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Once upon a time, not too long ago nor
too far away, in the first days after
Thanksgiving, people of good cheer would
sit down with a stack of greeting cards,
a pad of paper, some family portraits,
perhaps, and a roll of stamps to
participate in that revered holiday
tradition known as Writing Christmas
Cards.
You could count on the first holiday
card, often from a favored aunt,
arriving in your mailbox soon after Dec.
1.
By the time Christmas Day arrived, you
might have received enough shiny,
colorful cards from far-flung family and
friends to string over a doorway as a
holiday decoration.
These days, it seems, the Christmas card
tradition is fading. Or at least
evolving.
Many of us are paring our holiday card
lists to the minimum, checking off the
names of families who haven’t sent us a
card in recent years, sending e-mails
instead of cards, or making calls from
our cell phones instead of risking
writer’s cramp.
How many cards are in your
mailbox this season?
John Burger,
a Tempe attorney, is one of those who
keep the Christmas card tradition alive.
“I send about 50 or 60 out each year,
but my wife, Susan, claims it’s an
anachronism -- she doesn’t do it,”
Burger revealed. He said he receives
about the same number that he sends.
“I think it’s easier than ever (to send
Christmas cards) with word processors
and automated label machines,” Burger
noted.
Irene Trujillo,
Burger’s legal assistant, said her
Christmas card habits have changed.
Instead of bulk-mailing boxed cards,
Trujillo picks more personalized cards
for her family.
“We used to send Christmas cards to
everyone, just everyone,” she said. “But
I really think that it just faded over
the years. It was a given that right
after Thanksgiving I would sit and write
for hours. But it’s kind of fading. I’m
not receiving as many as I used to.”
Time was, Christmas cards kept people in
touch – at least once a year.
“We’re busier these days,” Trujillo
said. “And we didn’t used to have the
capability of e-mailing people
throughout the year. I used to send out
about 50 cards. This year, it will be
maybe a handful, 10 to 15, 20 at the
maximum.”
But she’s sending more personal cards
these days, Trujillo noted. I buy a
special card and then write special
notes in them.”
Trujillo isn’t the only one choosing
more personal cards, according to
Janet Rosenkrantz, card buyer for
Changing Hands Bookstore. Sales of
individual cards, as opposed to boxed
cards, are booming, she said.
“I’m amazed at how many individual cards
we are selling. They are a little bit
more expensive, but some are museum
quality.”
And
some are pretty expensive, too. Like
birthday cards, individual cards can
cost “from about $1.95 each to as much
as $6 for a handmade card with sequins
and beads and little charms and things,”
Rosenkrantz said.
At the gift shop at the Abbey Gardens
tea parlor and gift shop, owner
Hallie Adams has seen customers
purchasing many boxes of holiday cards
this season – more so than individual
Christmas cards.
“Our card sales have been pretty brisk,
and people seem to be choosing cards
that are on the lighter side this year –
lots of Santa Claus cards, for
instance,” Adams said. “Myself, I like
to send Christmas cards that have more
of a religious theme. I send out about
25 to 30 cards.”
Christmas cards, of course, are meant to
be received by Christmas, which is
barely a week away for those running
late. That doesn’t always happen,
however.
Jenae Naumann
is an attorney for the city of Tempe,
someone balancing a career and family
like many Kyrene Corridor residents. She
loves sending and receiving Christmas
cards, and treasures those with
personalized notes inside.
Naumann started laughing when asked if
her Christmas card habits have changed
over the years.
“I have always sent Christmas cards
because I felt that was a thing you do,”
she said.
You trek the family to the portrait
studio for the holiday photo. You spend
the weekend after Thanksgiving composing
a holiday newsletter. And get everything
mailed by Dec. 15 to be assured the
cards and notes and family portraits
will arrive at their destinations by
Christmas Day.
It doesn’t always work out that way,
Naumann said.
Dec. 15 may be her target mailing date,
“but more often than not; it’s after
that,” she admitted. “Eventually,
I send out the Christmas letter and
photos. My record is April!”
Does anyone still send Christmas cards?
Most definitely.
The Hallmark people estimate that
Christmas card sending has been
relatively stable over the last five
years with 1.9 to 2 billion Christmas
cards being sent every year, according
to spokeswoman Liz Hawks.
Surprisingly, e-cards have not impacted
paper card sending at Christmas.
According to Hawks, e-cards are a more
casual communication method, which isn’t
how people communicate during the
holidays. At Christmas people look
forward to receiving the cards in the
mail, and many consider Christmas cards
keepsakes to view years later, something
that isn’t possible with an e-card.
According to Hallmark:
·
Christmas is the largest card-sending
holiday in the United States, with
approximately 2 billion cards sent to
friends and loved ones every year.
·
Nearly three-fourths of consumers who
send holiday cards do so because they
know how good it feels to receive a
holiday greeting.
·
Among the various reasons for sending
Christmas cards, 69 percent do so
because it helps them stay connected
with their family and friends.
Not everyone is enamored of the holiday
card tradition, however. Environmental
groups annually trash the tradition of
sending billions of paper cards.
The Center for a New American Dream, for example, claims a 2005
poll found that 78 percent of Americans
wish the holidays were less
materialistic; a like number (79
percent) do not believe it is necessary
to spend a lot of money in order to have
a fulfilling and enjoyable holiday.
The center (www.newdream.org)
works to conserve natural resources,
counter the commercialization of our
culture, and promote positive changes in
the way goods are produced and consumed.
Another environmental group,
Conscious Choice, calculates that if everyone sent one less
card each year, we’d save 50,000 cubic
yards of paper. Conscious Choice
recommends sending e-cards instead.
Kerry Fetherston,
a Kyrene Corridor resident and
professional event planner, is bucking
the trend of writing fewer Christmas
cards. Fetherston says her growing
family means more cards each year.
“Absolutely. I probably send between 75
and 80 cards,” Fetherston reported. Ten
years ago, she sent about 30-40 holiday
cards. This year’s card is a collage of
family photos.
“My family is growing. I am from a
family of six girls,” Fetherston said.
Each year, there are new family members
to add to the Christmas card list. “My
husband and I both have big families and
we’ve both moved around over the years
so we have lots of friends.”
Fetherston said this year has been slow
at her family’s mailbox. “So far this
year, I haven’t gotten many. I don’t
know if everybody is running late,” she
said.
Which, she theorized, could lead to a
new, more modern holiday card tradition
– the New Year’s card. That would be
especially convenient for people who
want to send out a family portrait but
can’t get the family together before the
holidays, she noted.
Finally, consider Linda Berg, a
busy Realtor and Christmas card
traditionalist.
“Absolutely. I send a Christmas card and
I send a Christmas letter, an update of
what’s happening. I send out about 100
cards and I personally make all of the
cards. I start in July and I normally
have them done by September,” Berg said.
Typically, she makes her holiday cards
out of colored paper, embellished,
embossed and decorated with glitter, she
said. “I have hand-drawn them, too.”
This year, however, Berg celebrated the
addition of a new grandchild by sending
out a holiday photo of her and her
husband with their two “grandbabies.”
Berg may be a torchbearer for a
declining tradition.
“I receive less and less each year,” she
acknowledged. “But I still send them
whether I receive them or not.” |
