I can’t help but think of them as Christmas cards, even though I exchange cards with some Jewish friends. Slightly surpising to me, and not intentionally, all the cards I sent this year have no mention of Christmas. (The ones I sent to Jewish friends never would mention Christmas.)
This year I sent 14, mailing them today, earlier than usual, so none of the recipients will think they got one only since I got one from them this year. Most but not all sent me a card last year (yes, I do keep a list). Every friend who sent a card last year did get one from me this year, but only one of those was new to my list (a niece, first time we got a card from her, which arrived after Christmas last year so I didn['t send one last year.)
We also get a few from people who have some kind of business or professional connection (e.g. dentist), none of whom I send cards to.
None to/from AO or GoA friends, but Seasons Greetings to all of you!
We have a list of family and friends that we send cards to. About 60 total I think. For our neighborhood friends we hand-deliver when we walk around looking at all the lights and decorations.
Me? 0 “We”? Dozens. And it’s not just cards. My wife makes bags with homemade candy (a kind of brittle and chocolate and nuts kind of thingy. I don’t know what you call that), bath & body works stuff, home-made kid-made cards, home-made kid-made ornaments, meals-in-a-jar, candy canes, packets of hot chocolate stuffed in a mug, and more. She starts the candy-making frenzy at least a month before she has to distribute it all and it puts her in the foulest mood for most of Nov/Dec. They go not just to friends and relatives, but also teachers, teachers’ aides, everyone else who has been in my kid’s IEP, including rep from the school district, PT, OT, ST, music therapist, another PT, school nurse, head of the school, secretary of the school, bus drivers, all doctors and nurses (which is a sizeable number), neighbors, etc, etc. There are literally boxes full of bags piled up where I’m sitting now.
My count includes “we” for connections. 6 of 16 are more closely tied to me, the rest more to her. She has met all 16 recipients. I’ve only met 14. I addressed all the cards and took them to the post office.
I get a few each year, actually Jewish families, no mention of christmas
I get a couple of personal ones from Clients I have known for many years
I get a half dozen or so from client companies
I don’t send any holiday cards. I receive 3-5 maybe. Last year I got some chocolate molds and stepdaughter and I made cocoa bombs and gave them to friends/neighbors. I haven’t done anything yet for folks other than close family.
Interesting, I don’t think I’d care what people think in this case, but then again I’ve never sent one out in my life. Kind of reminds me of facebook ala 10-15 years ago when wishing people happy birthday was big and noting who sent you a wish and who you wished happy birthday.
We get about 5 a year, I enjoy receiving them (a mix between merry christmas and happy holidays). We’ve considered sending some out but never do.
I don’t do this. Particularly the ones that are preprinted or just signed with the family name. I open them, say “oh that’s nice” and drop them in the recycle bin.
I enjoy seeing annual family pictures. For example, one of the guys I work with has a huge family and talks a lot about his kids and grandkids. It’s cute to see their big family pic once a year. But I don’t keep that either.
I used to get annual update letters from more distant friends, and I used to send those when my kids were little. I wish I still had all of the annual letters I sent but they’ve been lost. I hope my aunt kept hers so I get them back one day. I keep up with distant friends on FB so annual updates aren’t done anymore.
Mostly for parents, nearby siblings, cousins, etc… If it’s somebody that lives across the country, same, I open it up walking back from the mailbox and it goes into the recycling before entering the house. If they have a long letter included I’ll show it to my partner and then recycle.
About 75 or so. My job is licking the envelopes and attaching the stamps.
However, we have skipped at least two years in the past ten or so.
A lot has to do with whether we can get us all together and remember to take a pic.
We get plenty of cards from Jewish families. The ones we send to them do not mention Christmas. I don’t think we make two cards, so everyone gets “holiday” ones.
We do not send a brag fest letter along with it. Not sure if those are still a thing. These days it should be, “check our Insta page!”
We used to get a brag fest letter from one of Mrs. Hoffman’s cousins, until one of the kids became a stripper and another went to prison for dealing drugs. Strangely, they didn’t brag about those things.
Also used to get a brag fest letter from one of her aunts, until one family gathering when I noticed her and her husband and their kids bagging up all the leftovers (i.e., everyone else’s food they had brought) as they were getting ready to leave and I asked why they didn’t just take their leftovers instead, paused, then said “oh, that’s right - you didn’t bring any food, like every other get-together where you eat everyone else’s food and never bring any yourself.”
