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7 reasons why I no longer send holiday cards

When we first had our daughter, we started to send holiday cards to a huge list of people. The first year it served as a birth announcement, as well as a holiday card. The beauty of having a child in November. You kill two birds with one stone (just writing that is terrible, isn’t it? Killing birds, what kind of holiday spirit is that I ask you?) In any event, I realized after I sent them, I completely abhor sending cards. I was a slave to this tradition. Slowly I stopped sending them, and I’m going to tell you the 7 reasons why I no longer send holiday cards!

7 Reasons why I no longer send holiday cards

7 reasons why I no longer send holiday cards

Before kids, I would buy those boxes of cards.

You know the ones at the local drug store. The box filled containing cards with pictures of ugly birds sitting on snow covered tree branches. Just roll your eyes ugly, right? No one likes these cards. After kids? Well, after having kids, it’s somehow mandatory to put your children’s photos on every holiday card. Not YOUR photo with the kids, just the kids. TORTURE.

I strongly dislike dealing with taking pictures for a holiday card. I did it for a couple of years, then switched to searching through thousands of photos from throughout the year. Finding that “perfect” photo for the holiday card takes forever. WHO THE HELL WANTS TO DO THIS? It’s just stressful. Screw it. I don’t need more stress over the holidays. Mailing out cards: crossed off the to-do list for the holidays!

There’s just too many choices.

Have you gone onto a website, and looked at the thousands of options for a holiday card? Just one website has thousands of choices. Now, multiply that by 10, and there’s all your holiday photo card options. Frankly, it gives me a headache. I’d rather drink, and deal with a hangover. At least I’d have had fun leading up to the headache. Looking through thousands, upon thousands, of photo card options isn’t fun. Again, it’s stress. Just another reason to cross off holiday cards from my to-do list!

Cards suck.

Plain, and simple: cards just suck. They do. No one reads the words, they just look to see who the card is from so they know who gave them a gift! Then you have this card, and you have no clue what to do with it. Seriously, I don’t know what to do with these cards. I feel guilty if I throw them out. Who needs the guilt? I figure other people don’t need the guilt, either. Let’s just stop sending holiday cards, along with all other kinds of cards. Let’s do a letter instead. Handwritten letters for the holidays, or birthdays. Down with holiday cards!

Cards are a waste of money.

Face it: we all waste money on this tradition. Half the people on your list you haven’t spoken to, or communicated with, in years. The only time you send anything is for the holidays. WHY? It’s ridiculous. In an age where we have Facebook, and digital cards, I can see someone’s kids all through the year. No need to waste your money on a holiday card. Trust me.

Postage.

I never have stamps. Holiday time means going to the post office; buying stamps; and putting the stupid things on each envelope. WHO has time to do this? I don’t. The bonus is I no longer have to lick the stamps, because they are stickers. I still have to buy the stamps, and get the stamps onto the envelopes. If you saw the list of people I used to send cards to, you’d understand how crazy time-consuming this was for me each year. Plus, a whole lot of cash dumped into this process!

LICKING ENVELOPES.

The thing about envelopes: you have to seal them. How does one seal them? Licking them. Perhaps you’re into using a sponge, or one of those little sealer things you see in offices. Neither option works well. Sponges get sticky, and the sealer thing leaks water everywhere. More unnecessary aggravation. Just let the cards go, let them gooooo.

Finally. FINALLY. Dealing with address labels and the printer.

  • the swearing that comes out of my mouth when the damn labels don’t line up, is epic
  • wrong sized labels translates to having to buy the right size
  • labels get jammed in the printer

As if I don’t curse enough every day, this just adds a whole different layer to the fun of the holidays. My favorite part is after un-jamming the printer: it keeps saying it’s still jammed. What the….? Yeah, no thanks. And I really don’t want to hand address 100+ holiday card envelopes.

Sorry, we no longer do holiday cards for one last reason: I’m hoping other people will stop sending them to me, because they end up just sitting around for a year, until I throw them all out. Then I feel guilty for throwing them all out. I don’t need the aggravation of sending them, or the guilt of throwing out the ones I receive. Seriously. Just email me a card, or a simple updated photo of the family. If we’re friends on FB, I don’t even need updated photos. I’ve seen them. We’re all good. No holiday cards needed! I know you love me. You know I love you. We’re solid. Peace out. Enjoy your holidays with the kids, and don’t worry about sending me a card. I promise, I won’t be offended!

By | 2018-04-03T13:12:54-04:00 December 5, 2015|Family|6 Comments

About the Author:

Staci loves to write, and loves to share her "take" on everything thrown her way. Movies, entertainment, food, fashion, shopping, money, travel and family. There's nothing off limits at NovemberSunflower.com, and Staci's always telling it like it is: good, bad, and all that lies in between!

6 Comments

  1. Sondra December 5, 2015 at 12:04 pm

    OK, I guess I won’t be sending you a holiday card as I had originally planned. Happy Holidays! :)

    • Staci Gerardi December 5, 2015 at 2:14 pm

      I’m good. I mean, you can email me a version of it. LOL. But physical cards – no worries! I do love you though. XOXOX

  2. Diane @ Philzendia December 5, 2015 at 4:49 pm

    Don’t throw the cards way! You can donate them to a place like this: https://stjudesranch.org/about-us/recycled-card-program/

    • Staci Gerardi December 5, 2015 at 6:13 pm

      They don’t take personalized Christmas cards, just general ones. I rarely get a generic card. Everyone sends me photo cards.

  3. [email protected] December 8, 2015 at 6:49 pm

    I only send cards when they are or include a picture of the kids. Otherwise I agree, no one cares about a random card with “festive” image on it.

    • Staci Gerardi December 8, 2015 at 9:27 pm

      I just don’t know what to do with them. It’s a strange tradition I never quite understood…..card giving in general is odd to me.

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