I spent way too much time this weekend gathering snail mail addresses for the 250 (!) family photo holiday cards that we ordered and obligated ourselves to send. As I e-mailed address requests to a few friends and contacts for whom I didn’t have up-to-date info, I wondered why the heck we were doing this in the first place. Why is it, in this day and age of digital communications, are holiday cards still the cultural norm?
My husband and I philosophized about this as we stamped and licked, with our kids zooming around us playing “roar” — a chasing game in which they simply run after one another and “roar.” In our grandparents’ generation, people “visited” one another at this time of year. They’d stop by one another’s houses on a Saturday or Sunday, have tea and cake and spend time with friends and extended family. This practice is frowned upon today in our busy culture where time is sometimes more valued that family….
Holiday cards are the mid-20th century’s vestige of the previous era’s “visiting” custom. They are a once-a-year opportunity to show off our families, and thus ourselves, to our geographically scattered friends. Holiday cards, to some extent, satiate our needs for holidayconnection, family showcasing and sharing our holiday spirit.
But, we’re now in the increasingly-digital 21st century. When will the 20th century holiday card custom become extinct and what will replace it?
E-cards are starting to gain traction for birthdays, especially when Plaxo reminds us to send them. Evites are quickly overtaking invites for parties and events. But, nonetheless, the hard-copy holiday card prevails. Its digital counterpart still seems cheesy and lacks authenticity, even in an era when our hands ache when we have to write a four-sentence handwritten thank you note but when we “Blackberry” and “text” like player pianos.
Then in the midst of pasting, sticking and stamping, I got a Twitter direct message, or “DM,” from blogger and social media consultant extraordinaire, Craig Stoltz (@craigstoltz), informing me about a post he’d just written entitled, “New Use for Twitter: End-of-Year Family Update Letters.” I encourage you to read Craig’s post yourself, but the basic premise is that tweeting our year-in-review letters might be a better tact for both sender and recipient.
I love his idea and encourage you all to use the hashtag that I’ve created based on Craig’s post: #YIR (stands for Year-In-Review) and tweet YOUR year-in-review.
Despite the 250 hard copy holiday cards for 2008, here’s my #YIR:
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Hi Maxine. Happy Holidays! I enjoyed reading this post.
I have to agree that there is something to be said about receiving all of those photo holiday cards in the mail. We actually save them and I love to see how the kids grow from year to year. And, there is something to be said about knowning that the sender cared enough to lick and stamp especially for me. E-cards do not provide that same warm and fuzzy feeling.
Of course, there has to be a limit to the sending. Facebook has put me back in touch with so many people since I joined earlier this year. I am so excited about some of the rekindled friendships and wanted to let them know they are appreciated. While I would have loved to have been able to send holiday cheer to all, I opted for a “hybrid” approach. I collected snail mail addresses from a select few good friends that have resurfaced and they received the holiday card the traditional way. As for the others 200 or so “friends” on my FB page, they will just have to settle for the impersonal scanned card posted to my page. Sometimes mass electronic communication works.
Best wishes for a happy holiday and a wonderful year to come!
Melissa Geetter Melnick
I love #YIR! Perfect, although it will only make sense to >1% of my community – it was a good exercise in capsulizing 2008.
I agree with Melissa. There’s a pleasure one gets when Christmas cards arrive in the mail. Yes, it’s a hassle waiting in line to buy Christmas/Hannuka/Kwanzaa stamps (and my post office already ran out of them)but it’s great to wish others in line holiday greetings.
It’s fun to see family and friends as they change and grow throughout the year. Just getting updates by email leaves the experience a bit Frosty. It just becomes part of the everyday routine and the holidays should have some warmth in it.
Both my wife and I enjoy going outside in the cold and seeing who sent us cards. We have a smile on our face when we open them and then we enjoy them the rest of the year as wall decoration.
We need to draw the line somewhere when it comes to instant communication and technology. If we don’t take back control in how we communicate with others, then what’s next? Perhaps Santa putting his sleigh away in the garage and just sending e-cards with cash value?
“Bah humbug!”
Interesting idea. That said, it’s pretty interesting that the card (paper variety) still seems to be doing well.
Melissa, Israel & Mark,
Thanks for reading and thanks very much for continuing the conversation about digital holiday cards with your comments. Yes, I agree with you, Israel and Melissa — there is something really nice and special about opening the hard-copy holiday cards. We, too, display ours on the fridge all year long. They are friendly faces that remind us of the love and caring of our friends who are so geographically scattered. They serve as conversation pieces when friends are over and sometimes even as catalysts for “six degrees of separation” discussions.
Happy holidays to you all. You made the licking and sticking feel very worthwhile this year. 🙂
It makes a great impact to receive a holiday cards. This allows to keep in touch with people.