Christmas cards: Yay or nay?

The conversation occurs every year now, as our mailbox fills up starting in late November and continuing for a month or more: Should we do Christmas cards? Heidi is on the fence on this one, but she mostly wouldn’t mind seeing that tradition slowly fade away. She said Facebook takes care of the need for Christmas cards, and hers is a compelling argument. Our kids, of course, have a vague concept of “snail mail” -- with the general feeling that it is something “old people” use and check. They kind of view snail mail the way we view rotary dial phones, as an interesting relic from the past that some people actually still use for some odd reason. Again, they are not far from the real truth there.

I’m old school (you could take the “school” out of that, of course) when it comes to this, and I hold steady to the idea of Christmas cards – mostly because I like to receive and generate mail. So the above pictured Christmas card may be coming to a mailbox (actual mailbox, not inbox) near you in the next day or two. Some of my old friends and acquaintances are not on Facebook, or are not “Facebook friends” with Heidi, and thus do not get to see photos of our family. The Christmas card acts as the once-a-year update in some cases, sad as that is to report. And, as I explained to our kids over dinner last night (before their attention clearly drifted as I rambled on, which I often do), even “younger” folks (you know, recent alums in their 20s and 30s) like to use the traditional Christmas card as a way to show off their beautiful babies or toddlers. Those “baby’s first Christmas” photos are indeed precious and only come around once in a lifetime. So yeah. If you are still sending us Christmas cards, keep ‘em coming. At least one old guy likes to check and open the mail.