Christmas Cards

[HoosierGuy]

Do any of you have favorite types of Christmas cards you like to send? The last few years I've started buying a few and sending them to friends. There are many choices and it takes me a long time to find the right one. Even when I pick one it's not the perfect one that I wanted.

I don't think I care for the cards that sing.

I actually bought a Thomas Kinkade card for a friend and then bought the same one for another friend.

What do you do with Christmas cards after Christmas? Do you keep them or throw them away?

Do any of you get a little disappointed when you send a nice expensive card but in return get a cheap $1 dollar card?

[Last_Daze]

At the risk of promoting negativity in what should be a joyous topic, one thing I can't stand is the xmas card that is actually a long letter relaying in intimate detail the goings-on of everyone in the family (including the dog). My father used to call them the 'My Family is better than your Family' Christmas letters.

I also don't like the singing cards; the sound quality is so invariably poor that the family spends five minutes with the card jammed up to our faces trying to figure out exactly what song is being played.

Being as I am of the younger, tech-savvy generation, I generally send tasteful e-cards of some sort to people I know. That seems to work out just fine.

[Bini]

I go to the Dollar Store for all my greeting cards. Yes, there are some cheap looking ones but many of them look no different than ones you'd find at a specialty store alike Hallmark. People tend to hold on to greeting/occasion cards for only so long, and once that occasion or event has passed, it's tossed. I see no sense in spending extra money on supposedly better cards that are really no different from the ones that cost 99 cents. Having said that, I tend to be an expensive gift giver so.. Yeh the cards aren't that important to me. What I'm getting someone I'd rather spend more money on. But I like simplistic cards. But I'm also a playful kind of person, so most of the Christmas cards I get will have Santa or snowmen on them. I'm not much for the angelic angels and cherubs singing, with a religious quote or scripture attached..

[Bini]

What do you do with Christmas cards after Christmas? Do you keep them or throw them away?

Do any of you get a little disappointed when you send a nice expensive card but in return get a cheap $1 dollar card?

Neglected to respond to this..

1) I recycle them — as everyone should! Or, if they're new cards I'll keep them for next year.

2) Once you start allowing yourself to get caught up in the "disappointment" aspect of things (ie. I gave so-and-so an expensive gift and in return got something cheap) you've lost the Christmas spirit.

[slamjet]

Bah-freek'n-humbug.

[Bini]

Bah-freek'n-humbug.

OK.. Couldn't find one that had "freek'n" on it.

[Wingnut]

I usually buy packages of cards after Christmas on sale and save them for next year. I send out about 100 or so each year. I buy them super cheap, then print my own newsletter and have a family photo printed as well. I print labels to address them instead of writing that many out by hand.

And if you don't like the newsletters, just don't read them.

[slamjet]

I have one that I like with santa using the chimney as a toilet, but no need to work Pam into a tizzy with inappropriateness.

If you only knew the strength needed to resists.

[Bini]

^

That's funny. Especially the eggnog being a "no-no".

[Bini]

I usually buy packages of cards after Christmas on sale and save them for next year. I send out about 100 or so each year. I buy them super cheap, then print my own newsletter and have a family photo printed as well. I print labels to address them instead of writing that many out by hand.

And if you don't like the newsletters, just don't read them.

Wingnut, I did a newsletter once and was real super excited about sharing it. I had this great idea of doing a play-on-words and did "The [my lastname] Moo'sletter" with a cow next to the header saying MOOO! I really thought more people were going to find it as clever as I did but nope. Meh.

[slamjet]

Maybe I'm going to show a little to much softy-ness but I kind of like those newsletters. It's nice to see how a families year has shaped up...

...Then I burn them.

[slamjet]

You Tube Linky

[Wingnut]

Wingnut, I did a newsletter once and was real super excited about sharing it. I had this great idea of doing a play-on-words and did "The [my lastname] Moo'sletter" with a cow next to the header saying MOOO! I really thought more people were going to find it as clever as I did but nope. Meh.

I would have thought the pun was clever, but I wouldn't necessarily have made a point to say so. More people than you think may have been amused by it.

[Guest Alana]

I've never sent a Christmas Card. I'm not very organized.

[Guest]

I take a snapshot of the family next to the Christmas tree, go to walmart.com and upload the photo and create a photo greeting card and have it set to 1-hour pick-up, then I go to Walmart and pick it up. 45cents per card and I'm done.

My family cuts out the picture, sticks it in the scrapbook and that's that.

[Elphaba]

I needed something to take my mind off things, and I discovered card making. It's really an amazing industry, with a lot of true artists who also participate in the craft.

I'm a total amateur, but every once in a while I make a card I absolutely love. So, I told my mother I'd make Christmas cards with a religious theme for her to send to her friends, but I'm really struggling with it. While the commercial market for them is very good, they don't always translate easily into a handmade card, at least not for me.

I use rubber and acrylic stamps for the images, and have a very pretty one of an angel with a horn. I thought it would work really well with the words "Hark, the Herald Angels sing," but so far, it's just not working. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. I'm afraid Christmas is going to be over before I get it right!

Elphaba

[dahlia]

^

That's funny. Especially the eggnog being a "no-no".

Can't LDS have egg-nog?! Do you mean the spiked kind? Do you mean because it has so many calories? I only drink the Soy 'nog' and only a little bit of that because of my blood sugar - but I had no idea LDS couldn't have eggnog that isn't spiked.

One year the only card I got was from Dave Ramsey.

[Just_A_Guy]

No, un-spiked egg nog is fine (unless you're on a diet, or a family member is on a diet and prohibits everyone in the house from consuming everything tasty . . .)

[Bini]

Can't LDS have egg-nog?! Do you mean the spiked kind? Do you mean because it has so many calories? I only drink the Soy 'nog' and only a little bit of that because of my blood sugar - but I had no idea LDS couldn't have eggnog that isn't spiked.

One year the only card I got was from Dave Ramsey.

Anything "spiked" would be an LDS no-no. So yeh, that's more or less what I was suggesting in regards to Slamjet's image post. Otherwise, feel free to drink as much eggnogg as you want!

But in my personal opinion, the stuff is pretty nasty..

[Bini]

No, un-spiked egg nog is fine (unless you're on a diet, or a family member is on a diet and prohibits everyone in the house from consuming everything tasty . . .)

Yeh but there's better stuff to blow your calories on. Like CHOCOLATE! Fudge, brownies, ice-cream, etc etc. Eggnog would be a total waste!

[MichaelCraig]

I recycle my cards too! I scratch the name out of whoever wrote it originaly and then put my name on it and resend it. I try to not send it back to the person who sent it to me though. That would be tacky.

[pam]

I recycle my cards too! I scratch the name out of whoever wrote it originaly and then put my name on it and resend it. I try to not send it back to the person who sent it to me though. That would be tacky.

Try white out..It's not quite as tacky looking as scratch outs.

[beefche]

Anything "spiked" would be an LDS no-no. So yeh, that's more or less what I was suggesting in regards to Slamjet's image post. Otherwise, feel free to drink as much eggnogg as you want!

But in my personal opinion, the stuff is pretty nasty..

I got home from my mission about this time of year. I love eggnog and we had some in the fridge. So, here is this newly returned LDS missionary who was totally digging the yummy eggnog. Only later did I find out that it had the hard stuff in it...more nog than egg. Oops! I thought my tastebuds had just morphed over 18 months of non-American flavors.....

[pam]

No wonder you are always so happy at Christmas time.

[Truegrits]

My Christmas cards are always of animals. I get these beautiful cards every year, "free", because of my donations to the wildlife programs, and I get them from the Humane Society...and I have not had to buy return labels for many many years, as I get really pretty holiday ones from the Am. Vets & disabled Am. Vets. Luckily, most every one in my life likes animals!