throughout the year, which took a great deal of time. But it was important to me since I wouldn’t be seeing family due to the pandemic . I was super annoyed with the people who responded by sending photo cards without notes – so much so that I’ve decided never to send Christmas cards again.

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