Holiday
Greetings
From “Across the Miles”
Ever since the first Christmas card was commercially
produced and sent back in 1843, holiday greetings have been an
important part of the season. Almost everyone enjoys opening holiday
cards, little friendly missives sent especially for them with
news from loved ones and friends across the country and even the
globe.
While people still send holiday cards (just
ask Hallmark!), our busy schedules have cut into the time we spend
and a few people have traded mailing cards for emailing them.
Still, most of us favor hand signed, hand delivered cards picked
out for us personally. According to Hallmark, we still send about
1.9 billion holiday cards each year. It’s one tradition
that continues pretty much the same as when we (or our parents
and grandparents) were growing up.
In our home, when my mother got out her Christmas
cards and her list, we knew the holiday season had arrived. It
didn’t matter if we’d just visited our next door neighbor
yesterday or if we hadn’t seen a family friend for over
a year, they still got a newsy card every December. Keeping in
touch was the name of the game and it still is. Below are a few
holiday card traditions we like to keep:
The Family Letter
In an article on family letters, one newspaper reporter said “Holiday
letters are a lot like fruitcake: People either love them or hate
them.” This is so very true. Yet, it depends on how the
letter is written. We want to keep our friends and family caught
up on our happenings but we don’t just want to put out a
list of accomplishments…that seems too much like bragging.
On the other hand, a holiday card doesn’t seem like the
right place for a play-by-play of grandma’s hip surgery.
Here’s a few tips culled from family letter enthusiasts:
- Keep it brief and upbeat. A good standard
is one, double spaced page, front and back.
- Know your audience. If everyone knows
your son’s best stuffed pal is named Mr. Huggins, then
there is no reason to explain but if you are writing to distant
friends it might be upsetting for them to learn that Mr. Huggins
has lost his right eye if they don’t know he’s a
favorite teddy.
- Go for the big points, forget the play
by play. Funny is good but, again, keep your audience in mind.
- Include a photo. With digital cameras
these days, it’s easy to put a photo into your Word document
or go the old fashioned route and enclose a print.
- If they are old enough, ask your kids
to add a few lines.
- Keep a copy so you can refer to it for
ideas when writing next year’s letter.
- Be sure to sign your letter by hand.
 The
Photo Greeting
In the early 1960s, at least one of our neighbors each Christmas
sent a card with a Polaroid affixed to the front or stuck inside
. I’m not sure how many of these cards they sent out, but
it must have been a pain for the kids to sit still for photo after
photo. Later, we got cards specially made with slots for prints
and over the years we could watch the sender’s family grow
and change.
Now that everything is digital it’s
easier than ever to send out photo cards. Photo cards are a great
way to personalize without having to write a lot—after all
a picture’s worth a thousand words!
The traditional grouping of family members
or the children are still nice but you can get creative. One artist
I know has her kids lie on the carpet and pose as the letters
N. O. E. L.; another friend adds Santa hats to everyone in the
photo using Photoshop. You can have your subjects hold up signs
such as “ho, ho, ho” or “Merry Holiday!”
Having a digital image on your computer opens it up to all sorts
of manipulation all depending on your skill level and creativity.
The Round-Robin Card
My mother received a very special “recycled” Christmas
card every year from a very dear old friend. Each year, a card
would arrive and the design on the front would seem familiar.
In fact, it was the same card my mother had sent the year before.
The two women circulated the same two cards, each one writing
a response to the previous year’s message. When a card was
full, whoever received it last started a new card and “retired”
the old one to a special place.
When my mom died, in a desk drawer we found
a wonderful chronicle of her friendship. Both women had married
men who took them to other countries thousands of miles apart
but they stayed in touch for more than 20 years through their
annual “Round Robin” cards.
To start this tradition, each friend selects
a card and sends it with a message. The following year, each replies
to the card they received. Decide in advance who will keep the
finished cards—now that copying machines are handy, you
could make a copy of each to keep when cards are full. A little
more orchestration may be necessary for more than two people but
the memories can be well worth the extra coordination involved.
Cards for the Crafty and Creative
Now, growing up we always bought our cards and so did almost all
of our friends and relatives. Only recently, thanks to the stamping
and scrapbooking phase, handmade cards are popular. For those
inclined there’s a myriad of card-making possibilities out
there today. One crafty group of friends get together every year
over cocoa (and a bit of wine) to make cards. Each agrees to bring
a different supply of paper, glue, stickers, stamps, ribbon, fabric…whatever
they decide will make a good card.
There are books, websites and magazines devoted
to card making so I will only mention one idea here. Check out
About.com
for a whole list of source materials and craft ideas.
Here are just a few for those looking for
an old time or “Boomer era” feel for their cards:
- Scan photos of you and your siblings as
kids playing in the snow or under the Christmas tree and use
these to make new cards. I’ve found a great Polaroid of
my brother and I in our pajamas one year—he was holding
a Lionel coal car and I had a silly putty egg.
- If you don’t have any suitable family
photos, check vintage stores and garage sales for images.
- You can purchase old holiday cards and
postcards on Ebay. You can either scan the image in and make
a new card or cover the back or inside of the card with a new
square of paper and write your new message.
- Cut images from damaged old cards to create
a new card with a little glue and imagination.
- Old cards also look great displayed on
a mantle or clipped to ribbon and threaded across a room.
Betty
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