One of my favorite holiday traditions is sending out Christmas cards. Pretty much all the dedication and skill I lack in every other aspect of homemaking is concentrated in this one area: I might ignore mud stains on the couch, regularly forget to buy key ingredients for meals, and occasionally count a viewing of Dora the Explorer as our homeschool culture lesson for the week, but when it comes to Christmas cards, I don’t mess around. When I think of December, some of my fondest memories are of writing personalized notes to each recipient of our meticulously designed family newsletter, a glass of eggnog to my right, a fire roaring in the fireplace to my left (on the nights when it’s not 70 degrees, anyway).
I know some folks are tempted to skip the whole thing, and I can understand why: It saves times during an already-busy season, it saves money on printing and postage, and we’re all in regular contact with one another anyway thanks to social media. But as the self-appointed spokeswoman for the tradition of sending Christmas cards, I’m here to convince you that it’s still worth the time and effort. I believe that it will bless you and bless others to keep this time-honored ritual in your family repertoire, and here’s why:
1. It gives you a chance to reflect on your year: When I sat down to write up our Christmas newsletter, a humorous one-page summary of what’s been going on with us over the past twelve months, I was amazed at how much God has done in our lives in a single year! As I scrolled through my memories, starting with January, I kept asking my husband, “Was that this year?” If it weren’t for writing our Christmas letter, I don’t think I would have ever taken stock of what happened in our lives in 2011.
2. It’s easier now than ever: There are tons of businesses like Shutterfly and Snapfish that let you create Christmas cards online for a reasonable price. If you weren’t able to get everyone together for a family portrait, there are also plenty of options for cards that bring together individual photos to form a collage of family pictures. It usually takes less than 30 minutes from start to finish, and then you’ll have custom cards and envelopes delivered to your door.
3. It lets others know what’s going on with you: Printing out a brief summary of your family’s year is a great way to give others a snapshot of the most important things going on in your lives right now. Sure, they may have seen the individual mentions on Facebook, but it’s nice to have it consolidated in one place.
4. It keeps your address book up to date: I often hear people say that they don’t do Christmas cards because they don’t want to hassle with getting everyone’s current addresses, but I think that this is a big point in favor of the practice. I’ve been surprised at how often it’s come in handy to have an updated address book: One time I felt moved to surprise an old friend a heart-felt birthday gift, and I was able to keep the element of surprise since I already had her address. On another occasion we sent a card of condolence to a husband whose wife died, and it was nice to be able to send it off without bothering him to get his address.
5. It gives your friends and family something to display: I love it when I go to other people’s houses during the holidays and I see pictures of their friends and family all over their mantles. In my own home, we have a special wall holder than can display up to 50 cards, and every time I pass by it I think of how blessed we are to have such wonderful friends and family members.
6. It blesses people who aren’t tech savvy: One of my favorite Christmas card stories is when we accidentally sent a card to the old address for some friends who moved. An elderly lady had moved into the house, and she sent us a long, hand-written note about how lonely she’s been since her husband died and how much it blessed her to receive our card. Ever since then, we’ve exchanged cards every year. Keep in mind that there are still plenty of people out there who don’t spent a lot of time online, and who deeply appreciate receiving notes the old-fashioned way.
7. It’s an opportunity for evangelization: Every year we receive a surprising amount of positive feedback about Christmas cards: In particular, many of our non-Catholic friends remark about how interesting it is that we seem to have joy-filled lives, even though many aspects of our Catholic lifestyle go against what the world tells you you need to be happy. We don’t usually talk about our faith in an explicit way in our cards (which is slightly disappointing to my husband, who would probably prefer to see our newsletter end with an all-caps call to repent and join God’s one true Church), but simply letting folks get a glimpse into the lives of a practicing Catholic family can be a powerful witness in and of itself.
Now, what are you waiting for? Go get started on your Christmas cards!
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I love this! I am also a fan of sending Christmas cards and take it very seriously. Every year I get stressed about it but when they are done and mailed, it is the best feeling. It was nice to read your reasons, I agree with every single one. Your husband’s preference about being explicit about your faith is very funny! :)
We also LOVE sending out photo Christmas cards of our family. We always buy the Virgin & Child postage stamps (we feel this is important to show there is still a strong market for them!!), and write a simple message such as “May Christ’s joy and peace be with you this Christmas and throughout the New Year!”... simple little ways to evangelize! Plus, it’s a nice way to send updated family photos to friends and family across the country.
WONDERFUL TRADITION! - GREAT article!
I was thinking of doing cards this year and this was the boost I required—-Thank you!
We take on evangelization by sending cards with angels and scenes of the Nativity. We share the rest of your reasons, too.
I love sending out Christmas cards and always include a photo of my children. However, couldn’t imagine sending out a Christmas card that wasn’t all about Jesus, whether a nativity scene or a three kings scene and including a bible verse. Talk about a chance to evangelize? With so many completely ignoring the true reason of Christmas, how can anyone miss the opportunity to put a beautiful reminder in the hands of all their family and friends? Religious stamps are a must as well, but Christmas cards that are nothing but a photo of someone’s children or family or a picture of a snowman or wreath are offensive in that they add to the notion that Christmas is about anything other than Jesus himself. If we Christians buy into that notion, how can we complain about the state of the church today?
Here’s another reason - if you sent us a card, we will pray for your family the day we receive the card when we do our Advent blessing at meal time! We started this a few years ago - and it is fun to share with our children how we know this particular family from 25 - 30 years ago or more. I actually do not send cards to people that I see on a regular basis - we have moved across the country several times and those are the ones who usually get a card. Also, because I have not kept up with photo albums, scrapbooks or journals that I have started for the kids, it really is the only record we have of our entire family life together. I enjoy getting out the old ones and reading about what was going on then in our lives. Perhaps when the kids leave the house, I’ll give them all a copy of that 20 years or more they spent with us. One thing I have found, though, is that as the kids get older (my youngest is 10) I am no longer able to write about them in the same way as I used to - what I see as funny, they see as making fun of them. They usually have to read it over now, so the letter is more “sanitized”. It is a balancing act, for sure!
Oh gosh, I agree with you on every point!! We have kept in touch with the parents of my husbands military shipmates who died in action and one of them said that each year she runs into the house waving our card in the air yelling to her husband “IT’S HERE!”
I have saved a copy of each of the 25 Christmas letters we ever sent in a scrapbook along with the card sent that year…it is like a journal. I just updated it and pointed out to my daughter the year I had terrible morning sickness and barely got 3 paragraphs out on a page.
This year, I had a splashy trifold card with umpteen photos in a collage all picked out and my husbands job changed, decreasing our income dramatically. I bought the cards anyway and sincerely asked my husband to not get me a gift…the cards are way more important than a gift.
Lastly, and this is bittersweet…I coordinate a Perintal Hospice program for a living and my friend who took all our photos for our card suffered the death of her baby at birth and became my patient. I asked her if she would put one of the lovely photos she took of her beautiful son’s toes in my card..he was a huge part of my year. She agreed and right there with my kids are Flash’s lovely feet…a real reflection of our year, not a fake “everything is perfect” but “love in the face of difficulty” witness for our loved ones.
I don’t do the traditional Christmas cards. I do create an eChristmas card that I send out via email to family & friends (and have done so for the past 3 Christmases). I know there are folks who are traditionalists and that’s fine, but truthfully, as a working mother of 4 (and from a large Mexican family), my card mailouts were approaching over 200+. So email Christmas cards have worked wonders in keeping the connection with my family & friends as we expand around the world. I still send out our greetings, wishes, and prayers to family & friends, and I feel it is more personalized. I still mail out about a dozen traditional Christmas cards to my elderly aunts/uncles who are not computer savvy but overall, I no longer stress about signing, affixing postage, writing addresses or mail delivery. It’s been a wonderful holiday relief. Merry Christmas!
I send them out Thanksgiving weekend. It’s not a huge list, and mostly relatives, neighbors whom I have known for over 35 years, non-relatives whom have known me since Day Three. No messages, but my real name on non-relatives and my nickname to family.
#6 on folks who aren’t tech savvy.
Especially if someone on your list doesn’t use e-mail. I periodically exchanged letters and cards with my Carmelite friar teacher who taught 9th grade world history (and now retired). If only I could decipher his handwriting all these years later. :)
I haven’t started on mine, yet for your above-mentioned excuses, but this has reminded me of the best reasons to take pen to paper and get out some stamps. Thanks for the inspiration to spread Christmas cheer through snail mail sentiments of love!
Thank you Jennifer for your article and using the appropriate card. I hope many more like you will reiterate this fact that with out faith, there simple be no Christmas - so may are trying to secularize this faith based celebration. Its not about santa claus or the north pole or happy holidays - its about Christ - the birth of Jesus Christ.
to one and all MERRY CHRISTMAS
Pet peeve:
I cannot stand it when my dear friends send me a card OF JUST THEIR KIDS! Sure I like their kids and all, but I want to see THEIR WHOLE FAMILY! It always makes me wonder: what are they hiding from? Afraid they are getting old? Oh like I am NOT getting old?
Love getting cards with beautiful family photos and also religious pictures. Best is when they send a nice nativity scene WITH their family shot inside.
Thanks for a great article! I absolutely agree that sending out Christmas cards is a great idea. I am a Christian and agree that reminding people and sharing with them in a respectful way about the reason for the season is important. We miss a real opportunity to give to and encourage others when we don’t send out Christmas cards during the Holiday season. BTW, here is an easy way to send out your Christmas cards in a very special and personal way. It’s called SendOutCards: http://DonDowns.com. Keep up the great work of teaching, sharing and giving! :)
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