Do you send Christmas cards?
I find great comfort in sending Christmas cards. I pull out the old address book and think about each person and wonder how they are doing. Yes, I have contacts on my phone and laptop, but the 26 year-old address book puts me in the memory frame of mind. If you’re wondering, no, I don’t have a rolodex. 🙂
A note, our best wishes for their Christmas and New Year Celebrations, a stamp, and they’re off to various parts of the country. I hope when they see the card in their mail, they’ll know we are thinking about them and it brings a smile.
I display the cards on shelves. That’s old school, I know, but I enjoy looking at them and thinking about those special people that sent them or in some cases made them. Sometimes, I also get ideas for quilting projects because that’s the way my mind works, I’m visual.
Writing Christmas cards also allows me to use my cursive skills. Let’s face it, I spent years working on writing cursive, and those nuns had high standards. Each letter had to be between those blue lines and look exactly like the examples. If not, we did them over again. Sometimes, we even got a little tap with the ruler. Those were the days.
After high school, I went to business school. We even practiced our cursive skills there because the business world required a lot of writing, and it needed to be legible and attractive. Of course, now my mind wanders to also taking touch typing and Gregg shorthand which are subjects most people don’t even recognize.
Fast forward to today, and all we need are thumbs to communicate.
Christmas is full of memories, and for me, that includes cards. I hope your holiday memories keep you smiling through the month of December.
Merry two weeks before Christmas and stay well.
🎄🤶🎄🎅🏻🎄
NewEnglandGardenAndThread 
I had a class called Palmer Penmanship. The nuns were strict about writing those letters perfectly. Now I don’t think they teach it.
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I had not heard of that term but looked it up. The style looks just like what we did except for the small ‘r’. Isn’t it interesting what stays with us for a lifetime? Have a good week.
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Your post brought me back to “the good old days” in so many ways! The Christmas cards that came in droves, some days requiring two deliveries per day! I’d see the mailman’s hat in the door window while deep snow swirled everywhere. Hmmm….remember deep snow? It seemed to last all winter back then. Mom would tape the cards on the living wall in the shape of a tree. The overflow would cover the archway between that room and the dining area.
The nuns and cursive! Oh yes! Fortunately my bit of artsy talent allowed me to do well molding my letters so I escaped the knuckle raps! Always prided myself on handwriting that could be mistaken for that if a nun!
I’m down to a handful of addresses that receive cards from me. Those are very close friends for whom I send ones with Mass novenas offered. I guess Facebook takes care of the rest of the people I want to wish Merry Christmas to….and blog posts, too! So this is my heartfelt wish to you and Dennis and the adult and teenage kids in your family, Judy! May it be a blessed and happy perfect New England one…with escape to the south looming over you as you celebrate!
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I remember taping the cards on the doorways, and I mean at least two because the first one would fill up fast. These days I send out about 18-24 and all to people similar in age or their adult kids. Yes, social media in all forms certainly makes a shout out to everyone much easier than writing individual cards. I applaud and smile at your inclusion of a Novena. I haven’t done that in a long time. Maybe in the new year I need to correct that omission so thank you for the reminder. I can imagine your cursive had a real flair because of your artistic skills. Thank you sincerely for the holiday wishes, and I send sincere ones right back to you and yours. I hope Santa keeps good tabs on the kids’ lists and that everyone has a happy and healthy 2022. Stay well my friend.
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Ahhhh, Christmas cards! A tradition that is in danger of becoming extinct because of the cost of the cards, the cost of mailing them, and the ease of just emailing your Christmas wishes.
My card list is nowhere as long as it used to be, but I still enjoy sending a Christmas card to special people, usually with a hand-written note. And I love receiving them as well. They represent that people still care about you. Who doesn’t enjoy that feeling?
Sending Christmas cards brings to mind a time when you brought neighbors a tray of freshly baked cookies, or as silently as you could you shoveled out a driveway or two to help a neighbor. I’m not suggesting these acts of kindness don’t occur today, but they’re rare.
I read somewhere that we can be anything we want to be. So let’s be kind!
Have a wonderful week.
Ginger
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I went looking for a new box of cards this year and was shocked when I couldn’t find them. I went to a couple of box stores and then drove to a Hallmark store. All I could find were these plastic packets with ten cards in them. It’s just not the same, but I get it, the younger folks do their greetings on social media not with hand-written cards. Yes, I remember baking banana bread to take to neighbors. Not so much any more. It seems like the more technology we have, the less community we have. I like ‘let’s be kind.’ That’s something we all can do, and it doesn’t cost any money just a tiny bit of effort. Thank you for the reminder.
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Yes, I still send out Christmas cards. Not as many as I once did, but some. I send out e-cards to a few people as well.
My cursive and print writing skills are atrocious! Both are a mx of cursive and print. I think I needed your teachers for writing!
I hope you have a lovely two weeks before Christmas as well!
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That’s funny about your combining cursive and printing because I’ve been known to do that myself especially on forms. 🙂 We had a cold but sunny day today, I did some sewing, and enjoyed some holiday dessert – all good. 🙂
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We woke up to snow, lots of snow!! As soon as it’s light out I’m going out I’m heading out back to take some photos.
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We send out (photo) Christmas cards every year and I love the process. There are often some groans from those in the family who don’t like having their picture taken, but usually they comply without too much complaint. The last two years, we’ve had to do a collage since getting the whole family together has been problematic because of Covid.
I enjoy the whole process, writing the notes, addressing the cards, and I love getting cards in return. I have ribbon strung around a couple of my dining room walls and I drape the cards over these. Because I liked it so much, a few years ago we decided to keep them up and I place birthday cards, thank you notes, etc., on them all year long.
Miss Kittle was our penmanship book series when I was in school.
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I LOVE the family photo even the creativity behind a collage. Applause to you and your family! You’ll never regret it. 🙂 Love your ribbon with happy messages all year long – good for the body and the soul.
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Penmanship is a dying art, alas. My kids only had a few weeks instruction in school, so even their signatures are half-printed. It was all about typing on computers and homework had to be printed on a computer… so no practice, no skill. I really admire beautiful handwriting, but one sees it less and less.
I still send Christmas cards and love to receive them, though the list is less than it was as the elders pass away. I still have lists (and address book) from decades ago. Like you, I enjoy thinking about each person as I send my annual greetings and enjoy receiving cards in the mail. Sadly, the number has grown fewer in recent years. The next generation sends photo collage cards, which is nice to see, all those shining faces, which I haven’t seen in person in a couple of years. Some complain about the cost, but once a year, it is not a hardship. Friends and family are worth every penny!
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Amen!
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Your first sentence sums up penmanship that is for sure. The list certainly does get shorter each year. Photo collage cards are nice especially with kids growing as fast as they do. I’d also guess the younger generation is so use to selfies that a collage photo makes perfect sense. I’m with you – once a year it’s definitely worth it.
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I, too, like to send Christmas cards. Must be the writer in us. Enjoyed the bit about cursive and typing. I, too, had to learn it, but I am afraid the lessons never stuck. 😉
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Thank you for the chuckle. I remember having to stay after class in high school to practice typing on a typewriter with covers on the keys and take those timed tests. I’m grateful I did finally get it because it has certainly helped me personally and professionally. The cursive I still just like, but I sure don’t use it much. Yesterday, I filled out a claim form online and used their ‘electronic signature.’ It sure is faster but certainly leads to less of a need for cursive.
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I’m so glad to see there are still people who send Christmas cards. For years I sent out cards each year until I just quit doing it one year. I like the way you have yours displayed. Judy, if I had your address I would send you a card!
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I get quitting because it is a job during a very busy time of year. I hope you and your family have a lovely Christmas holiday and a happy and healthy 2022. Keep that camera clicking. 🙂
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Yes, I send cards and like you I display the ones we receive. Cards are the one nostalgic Christmas indulgence I allow myself. Well, cards and an amaryllis.
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With everything being so much more isolating for the past couple of years, sending and receiving cards is a real joy. The beauty of an amaryllis this time of year can’t be beat even by the poinsettia because you get to watch it grow and bloom. Enjoy.
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Your post is its own Christmas card! Thank you! I agree that sending Christmas cards is a wonderful custom but a dying one. I try for handwritten notes, thinking they are more personal, but then I have to ask myself which is more important: personal or legible? With my handwriting, I can’t have both. I never got the rap on the knuckles, but I saw their wimples wilt when they looked at my papers. Christmas memories — they come by the truckload, don’t they?
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We could definitely carry on this conversation about nuns’ attire for instance I had the Sisters of Charity in daycare. I’m still not sure how they moved around with those huge, starched wings on their heads and those stiff collars and chest pieces, but they did. Sisters of St. Joseph staffed grade school and their attire was considerably smaller but I always wondered how they could stand the harshness of the piece that stuck in their forehead. They also staffed high school but we also saw lay teachers at that time too. My how things have changed. Yes, writing multiple cards is challenging with fingers that aren’t quite as nimble as they were. Enjoy the season and I hope you have a really nice family holiday.
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Oh, yes, those wings! They were among the most dramatic of the habits, and wasn’t it a game to be able to identify the order by the habit! Like knowing what nurses’ school by the nurse’s cap. Long gone. I’m glad common sense prevailed. A good holiday to you, too, Judy!
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I think of them as the asthmatic-arts: I excelled in penmanship, spelling and Gregg shorthand — all public school teachers, so I didn’t get purgatory out of the way early like some of you did (Sisters of Middling Mercy?); it took those 2 years of touch-typing under the middling mercy of a retired rear admiral. I once wrote a submarine sailor a love letter in shorthand and, except for some dictation at a shipyard office, that was the Greggest I ever got. I love writing, receiving and displaying Christmas cards. I thought it the poor-girl’s treat, but as I age, the sweet connections become more and more important for us all. ❤ Merry Christmas
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I was good at spelling too. 🙂 Thank you for the smile and the laugh out loud at the love letter in shorthand. Too funny. Merry Christmas to you too!
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I think I recognize one of those cards!! Stay healthy and we will see you soon!
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Yes, you do, and we will. Safe travels.
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Oh, the nuns would be very disappointed in me… I only print. We send out a few cards each Christmas but it seems the list gets smaller every year. I still have the album my mother kept of the cards she sent every year… I’m not sure why she did that (to make sure she doesn’t repeat?) but it’s fun to look through for the memories.
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Wouldn’t that be an interesting conversation if as adults we met back up with some of those nuns. I didn’t say it would be fun, but it sure would be interesting. 🙂 Yes, for sure the list of folks get smaller each year. I’d never heard of anyone keeping an album of cards, but it certainly tells a family story for you to enjoy and reminisce about. Nice.
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I love sending and receiving cards too. Lately I’ve tried to find cards with Australian animals and birds and summer scenes to send to friends and family overseas, One of my cousins in Scotland said he looks forward to seeing blue skies from Australia, in the depth of their winter.
Just as others have commented, my list of people is diminishing…what a pity!
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I know it would be termed hoarding, but wouldn’t it be nice to just sit and look at cards you received years ago from people that are no longer here? What a comfort it would be to see their handwriting and read their words. Maybe that’s part of why we keep sending cards because we treasure so much those that are left and enjoy them.
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I have kept cards from elderly loved ones each year just in case. I have them in our safe. I actually can reread them and remember. I love that part of Christmas.
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I can imagine the feelings that come over you when you read some of those cards and see the notes and signatures. Very special.
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I do send cards but not as many as I used to. I like to find cards with an Australian theme for my overseas friends. I know we all think that people only communicate with digital devices these days, but here in Australia, handwriting is still taught in primary schools and is seen as an essential part of learning in the curriculum. In the early years, it’s practised every day.
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Oh, I imagine those cards with an Australian theme are beautiful. Applause to your school systems for keeping handwriting part of the curriculum. I know technology makes it plainer and easier, but there is something so unique and special about a person’s handwriting that it just makes me smile to think it is still alive and well in your country. 👏🏻👏🏻
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I usually choose ones with Australian animals on them. If you email me your address, I’ll send you one. 🙂 It won’t arrive in time for Christmas, but it will be fun when it comes.
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We still send some Christmas cards. Practicing my cursive isn’t part of the process – that’s been hopeless for a very long time. I think it’s good to keep it up, it seems to work well for you.
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With your IT skills you probably could write an algorithm of some sort to write your cards in calligraphy. 🙂 That is meant as a compliment. 🙂
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I tried that one year. My wife thinks they should handwritten 😏
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I do love sending Christmas cards, especially to relatives who live over seas. My penmanship is atrocious though. I started school in the UK and they had stopped teaching handwriting, when I started school in New Zealand the teachers were horrified that I couldn’t write cursive 🙂
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I must admit my handwriting continues to change as I age. I’m guessing a little arthritis in the hands contributes to that. 🙂 Well, I bet that was challenging for you with two different countries and school systems. Bottom line, I imagine those relatives enjoy your cards and messages whether they are handwritten or done on a computer. 🙂
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Hello Judy…
I send Christmas Cards and Happy New Year Cards…
I do the same, I write a little note to everyone. It’s a time to think of everyone we hold dear to our hearts.
I too display them. Pretty added Christmas decor.
Although… I do have to take my time writing them… because my hand gets tired. 😄
Merry December to you!
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It’s definitely a lot of writing when we hardly use that skill the rest of the year. Based upon your artistic skills, I bet you have some nice curves and circles to your writing. 🙂
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Yes I write Christmas cards in cursive, though the addresses are printed. We save Christmas, though no longer display the old cards.
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I print labels too. I like writing, but the addresses work better when printed. 🙂 Happy Holidays to you!
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I send a few cards each year, though when my current stash runs out, I may quit. Hubby has called it quits for his few remaining family. I always include a short handwritten (printed, not cursive) note, because to me that is the point. This whole greeting card business will probably disappear in the next couple decades. Let’s enjoy it while we can!
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When I got to the Hallmark store and they didn’t even have boxes of cards, I knew it was basically over. It always seems strange when a tradition stops that was part of your life. Life moves on, and we are definitely into a technology age of instant messaging. However, I’ll keep sending them as long as I can find them. 🙂
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Seems like I see boxed cards all over: grocery store, hardware store, coffee shops. Guess you shouldn’t bother with card stores!
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I’m thinking you’re right!
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I use to do a newsletter. Oh btw check with your local print shop they can custom design and print personal Christmas cards.
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Thanks! I actually did print some this year for out of town family.
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Your post touched my heart. I can just see you thinking about the people in your life and you write out your cards. I, also, still put my cards out on the mantel for display. Wishing you the happiest of holidays and good health and many reasons to smile in the New Year.
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Thank you for the kind words. I truly wish us all ‘many reasons to smile in the New Year.’ I know I’ll have a few at least when I read your delicious recipes. Have a great holiday.
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I sort of resent the fact that fewer people send Christmas cards now compared to in the past, because I feel it is such a nice gesture to do so
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It is a nice gesture, but I’m guessing folks your age and your parents’ age are more into social media, and it is easier to send out a greeting that goes out to everyone by hitting the ‘return’ key. I certainly understand the ease of typing it once. Thanks for the comment and Happy Holidays to you.
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Definitely and Thankyou, the funny thing was that throughout primary school and even early years at secondary school everyone send Christmas cards either to friends or literally to everyone in their class, but then as soon as we hit about 14, it just didn’t happen
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You watched history in the making. 🙂
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Our nuns also followed the Palmer method, and on the same paper you had with the dotted lines between the solid ones. They don’t even teach cursive in many schools these days! How do those kids sign their names?!?! Of course we are showing our ages but I have mentally thanked the nuns who insisted both the girls and the boys took typing as I pound out my keyboard faster than anyone else I know LOL. As for cards, sadly I no longer send them but I love to receive them and also display them on shelves as you do. We get fewer every year, and mostly they’re photos of our friends’ adventures or their grandchildren getting older. Maybe next year I’ll pick up the pen once again as you’ve inspired me to do so! Happy Holiday to you and yours Judy, and all the best in the New Year.
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Yes, I thank the nuns every day for typing class with covers on the keys. It has served me well for my entire life. Cards are definitely an age related activity, and I understand the preferred use of social media because it is certainly easier and more cost effective. Yes, photos of adventures and grandchildren certainly do prevail on cards. Have a wonderful holiday and keep your camera handy. 🙂
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Judy, your card-writing is a lovely tradition, one that I follow as well. Interesting you mention practicing cursive. That’s one of the joys I get out of taking sending cards also. Hope your holidays are warm and happy.
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I use cursive so seldom that it is nice to pay attention to how you write the words. Down the road a couple of generations, I wonder if they will even be able to read it. Life is certainly a journey. Happy Holidays!
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I love sending Christmas cards and receiving them. I also display mine. There is just something so special about a Christmas card.
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It is nice to touch base with folks especially at the holidays. Thanks for stopping by and Merry Christmas.
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Merry Christmas
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