My dad is very religious (Catholic). Last weekend, I was visiting him, in the nearby city where he lives. Since I had no nice religious Christmas cards left in my "assorted" box, I thought that I would go to a card store in the mall, get him something nice. Well, in the card stores, there were Christmas cards galore. There were cards for your boss, cards for your step grandmother, cards with monkeys, cards with rabbits, funny cards, sentimental cards ....... but, you guessed it, not a nativity scene, or a wise man to be found. In the third store, I finally found a sort of stylized drawing of a mother and child, and took it.
Now, I'm not one of those who snorts about the commercialization, and the secularization of Christmas. So far as I'm concerned, this is, in North America at least, as much a secular holiday as a religious one, and I'm fine with that. Santa, eggnog, Rudolph - it's all good. I'm as happy with "Silver Bells" as I am with "Oh Holy NIght". But! It seems to me that those who wish to celebrate this as a religious holiday shouldn't have to work so darn hard to do it. There were more cards with monkeys (2) than there were with babies, and there's something wrong with that. Don't you think so?

Having seen no shortage of nativity scenes and Holy mother with child cards this year in my local Hallmark, I can't really comment. Actually, as a non-Christian who celebrates the holiday as a family gathering, I feel lucky the last few years to have found cards that were NOT religious. I'm pretty happy there've been a few snowman or snowflake cards around that don't have any religious message.

But I do think it's a shame you had to work so hard. I understand that Christmas is a holy day for many, regardless of what my personal feelings are, and that should be represented in the cards available. It would be different if there just weren't that many Christmas cards around. I dare say, most Jews in my area don't have an easy time of finding cards for their holidays. But to have a wide selection of cards, and few religious messages, that is a little strange.

Agony, I've found the same thing - that there's a lack of Christian cards available this year. I thought it odd as well. Of all times to have religious cards, this should be one of the major ones.

I don't know why anyone would have problems finding religious or non-religious Christmas cards, unless maybe they live in a very small town. I work for a pretty large greeting card company and religious based cards have generally sold well this time of year. Some stores may prefer selling one type of Christmas card over another. It might help to ask someone at whatever store you buy cards from if they would start stocking religious Christmas cards.

I live in one of the largest cities in the US. And, I've still found it more difficult to find Christian cards in the past few years. It gets harder and harder every year, it seems. It's very strange.

Also very difficult is finding male cards for occasions - Christmas or otherwise. We have jillions of cards for mothers, g-mothers, aunts, and every other female. But, try to find a male card, and you have about 2 choices. This has been a frustration of mine for many years. And, it's a frustration that I've passed along to all the managers of the places I've checked. They apologize for the fact but say that they can only put out what's available. And, what's available doesn't include cards for male relatives as often. Apparently, our male relatives are not as cared about as our female ones. (Actually, rogue, if you're in that business, you're in the position to pass along that word to the powers that be. Consumers need more male cards - some of us actually love our fathers, g-fathers, etc enough to get them a card for their occasions.)

I think a lot of the religious Christmas cards we offer are bought by small mom & pop shops, the Hallmark outlets, and maybe Barnes & Noble bookstores, as they are one of our biggest customers. Although what one Hallmark or B&N carries in one city can differ greatly than in another town.

I hear you on the male birthday card situation, Linda1. A friend of mine has been looking for a step-father birthday card for years, to no avail. My employers have talked about getting rid of related birthday cards altogather (any card specifically made for dads,moms, siblings, grandparents, etc). When I asked about why we didn't have a step-father card, I was told it wouldn't sell enough to cover the cost- and that such is the case with other birthday related cards. I've suggested we only produce limited quantities of such cards- this way the cards would be available and we wouldn't be stuck with a lot if they didn't sell. I'll keep suggesting and passing the word on, as long as the powers that be are listening.

The odd thing, I thought, is that there was a column of cards marked "Religious" but they had on them pictures of, I don't know, woods, and snowy mountains, etc, and the messages inside were very generic - "Wishing you serenity " sort of thing. None of the so-called "religious' cards had any of the religious symbols associated with Christmas - Madonna and child, manger, angels, and so on. It's as if they didn't want to stick their necks out and say WHICH religion.