Althouse: "The lifespan of a holiday card is brief and brutal, at least in our home. It spends maybe a minute on its journey from mailbox to garbage bin...."

December 20, 2019

"The lifespan of a holiday card is brief and brutal, at least in our home. It spends maybe a minute on its journey from mailbox to garbage bin...."

"Knowing this, I’ve never been able to bring myself to make and send them. Personalized cards can get pricey, and while each stamp is only 55 cents, did you know that 55 cents is more than half a dollar? I’d rather throw my money directly into a dumpster than spend it forcing my friends and relatives to do the same to a picture of me.... I’m sure you think I’m an insufferable Scrooge. 'Cards are pretty. Just prop them up on a ledge until New Year’s, like everyone else,' you’ll say.... I say I don’t have any open 'ledges' in my tiny apartment.... Are you on social media? If so, you’ve probably already seen your second cousin’s baby bump, heard about your high school frenemy’s MLM 'side hustle,' slogged through a zillion photos of every infant you know, and learned that your mom’s friend’s son got engaged at the Magic Kingdom.... Who needs a hard copy?"

From "Please Accept My Humble Plea to Never Send Me a Christmas Card Again/They will fill my trash faster than I can say 'This one’s from Aunt Trudy'" by Christina Cauterucci (Slate).

From the comments over there: "I used to sound exactly like the author, and it turned out to be the result of depression and anxiety."

39 comments:

David Begley said...: Take a look at Love Pop cards. Great!; 12/20/19, 5:43 AM
rehajm said...: The ones from the office are kind of interesting. A few go all out. One hires the same artist every year to paint all the kids in a mosaic of their vacations. How many Romney kids are there this year? One couple writes a long, self deprecating tome about their ‘adventures’ including exhibits and photos. They’re good writers so it’s kind of cute. Lots of just the dog...

I like it better when they send wine...; 12/20/19, 5:49 AM
Darrell said...: That's one definition of "asshole."; 12/20/19, 5:51 AM
jaydub said...: Christina's plea might have been more effective if she had written this column at Thanksgiving. Now is the time to put down Easter traditions, not Christmas traditions.

Still, she seems nice and fun.; 12/20/19, 5:52 AM
stevew said...: A grinch, a grump, a Scrooge, yes, all of these. I'm taking bets this person doesn't get any Christmas cards as he is unlikely to have any friends left. I enjoy giving and getting cards this time of year. A goodly number are from friends and acquaintances that I've not been in direct contact with for a long time.

Lighten up Francis, have some fun and bestow some on your friends & family.; 12/20/19, 5:59 AM
Amadeus 48 said...: It's the most wonderful time of the year.; 12/20/19, 6:02 AM
Phil 314 said...: Why not just call each sender and tell him/her “I don’t want your stupid Christmas cards”. That should take care of the problem.

Next up: wedding announcements and baby pictures.; 12/20/19, 6:06 AM
Sally327 said...: If someone really enjoys sending Christmas cards, why deprive them of that pleasure? I have a relative who loves sending me cards on just about every occasion short of Flag Day. It means something to me only because I know it means something to her but not really otherwise. I would never tell her to stop. It would be cruel.

This post should get a Greta Thunberg tag, to represent joyless, dreary scolding.; 12/20/19, 6:14 AM
AllenS said...: Last week, I received my first Christmas card of the season. It's from a very good friend who spelled my last name wrong. He's 72 yo.; 12/20/19, 6:15 AM
Will Sherman said...: The only cards I enjoy are Leap Day cards.; 12/20/19, 6:17 AM
traditionalguy said...: They are "thinking of you" cards. The Christmas Carol by Dickens explains it all. Christmas is about the gift of perfect love and that always comes to us in a person.

When a personal visit is problematic, a written card expresses that love. Ask yourself if a person with a serious life changing accident/illness would like to recieve "get well--we love and care about you" cards. They really, really do.; 12/20/19, 6:22 AM
Rick said...: Some of my warmest memories of my childhood Christmases were of hanging the Christmas cards. We would hang strips of cards on one wall of our sun porch, and we kids were in charge of that. I loved looking at the pictures on those cards.

Maybe that's why I have always enjoyed the giving and receiving of all those cards, and I'm up to over 70 now. Not only do I mail out that many cards, many of those friends/family who are out of state, also receive hand written notes or letters. I also receive hand written letters as well!

Oh, and at the end of the Holidays, when the decorations are being put away, I go through our cards, and end up saving many of them. Some get cut up and used as bookmarks in my Christmas cookbooks, and other Christmas related books.

Merry Christmas everyone! And thank you Ann, for this blog. I'm an early riser as well (usually by 3:00) and enjoy reading all the over-night comments, and your early a.m. postings.; 12/20/19, 6:33 AM
Hagar said...: Sending cards with a written note updating the family news, etc., is one thing. Just cards something else.
I have never understood this American tradition, especially when I got cards from people I knew loathed me and all my works and well knew I fully reciprocated their feelings.; 12/20/19, 6:38 AM
AllenS said...: My last name contains two consonants which are right next to each other. He only used one. Maybe he was just being thrifty.; 12/20/19, 6:53 AM
Danno said...: I enjoy giving and getting a few cards each year. That lady at the link from Slate is your typical libtard scold. I should forward my card from Devin Nunes to her to brighten her day.; 12/20/19, 6:59 AM
whitney said...: I started doing Christmas cards some years ago to send my clients and in the process have gotten lots back and I love them. They are a pain to do because you have to hand write them and your list can get pretty long. I sent them all out around December 9th and now I'm just reaping and I love it. I enjoy seeing the pictures, the families, reading the notes and I hang them up through New Years. They become part of my decorations; 12/20/19, 7:02 AM
Temujin said...: This is the time of year when writers and columnists- mostly young and female- regale us with why Christmas is evil, saying Merry Christmas is a sign of patriarchy or white supremacy, that the best holiday wishes are insincere and boring, and that the holidays as a whole are a remnant of a time when white men ruled the earth, just a few years after the Dinosaurs left. They will further tell us that the idea that there are a lot of them poo-pooing Christmas is a conservative talking point. Yet they keep making our point.

These women typically write for the NY Times, WaPo, Slate, Vox, The Atlantic. Or they freelance for any of the above and some others.

The generation taking over for the rest of us is mostly Democrat and mostly miserable. Good Luck and Good Night.; 12/20/19, 7:21 AM
Birches said...: My kids love getting Christmas cards. We save them and the old ones come out every year in a container. They look through the old ones and really enjoy it. I sent out the first batch of cards, but have about thirty more to go. Hopefully I'll get that done today.; 12/20/19, 7:50 AM
Stephen Taylor said...: My wife so enjoys sending cards. It's part of her Christmas tradition, and I'll do anything I can to enable her in this, as it makes her so happy. We make our own cards. If we see a photogenic church while we are traveling, we will stop and photograph the church. At the end of the year she decides which church will be featured on our cards. We put a label inside the card identifying the church. We've featured churches from all over the United States. My favorite was one from Maine; one of those austere clapboard boxes facing the ocean in some seaside town. I believe it was a Congregationalist church. The sun was shining, but there was also fog, with the white of the church being the only brightness in the image. It was an outstanding shot taken completely by accident, as both of us are amateurs with the camera. I always thought that image of a rather plain and completely unadorned building that had been there for 200+ years summed up Christmas perfectly, pointing out that Christ can be found everywhere.; 12/20/19, 8:01 AM
Retail Lawyer said...: Dad was a postman. He hated Christmas Cards because of the increased workload. He was always in a terrible mood at Christmas time. So much so that the kids dreaded this most wonderful time of year. Years of therapy have not been able to overcome this aversion to Christmas. All because of Christmas Cards.; 12/20/19, 8:33 AM
readering said...: Loved Christmas cards as a kid. Then I grew up.; 12/20/19, 8:55 AM
Maillard Reactionary said...: Sally327 is right, of course. But like they say, misery loves company, and people like that writer are very generous about spreading it around.

We've always sent cards out to friends and relatives each year. My wife adds a brief note to each one. But we've noticed that over the last few years, we get fewer and fewer coming in. Why? It's an easy way to let people know that you are thinking of them and care, at least a little, whether they are dead or alive. Is that too much to ask? Apparently it is, for some people. Or maybe they don't give a damn. So be it.

We have no time for people who run them off on a printer and won't even take the time to sign them, though. How lazy can you get?; 12/20/19, 8:57 AM
Matt said...: Everything, and I mean everything, on Slate is whiny, lecturing, pedantic horseshit.

Everyone associated with that site must be the most miserable people you'll ever meet. I'm guessing the people that sent this human a Christmas card were the same kind of people as Scrooge's nephew, knowing their efforts would likely be ridiculed but still hopeful that it would bring a modicum of cheer to the recipient.; 12/20/19, 9:31 AM
mockturtle said...: Phidippus is right. I both send and happily receive Christmas cards and hang them up on display. In my case, it's the only time of the year I make contact with some individuals. It's always a relief to hear that they are still living. Some of my European friends have gone to e-cards with letters and that's OK, too. But I'm not as enthusiastic about newsletters that don't accompany cards.; 12/20/19, 9:33 AM
Just some rando on the interwebz said...: The Boss's wife gave everyone personalized Christmas ornaments with the family name on it the other day. I am Jewish and have never owned a Christmas tree before. I am not the type of person to get offended by this but it is really a useless a knickknack destined for the garbage unless another coworker wants double.; 12/20/19, 9:44 AM
mockturtle said...: My sister and BIL are Jewish and always have both a Christmas tree and a menorah. I send them both Christmas cards and Hanukkah cards. They send out secular holiday cards.; 12/20/19, 10:03 AM
JMW Turner said...: "...72 yo"...Hey, AllenS, I'm pushing 70, and I want to go on record that I can *still fuckin spell*! Actually, that reaction was a little testy, more a reaction to the sad reality of watching the gradual but inexorable physical decline of some components, when you live with that, you grasp at straws; at least I seem to have my wits about me, "I" can spell and still use a dictionary when I don't! Cheers and Merry Christmas.; 12/20/19, 10:04 AM
Narr said...: Scrooges, grinches, and grumps, follow me!

My wife used to send cards, and even enlisted me from time to time to address and lick stamps, but I'm that black sheep every family needs. My childhood Christmases, with rare exceptions, usually ended in women with high expectations stressing themselves and everyone else out for some ideal of cheer and togetherness that they'd convinced themselves was possible, and I wasn't convinced was even desirable.

Our card intake is down to a trickle, almost all from my wife's family (my side is skimpy) and friends. Many are expensive and feature many well-composed photos of the senders in front of landmarks in Dublin, Lisbon, and/or Capetown where they happened to be this year--and as can be seen in even greater numbers and details on Farcebook and Instawham where they belong.

Narr
I don't war on Christmas; I just hunker down till it blows over; 12/20/19, 10:25 AM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Take a look at Love Pop cards. Great!

They really are a lot of fun.

Loved Christmas cards as a kid. Then I grew up.

You're so edgy you violate Euclidean geometry.

Why is this kind of too-cool-for-your-petty-culture pose so common in lefties?; 12/20/19, 10:31 AM
mikee said...: A few years back, I got my Christmas cards all signed, with kid's pictures included, addressed the envelopes, stamped them, and then the next morning came down with a horrible case of strep throat that lasted a week. I forgot about the cards until I found them in a dresser drawer the next June. So I mailed them out, with a quick note on the back of each telling my relatives and friends that I was still thinking of them, even though I'd missed sending the cards on time. Best. Cards. Ever.

Every single person wrote, called or emailed to tell me how much they enjoyed getting the cards six months late.; 12/20/19, 10:34 AM
Big Mike said...: @roadgeek, any chance you could post a link?; 12/20/19, 10:34 AM
Big Mike said...: So many of our friends have scattered after retirement, and most of my extended family live in the Midwest, so we evolved over the years from cards to cards with short letters tucked inside to writing a more lengthy Christmas letter and sending it out via Email. At 55 cents per stamp it saves a few dollars besides.; 12/20/19, 10:43 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: "From "Please Accept My Humble Plea to Never Send Me a Christmas Card Again/They will fill my trash faster than I can say 'This one’s from Aunt Trudy'" by Christina Cauterucci (Slate)."

Typical leftwing loser. Probably doesn't any friends.

The whole process of getting the family to sit still for a picture, then arguing over which picture to use, then navigating shutterfly and 12 old, semi-charred Christmas lists, it's all part of staying connected.

So, I like sending/receiving Christmas Cards.; 12/20/19, 10:49 AM
Narr said...: Nowadays of course I get a few animated e-cards; talk about a waste of time and effort. And the most time-consuming tend to come from people who aren't even Christian, or even religious--I guess the temptation to exploit the technology is too much for some people.

For about ten years after moving into the loveranch here, we got really big cards with photos and audio from some Very Rich People* that knew the previous owner (whose family had had some bucks in the long ago). It was almost parodic, and a glimpse into a world apart--after a few years of trying to forward or return them, we just started opening them.

Narr
*Long-Island Estate Dwelling Ur-WASPs; 12/20/19, 10:57 AM
Yancey Ward said...: I have lost track of what postage is for letter- 55 cents!; 12/20/19, 11:29 AM
Caligula said...: A Christmas card is an honest signal. The recipient knows you had to buy the card and the postage, and at least take the time to scribble something on it, stuff the envelope, and mail it.

It has value precisely because (unlike an e-card) the recipient knows it actually cost you some time and money to send it.; 12/20/19, 1:06 PM
Stephen Taylor said...: "...roadgeek, any chance you could post a link?..."

Big Mike, no link available to our Christmas Card pictures.; 12/20/19, 2:07 PM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: I’d be really hurt if my attempts to reach out and make connections and honor old friendships and families ties were met with such self centered contempt. It would make me feel like that person didn’t give a crap about ever talking to me again.; 12/20/19, 4:02 PM
Big Mike said...: @roadgeek, too bad for that. Your description made it sound beautiful.; 12/20/19, 9:03 PM