I still like receiving them. You never get anything fun in the mail anymore!

Yep! Already Mailed! Huzzah!

I guess I don't have nice friends like you who send different cards and packages throughout the year. I look forward to cards, and I enjoy sending them.

I've always HATED cards, any cards from birthdays to holidays to thank yous! It's not particularly exciting for me to receive them, maybe heartwarming for a few minutes, and then they all end up in an overflowing box... which I empty and trash every couple years. A few have long personal messages, but most of them are so generic that it doesn't seem worth all the effort and money.

But DH grew up in a family that LOVES cards. Cards for anything under the sun. MIL especially is addicted to those Hallmark e-cards. So I'm having to send out Christmas cards this year, bah.

I know I sound so ungrateful and very scrooge-ish, but they've never held any special meaning for me and seem so wasteful in my case! I wish people would just call or e-mail, save your stamps and a hand cramp! :P

meh. I think it's just one more thing that adds to the stress, time crunch, and consumer waste of the season. If you like to do it and have fun with it, go for it! But if it's just become another holiday obligation, let it go! (I did!)

I am sending cards of our 2 year old to the great grandparent set... but everyone with an email address who knows how to open pictures, will get an e card. I didn't send out any last year and wasn't unhappy with it but... There are a few friends that I do like getting pictures of their kids and still have last years pictures on the fridge. Maybe 5 of them though. I think that this tradition is one of those that comes from the pre-internet era and still lingers on...

I would love to find some info on great ecards t o send - especially the type where you can include a kids picture.

I love sending and receiving real mail- and cards at the holidays do seem special since so few people still send them.

In order to cut down on the work (each year the amount needed to send grows), I have kept a list for years of who actually sends cards in return or comments. If I don't hear from someone for a while, they are off the list.

this thread is making me a little sad! there are so few simple things to give and receive anymore, and real mail, especially in the cold winter months is one of them. make some festive alcoholic beverages with a friend and together stuff, stamp and address some cards by the tree! it does your children good to see you doing old-fashioned cheerful things like that, whether you get cards in return or not! come on people, ho ho ho :)

Every year I design a bookmark with a picture of my daughter and a favourite recipe (this year it's a picture of her in her fairy costume with a sugar cookie recipe). I put a little holiday message on the back and hope everyone will find the bookmark useful throughout the year.

I use a printer that specializes in business printing and it costs about $35 for 100 bookmarks. The ones that don't get sent in the mail get used as gift tags.

i love holiday cards! i was just on shutterfly setting up our card for this year. i've always been a card sender, but now that our daughter is here, photo cards are the way to go. i enjoy both receiving them & sending them.

i don't get as many back as i send out, but that doesn't really bother me.

I've been sending out Xmas cards since I got married 14 years ago. I have 2 young kids now, and sometimes do feel overwhelmed and too busy to do it, but always remember watching my own mom do her cards every year and she had SIX kids.
I actually enjoy doing them - I shop etsy for nice letterpress cards, and I always handwrite a short letter to everyone on my list. Just some info of how our year was, etc. I really don't like getting cards with just a photo and a signed name, or a form letter. I understand there was some effort involved, but I like some personal connection! Honestly, I'd prefer a personal email from friends telling how they are, than just a card in the mail with a name signed on it!

Each to their own I guess.

In New Zealand where I'm from the photo card is unheard off............so keeping my family and old friends connected with a photo card or two through out the year is something they look forward too.........

However, for the children and ourselves its a great way after the holiday to update photo frames around the house with some of our closest and dearest friends.

I love holiday cards, both giving and receiving. I actually make a collage of all of our holiday card photos on a corkboard and we keep them displayed until the next year when they are updated. I love seeing the faces of all of our friends and family!

I love to send and receive Christmas cards!
We are a military family so this time of year is a great time to keep everyone in the loop about where we head next. In fact, we move this week and I was able to include the new address in the cards I just mailed out.

I am one of the only people in my group of friends to send out cards. I think it is important. People get so caught up with emails and texts that they forget how thoughtful a card can be. I have always enjoyed getting cards. It is a nice surprise besides all the bills and junk. I think it is sweet that someone thinks enough of me and my family to take the time to send a card with a personal note or photo. I don't feel the same with e-cards. I don't like having to cut and paste links, log in or make an account, and be flooded with advertisements as I "pick up" my e-card. Please stick to the colorful envelope and pretty little card.

(Same goes with thank you's. Just send a personal note. Facebook thank you's are just lazy.)

getting and sending christmas cards is one of my favorite parts of the season! I mainly send to family and the family friends who were like uncles and aunts when I was growing up.

it was one of the signs that I was a grown up when I got off my parents' card and started sending my own. and now that I have a daughter I love sending out the cards with the picture of our little family.

I don't exchange them with friends, but I kind of wish I did (we tend to email, call, etc.)

Yeesh. It's the little things that make us a society, people! Me, my family, my friends, my coworkers...we send holiday cards. It wouldn't occur to me not to. Just like I will always get a Christmas tree and make cookies and, you know, celebrate the season. Is everything that is somewhat time-consuming and requires a little forethought and effort now deemed a "waste"?

I've been thinking about this subject a lot this year. I'm very much into tradition, but this is one thing that I think is okay to let go. This year I only sent photo cards to seven family members who are not on Facebook. For other family members and close friends I would love send a handmade card with a personal, handwritten message inside, but I know that's not happening this year or in the foreseeable future. As for receiving cards, if the card is just a signature or pictures of your kids that I see of FB all the time, I'd rather skip it.

I love getting and sending cards and photos.

I love to get cards, I usually enjoy sending them, too, but I don't do it every year and I don't stress about it or worry if I haven't gotten a card from someone. This year seems special, since we're expecting a baby - the thing I'm actually the most excited about is sending ThankYou notes (I always do those via snail mail!)
Shameless self-promotion: here are some on Etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/redheadsuntie?ref=pr_shop_more

I think sending a card for any occasion is thoughtful and gracious, especially if you pen a personal note (really just a line or two) inside. It's nice to be remembered. We live far from all our family and many friends, so not only do I look forward to the sentiments and photos I receive in the mail, but I also look forward to sending my own particularly at Christmas. What's wrong with being old fashioned? Technology is fabulous for reconnecting, but I think it has also negated the inclination to be personal and gracious, to go the extra 20 feet to the mailbox.

I make handmade holidays cards and send to just a handful of very close friends and family. I try to think of new ideas to try throughout the year (usually old art projects I did as a child) and they evoke great memories. I know most people are crazy busy with life but snail holiday cards should be handwritten instead of computer generated! My two cents.

I hated holiday cards, but I made a big effort this year to get started in early November to pick out pictures and get the cards printed. I also decided to spend some about 15 minutes each day handwriting real, personable notes on each of them. I probably do 5 each day, skipping a few days. I'm still working on them! But I think receiving it like a letter also makes it more valuable. No?

There were a few ideas at the top of this post about how to recycle the cards you get. Another great way is to send them to St. Jude's Ranch. The kids make new cards out of them for art projects, and then they sell their creations to raise money for St. Jude's.

Most of our family and friends live too far away to see regularly, so I send a photo card of my kids every year (instead of sending out school pictures). In return, we love getting photo cards which hang on our fridge then for the next year so my kids get to know all the other family friends. Then the cards go into our photo album to make room for the next group.

A non-photo card without any message goes into the garbage right after the holidays. I could easily exchange these for an email or phone call. But either way, it lets me know that the ties of family and friendship are still there, even if the distance is far.

Call me old fashioned, but I love holiday cards! Sending and receiving them.

Sure, people have seen pics of my kids on Facebook all year, but I still get a kick out of selecting a card that highlights one special picture and sending it to friends and family.

Also, I try to be eco-friendly in many other areas and therefore am not going to beat myself up about the fact that some paper, etc. was used for this task. (I did spring for the recycled variety.) : )

I say, to each his own. If you dislike cards or it feels more like a chore than fun to you, then by all means skip it. Everyone should eliminate holiday stress in whatever form it manifests itself. For me cards are still a net positive, though.

I LOVE Christmas cards!
I love getting them and I love sending them. The pretty cards get made into other things, the rest get recycled after Xmas. But it's so so so nice to get things other than bills in the mail, you know?

It's not too pricey, 15 cents for a card, 50 cents postage.

Those who don't like getting cards, just mark them Return To Sender. They'll get the hint.

I'll use my new iPhone app for sending Christmas greeting cards this year: http://bit.ly/czhoY7 (iSendChristmasGreetings)

We sent out a New Years e-card last year using paperlesspost.com- really well done website that was in beta last year. You can upload a photos to use in the card. It costs a marginal fee but for the quality of graphics, experience etc. totally worth it.

We received many compliments and have found that many of our friends are now using paperlesspost.com for invites, cards etc.

we used to send out over 120 cards to dozens of countries over 4 continents (my husand is an ex-pat) but mailing "real cards" were getting expensive and time consuming.

Paperlesspost.com was a good compromise in our house.

We send out New Years cards. Apparently it's how they do it in France, so my Frenchie husband carried the day. No holiday theme required, we don't have to do it until after xmas, and a sentiment I can totally get behind - forget the holidays, have a great year!

Form-letter type cards make it clear my family was a footnote to the card process - "We had a great year! Susie started kindergarten and we had a new baby". GAAAAH!

I love getting real cards, though. Real mail is awesome. My favorites are the ones from people we see all the time. We only send out about ten, with a photo - faithful as we are with Flickr updates, a real photo once a year for the fridge is a thoughtful thing in my book. My kid adores the ones people sent us from last year, I hope to god they send new ones this month!!

Every year I think I'm not going to send them, that I don't have time or energy...and then inspiration inevitably strikes.

My novelty is that instead of that insipid what-we-did-all-year letter, I do a christmas story with a punchline. They are fiction but every year someone thinks the events really happened. I love the laughing voice mails and emails I get in response! Worth every address written and stamp affixed.

I went with Paperless Post, too, this year. The graphics are well done and there is an option to print if the recipient wishes to hang the card with others received in the mail. Personally, I'm trying to become more conscious of the paper I use. I figure if I send a snail mail card it will be cherished for a few weeks and then recycled. Why not give the option of saving the card forever on a hard drive?

This is one of those traditions I just don't want to give up. I love snail mail, sending and receiving. I feel like it's even more special in the age of facebook and such.

I wouldn't mind sending cards, but it feels a little like I'm bragging about my kid. I think it bothers my friends who don't have children (or aren't married) to see a card with the cheesey family picture. I love getting them, but since I don't send any, I almost never receive them.

On the being eco-front, I think the same thing can be said about Christmas trees - you could say they are a waste of resources. But I think it's all about making responsible choices - like choosing cards made from 100% recycled content.

I am making the switch to an e-card this year. A few photos with a quick update and well wishes in a MS Publisher template. :) Easy, free, and I don't have to imagine my daughter's face in the trash can at someone else's house.

I love cards. I don't send many - less than 20 usually - but I have a good time picking them out and writing a little note in each one. Now, the dreaded Family Newsletter, that's another story. In my opinion those are really not worth the time, money or energy. The only people who care about them are the people they are about. And sometimes not even them! My mother never asks permission to send out my personal info every year and every year she gets something wrong. I'm always embarrassed to know that people I haven't seen or spoken to in 20 years are being made privy to the details of my pregnancy or most recent home renovation. I can only hope they are as scrooge-y as me and throw the thing away without reading it.

@lal-the trash thing really gets me, too, in several ways. What do I do with the photos or photo cards I really don't care to keep? I feel bad morally throwing them away and then there's the Toxic Waste thing, and the chemical-laden processing, and workers exposed to harmful chemicals, and so on. Big issue for me, those chemicals.

We just got our first three holiday cards of the season yesterday, and I was thrilled. I love to receive and send holiday cards!

Frankly, I don’t how sending personal cards and packages to close friends is at all a replacement for holiday cards. Perhaps you only sent cards to your close friends, but we use them as a time to update extended family and friends on our lives and to wish them well. It takes time, but it’s nice to have a time of the year that gets me to sit down and write everyone a note and to catch up on their lives. I encourage and partake in out-of-season correspondence with our closest family and friends, but - at least for us - the two are not interchangeable.

And the cost is really not that great in the larger scheme of things. I think we spend a whopping $50-70 each year, including postage. You don’t need to send a $4 designer letterpress card to let someone know that you’re thinking of them and are wishing the best for them in the coming year.

Also, I find it unlikely that the card that you’ll send in the “off-season” will last any longer than a holiday card. It seems like we display other cards for about the same amount of time as holiday cards. Besides, the gift is in the receipt. It seems rather selfish to expect weeks or months of display of YOUR card.

To each their own, but holiday cards are one tradition which I will certainly continue.

I've always loved sending and receiving holiday cards. It's the part of the holidays that I love. Each time I open the mailbox and get a Christmas card it's like getting a mini-gift. Getting greetings in the mail is a dying tradition so it means even more to get one in the age of technology overload. I don't think I'll ever stop sending out cards unless it becomes a financial issue or something. I really can't believe there are people out there who hate holiday cards...really you hate holiday cards??? that's just craziness.

I love giving and receiving cards!

I love receiving cards and have total respect for people who have their act together enough to send them out. For me, it's just too stressful to try to conquer that task and I think it's better for the environment and wallet to forgo them. However, I do like to send a hilarious and personalized e-greeting from jibjab.com. It's free and the kids love to watch themselves animated as do the recipients.

I love Christmas cards & love the suggestion about taking a card out of the pile each night to discuss memories of the family & pray for them. How fantastic!

I use a company called Send Out Cards. (www.sendoutcards.com/billjohnson) I never used to send out cards at all but now I send close to a 100 every year everyone from friends and family to my customers and business associates.

The user can create a greeting card or postcard and SOC will print, stuff, stamp and mail it for you. Like a lot of the other sites mentioned in the earlier posts, you can use your own digital pictures.

It's quick and easy. It's cost effective. Best of all you can do it 24/7 anytime, anywhere. I also will be sending out my New Years cards and I use it for Thank You cards, Birthday cards and the occational What the heck you up to? card. :)

Feel free to check them out or to contact me if you have any questions about.