# A Christmas thread..and does your family still send Christmas cards in the US mail?



## greybeard (Dec 16, 2018)

Feel free to add anything "Christmas" you wish to.

I sent a batch of Christmas cards last year and again this year..the old fashioned way, thru the mail and I never was much on "E-Cards"...too little effort and you can't really hang 'em up unless you print them off, which is kind of redundant IMO..it's just not the same.
I didn't used to very much, but now that I've gotten a few years on me, and the family I'm closest to has dropped in #s significantly thru 'natural attrition', I've gone back to doing it.  This year, I made my own for the 1st time using a picture I took last December in a very rare E Texas snow accumulation......well sort of an accumulation..

On glossy Kodak photo paper & I did them at CVS in a matter of minutes. Cost for 25 was less than $15, including envelopes. Pretty sure Walmart and other places has the same kind of DIY kiosks but I hate Walmart.



(and I know it's kinda dumb, but I miss seeing Christmas seals)



Merry Christmas


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## GypsyG (Dec 16, 2018)

I enjoy paper crafts and I make my own cards every year.  I just got the first half of them mailed on Friday.  My family and some of our family friends have also done an ornament exchange for many years now... We organize it by email and then we make our ornaments.  There have been fourteen of us participating the last few years, so every year we all get fourteen new handmade ornaments for our trees.  It has gotten really competitive and some of the ornaments that get made every year are really cool!


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## r3bauer (Dec 16, 2018)

We do not, however my birth mother does and I look forward to them


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## Mike CHS (Dec 18, 2018)

I don't like Walmart either but it's the only outlet that provides the DIY card service.  Our family is fairly small but we have a large number of friends from over the years and it seems most enjoy the card exchange.  I've posted our card before but here it is:


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## promiseacres (Dec 22, 2018)

Sent about 25 cards out, ( I bought them a few years back) and added this photo. I like to do the photo cards but didn’t get on it soon enough.


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## WolfeMomma (Dec 25, 2018)

we usually use shutterfly for our xmas cards. But it was getting expensive and no one sends any back. So i stopped . I send just a few out every year now.


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## Mike CHS (Dec 25, 2018)

@promiseacres I'm wondering how many people will see your DH (I assume) in your picture.


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## Pastor Dave (Dec 25, 2018)

Mike, I wouldn't have seen him except to go back and look after you pointed him out. Lol

Jill makes great chocolate covered peanut clusters in the crockpot that we distribute to neighbors and friends. Family generally gets processed rabbit in some form, whether cuts or sausage. It seems to be appreciated. I like homemade and hand crafted gifts. Some year in the future I hope to add cheese and soaps/lotions to the list of gifts to distrubute.

Our church does Christmas cards to each other and places in stacks on tables to pick up and save on postage. However, with this day in age, my family doesn't do cards in the mail. I remember having them taped around a hallway door leading from the kitchen to the livingroom as a kid, and how pretty they looked. I believe the tradition is going to be gone by the time the 40 something year olds are in their 50's and 60's. I honestly don't know how greeting card manufacturers will keep it going.


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## Mini Horses (Dec 25, 2018)

Having worked for American Greetings in the past, I can assure you the cards DO sell.    Yes, many are sent USPS.   Personally, in years past, I sent hundreds each year.  Most were business related as we were very active with mini horses, donkeys and Boer goats.  I would make cards for those situations, using our livestock pics, as Mike did.    Now I send only a very few to those family members still around, not close enough to visit.  And those are becoming fewer each year.    My mom used to make a huge deal of sending cards & receiving them!   I do miss some of it but, then with family grown & small, we do little of anything "holiday hussle".

I do love those who still have the larger families and who participate in group gatherings.  It's a fun annual thing.  I've even been invited to the large Thanksgiving dinners of my ex.DH.  Hey, I ran with that group for many, many years.  We are all still friends!  


MERRY CHRISTMAS to all....enjoy whatever you have planned


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## HomesteaderWife (Dec 25, 2018)

*MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!* ​Firstly, I just had to say that. What a blessing it has been to just enjoy time with my family today. We look back on the year with humility. I am sincerely grateful.

We still send cards in the mail, heck, I don't know why people would fool with online cards or social network greetings. To me, it is more personal to take the time to write a kind message, perhaps a letter too, and mail that card through the post. I love getting cards in the mail, and always hope others enjoy their cards.

We happen to use VistaPrint for business cards, and had the chance to personalize 10 free cards. Close family got these in the mail, and we kept one ourselves. Everyone was so please with them that I plan on making more for next Christmas through VistaPrint (UNLESS I happen to think of a crafty handmade card to make). Our mailing list is small these days, but we love sending cards. 

I've attached a photo from early December last year, when we were graced with one of the biggest snow storms in some time for where we live. For some reason, I had the itch to place a feather in the snow out of love for nature.


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## canesisters (Dec 26, 2018)

I have a collection of 7-8 boxes of very pretty Christmas cards.  Every year, I buy them.  Then I never get around to sending them.  So I put them somewhere safe to use next year.  By the next year I forget where that safe place is so I buy another box.  Then I find the 'safe' place when I put the next box of unused cards away 'to use next year'.

But I heard something a couple of weeks ago that I thought was interesting.  People say that it's too expensive to mail cards - and postage is going up again in a week... BUT - this person said - what if I asked you to come to my house to pick up a piece of paper, and I asked you to hop  in your car and drive it 3 states away, find a particular house and hand it to a particular person - in less than 5 days.  And for this, I'm willing to pay you $1.50


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## Rancer (Jan 2, 2019)

I'm bored ​


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## RollingAcres (Jan 3, 2019)

greybeard said:


> This year, I made my own for the 1st time using a picture I took last December in a very rare E Texas snow accumulation......well sort of an accumulation..



I like the look of your Christmas card. Simple but very nice. 
Like @Mike CHS card too.


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## Rancer (Jan 4, 2019)

RollingAcres said:


> I like the look of your Christmas card. Simple but very nice.
> Like @Mike CHS card too.


It is not my Christmas card. I just wanted to show my own photos in a way


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