I agree, an online greeting card just doesn't do anything for me...it says to me "I am too cheap to send you a card that I made or chose specially for you and took the time to go to a post box and mail it". An online card is sent in seconds. They can have viruses or be gathering emails for spamming. Call me old fashioned but I will take the time to continue and make my cards. My friends deserve better.

We have noticed this too. We are not getting online cards though.
My husband even asked a few people and they said that they were just not sending out cards anymore.
If a person doesn't send us one for a few years, my husband wants to drop them from the list.
I feel that if you want to send a card, it really shouldn't matter if you get one back.

Thank goodness for KT email exchange otherwise I wouldn't have received but two or three

When the kids were little, back in the 70's, I would have Christmas pictures taken at the mall, make about 50 copies and mail them with my cards...I send very few cards now...for several reasons...most of the older relatives that sent cards are gone, I'm 66 myself...stamps have gone up in price...and although I would write a note on each card telling a little about our family, just a few lines...I would get cards back with only a signature...I send cards to the grandkids, and our kids, and a few others who keep in touch by phone or letters, but otherwise I don't send many anymore.

The number has held steady here.
I send around 40-45 every year, and I receive a like amount.

I sent out 60 and have received only 35.

Sue

I got just a handful and sent out about 20.

I have received way too many considering I have only sent a few this year. I feel badly that I didn't get more done, and my excuse is really pitiful. A sinus infection didn't keep me from reading and participating here on the web.... but it did seem to keep me from my usual pre-Christmas everything. In my defence, however, I just could not think of any "sweet nothings" to write in my cards. I think my brain was frozen along with 3 weeks of below freezing temps and a year highlighted only by unresolved issues. You know, no news is better than bad news kind of things. I also know me, and I can never predict what appears at the end of a pen when I write (remember the journaling thread?) And, I have never just signed a card and sent it on it's way. I know the New Year is going to be a better one.

I used to sent almost 75, then 50 and now it's down to over 30. So many on my list have died. Some are old and others send ecards. My own kids never send cards ,and their generation mostly doesn't. I think this is my last year sending. Almost 50 cents a card and I'd wrote notes too which no one does anymore. Just another tradition lost. I received a bunch of eCards.

I love to get cards. Next year when the stamps are .49 I think everyone will get even less cards.

I will always send out cards as I hate e-cards.

I only got about 3 from friends none from family. This year was very slim for cards.

I didn't join the KT exchange this year as I was stressed and depressed. It was a mistake. I really missed it. I did one card exchange with scrapbooking friends. I am going to join in for next year....have already bought my stamps and started making my cards and will do them all year round. I usually do 80-100 cards. Postage will be insane next year. 85 cents for those in Canada and over one dollar for those in the States. I am happiest when I am being creative.

I get fewer and send fewer. I think next year will be the last one I mail to friends locally and family. I will just mail to the few people that live far away that used to be neighbors or college chums. We are all getting older and there are fewer of us too.

I don't like that you say cheap, good grief, some of us can't afford to send out christmas cards anymore, its got nothing to do with cheap its got to do with not having the money to doing so.

I only sent out one card due to joined a card swap to get at least one card in the mail for christmas.

I only got one email that said merry christmas and that was it.

I used to send out tons to us and canada and some around the world and spent a huge fortune but its too much for me to do that anymore. I feel bad that I can't afford to do to as I loved doing it.

I received 7 cards and not all in the mail, some were personally hand given to me like I did with a friend her birthday and christmas card.

Don't put us all into your cheap category.

I sent out cards to everyone on the KT card exchange and got a ton back...sent to family & friends and got a ton back...I guess I got about 50 cards in all. My mantle and surrounding the fireplace was full of cards.. I loved it..may buy stamps for next year now...

When do stamps go up in price??

January 26th. 2014.

It's supposed to be a "temporary" 2 year hike only, but no word as to what the rates will be reduced to again after the 2 years.

Never hurts to lay in a supply of the "forevers" at the current 46 cent rate.

Kathleen, you can get 10 cards for $1.00 at a dollar store. Hand deliver some of your cards. Make your cards if you have a printer. You don't have to spend a fortune on a card. I'm sure everyone here that can afford the Internet and a computer can afford to send a card. I would do without the luxury of a coffee if it meant that I could send a friend a card. Friendship is my priority, but I do have to admit that an e-card still tells a friend you are thinking of them. It is just, that an actual card is more tangible and can be a keepsake and a Christmas decoration.

This post was edited by heather_on on Thu, Dec 26, 13 at 23:49

I didn't get as many cards this year either. I don't think it has anything to do with the cost of the stamps but I could be wrong. I think this year Christmas just snuck up on all of us. I like how my sister does it. Every year she would send out cards later and later and eventually, she'd send it out after the New Year. So, one year she decided to send out a spring card instead. It works for her and it's nice to get the card in the spring. She said in one of her letters that she went to a some type of seminar and they said to do it that way. As for me this year, it snuck up on me and I didn't get any sent. I think I'll try the "spring" card like my sister.

What are we hoping to gain from this exchange of cards? Pictures of the family cards have replaced the traditional boxed greeting cards in my life 5/1. I enjoy getting a glimpse of what old friends/relatives look like now. I do not understand the point of purchasing a card, singing a name, addressing envelopes and sending them out. What message was conveyed? I am alive, we are related?? I prefer to get some news of those who sent the note. At the very least an explanation of the pictures they so painstakingly arranged on a post card. I think it is naive to think money is limitless and not realize some have to make choices, financially. Is it in the holiday spirit to resent those who had to make those choices? I wrote my 26th Christmas letter this year and sent it out--some by e-mail some by snail mail. I find it rather silly to get a signed card in the mail from a friend I see weekly if not daily. That seems wasteful. I do want my friends to be included in my traditional letter. I find the electronic e-cards amusing but of no real value when all they did is entertain for a moment. I would also like to know if the sender is ok, what life brought them this year. When I get these I appreciate the fact that they reached out, but it has done nothing to further our understanding and knowledge of each other. Considering the popularity of Facebook this baffles me. We are a changing society. With e-mail/Facebook perhaps the NEED and purpose of holiday cards no longer exists. I can now dial up Facebook and find out what great aunt Martha did yesterday and the day before and the day before. I don't need the once a year letter she wrote and I waited for. Traditions are wonderful, but if we do not know the purpose of them or if they no longer fulfill a need then I have no trouble ending them. I tell myself every year this is the last. The money is not justified. Then I attend a family function and all my aunts and cousins rave about my letter and beg me to never stop or not cut them off the list of receivers. This is when I know the reason I continue the tradition has been accomplished. I communicated. I gave them something they wanted something that enriched their lives. I often do not get cards in return from most of them and that makes me sad but it isn't about the getting it is about the giving. I remind myself of this when I go to my moms and see the cards my siblings sent to her--across town. I remind my kids of this when they notice and ask why aunt "Jane" didn't send one to us, who live hundreds of miles away....

I cut way back this year. Both George and I served in the military so we had a large list (140) which I kept trimming and trimming. This year we sent 115 and we were later then usual in getting them out. Part of that was due to the fact that I like to decorate the outside of the envelope. I started that a number of years ago, and a lot of folks said seeing the design(s) was as much fun as getting the card. In fact, one friend called to make sure we were all right as he hadn't gotten his card yet (he called on the 26th).

I hate those e-cards and feel like someone said here that they are too cheap to send a card and can't take the time to go to a post box and mail it.

I'll be pruning the list again this year. I've said two years in a row and no reply, off they go. I figure we put an effort into keeping in touch with you, you can do the same. George always puts in a note in those that I don't include a letter in. While my letters are typed (my handwriting is terrible) I individualize each letter.

I send out over 100 cards all of which are handmade. This year everyone got an ornament card in the shape of the state of Georgia with a fancy hanger taped inside and a cute verse. Everyone loved them. We received so many cards that I ran out of space to hang them. I've stocked up on Forever stamps and if money allows at the end of the month, I will get some more. I LOVE sending out cards all year long and love receiving handmade cards too. Our daughter gets a card from us every day. I enjoy letting those I love "know" they are loved. I too do not like ecards...emails yes.

I can tell you..what I got out of those Christmas cards sent from the friends here and some of the others I received. I got hope, I got peace, I got joy, caring and the feeling that SOMEONE somewhere cared enough about me to send me a card in the mail..someone cared enough to think of me during this busy holiday season. and I hope that my cards gave them the same feelings when they opened theirs.
The Kt exchange was my lifeline in 09, I was going thru a very rough time and those cards gave me something to look forward to each and every day. Which is why I always make it a habit to be able to send cards out..maybe I can repay someone here the way they did me back then.

I cut back substantially on gifts and cards several years ago, telling friends that I was giving more to charities. I sent mainly to family and close friends.

I find recently that I've been adding a few more names, pretty well all to the card list ... perhaps somewhat because I see some of them less often.

I posted the message that I wrote last year, here.

As I was thinking what to put into the message this year, I found that it would be very similar to the one last year, and delayed, until too close to Christmas ... and it still hasn't been done.

I use cards mainly from the various charities which I support, with a photocopied message included, usually with some writing ... but my writing is getting so hard to read, that it's no joy to try to decipher the hen scratching, I fear.

Printing, though still no dream to read, is easier ... could that be one of the symptoms of second childhood creeping up, do you calculate?

Hope you all had a lovely, memorable Christmas and may you have a fine New Year, that brings the fulfillment of some of your dreams ... and the hatching of some worthwhile new ones.

ole joyful

I got less cards this year, and I think it is because of DH passing away. Several cards over the years were from his working friends, now retired. Also some of his relatives just don't send anything--and we don't know why, because when we talked to them on the phone or visted, no problems. They did not even tell us about weddings etc.
I have cards from most of my relatives, and most enclose note/letters. I don't like ecards. I did send out a nice letter middle of Nov letting everyone know that Dale had passed away, and a short family history/review and have had several compliments from people. After the first of the year, will review and clean up the list for the future.

I received a lot of cards this year. Most of them from joining the card swaps in KT and Meeting House.

But I got several from family, one from our investment people that take care of our piddly little bit of money left over after we lost everything back about 10 years ago.
One from insurance man....

and even one from an appliance guy we called out to look at our washer...(he was nice enough to tell us the truth...that it wasn't worth fixing....It wasn't an advertising card either...it was a real Christmas card. I thought that was nice, even if it was probably being sent to remind us that he is still out there if we need him)

I loved getting every one of them.

Thank you to all who sent.

(I think I've been doing the swaps since 1999...maybe 98)

patti