One of the first things I do for the holiday season is write our Christmas letter and mail it out. With an early mailing, our cards or letters do not usually cross in the mail with others, and it sometimes starts a conversation with the other person. I like that. Every year after Christmas, I plan to follow up with more correspondence from the cards and letters we get. However, I usually end up doing only one or two before my lofty goals fall by the wayside. :)
I seem to be one of a dying breed. The newsy holiday letters we receive are fewer and fewer these days, as are the cards. I'll have to admit that I have slowly changed, too. I used to write two or three personal paragraphs to go with the general letter, but that doesn't happen very much anymore. Depending on how tired I am, I may handwrite a paragraph or just a line or two, or possibly just "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year."
Since so much is shared throughout the year on social media, I think people don't feel the need to send a special greeting for Christmas - one that you can actually hold in your hand. (I know you can hold a phone in your hand, but it's not the same. At least not to me.)
A few years ago, I was having a conversation with a friend about the proliferation of communication through social media, and she relayed this story. She told her 20-something daughters that they needed to send a card to Aunt Mary. They protested and said they couldn't because she didn't have a Facebook account. It never occurred to them that they could buy a card, put it in the mail with a stamp, and have the post office deliver it. A different generation with different experiences.
When I was getting tired of working on the mailings, I suggested that we could send a few of the family letters by email this year to people we see frequently. But Ward wanted to keep traditional paper copies for everyone. So I did. (Ward was busy working on gifts while I worked on this.) I generally just send the letter, but sometimes a card goes with it. This is usually to an older person that I know would really appreciate it. We used to send a card with every letter, so I guess I have been cutting back in this area, too.
As I look back over the letters we've sent over the years, I am happy we have them. When the kids were little, they wrote part, and it's fun to go back and see what they had to say when they were 8 or 10. So maybe these yearly Christmas letters are as much for me as for anyone else. And that's a good reason to keep doing them.
Do you send cards or letters during the holiday season? Do you get many? Has the number changed over the years?
Until next time...
Note: Apparently, I've covered this topic before. :)
https://liveandlearn-tossandturn.blogspot.com/2015/12/communication.html
