Do you buy them or make them, or don't you send any? If you buy them, do you buy charity cards or 'normal' cards?

In previous years I have always bought cards and they would be a mixture of charity and ordinary cards. This year, for the first time, I have made my cards - ok, they are not up to the standard of a couple of our members here, Lynda (Mrs Tellywllies) and JaneMarple, but at least I have tried.

I actually bought Christmas cards a few years ago when it was my first year living away from my parents. I never knew how much trouble (and money) it really was to send cards to all of my family and friends. Needless to say, I haven't done it since. Maybe in a few years I'll try it again, but I'm not so sure I will be up to it.

I gave up sending Christmas cards as I can't stand waiting in the line at the Post Office.

One year I wrote out all my cards and forgot to send them. Everyone got them about 2 years later - they sat in the drawer in the kitchen all that time.

Now I send e.cards - if I don't have an e.mail address - you don't get one.

i always send christmas cards, (but I put them in our mail box at work, they post them for us) I love receiving cards so I do the same and send them, a lot of mine have yearly messages in and would not catch up with long time friends otherwise. I just love to open twinkly cards! (sad or what?) !

Christmas Cards...we make them ourselves! Including birthday cards, sythamphy (spelling?)cards, Baby cards, wedding cards and every other type! I say this, we don't make it a business, we do it for pleasure, for our own friends and family! Very rarely, we may buy a "shop brought" but not very often

I buy mainly charity cards and usually from the Animal Charities. They are usually visually pleasing and suitable for all. We have a few fairs here where you can buy thrm quite early, allowing for the fact that they have to be posted in good time to reach Europe etc. I can't wait to see the old dear's efforts.

If I get any nasty comments about my cards I shall cross you off my list for next year.

'Yep indeed', we have a very widely dispersed group of friends and family, so Christmas cards are a good way not to lose touch. Though some consider it 'naff', we also send a brief one page newsletter telling the more interesting aspects of the past year; not to everyone, only those we haven't seen for a while.
Overseas friends and family with internet access, nowadays get e.greetings from us, which saves the expensive postage costs.

Don't talk to me about postage costs, our costs have gone up enormously and the cost of postage is often is more than the price of the gift.

We're not very sociable people generally, not all that good at staying in touch with old friends. However, I always like to let them know that they are still thought about. A Christmas card hopefully does that.

Mrs TW makes many of our Christmas cards. She can't make them for everyone though, so some are bought ones. There are about 40 people to send cards to.

Sue - there are some good TV programmes about card making that Lynda watches. QVC devote 2 hours a week to it ...and sometimes a whole day. 'Ideal world' on a Sunday afternoon is another one.

I send them, usually with a short note attached. It's a good way of staying in touch, doesn't really cost much. I only have a couple of overseas and US cards to send, most are in Canada.
The way the post offices work here, standing in line to buy stamps is no big deal - we can buy books of them at the convenience store (though not the special Christmas ones)

I'm going to repeat a grouse from a couple of years back, here, though. It is so hard to buy a Christmas card with an actual "Christmas" theme - that is, a baby in a manger. My dad likes a card with a baby or an angel or a star or something along those lines, so I went to the card store again this year. Nearly 800 different Christmas cards, FOUR of them had a religious theme. And two of those were, quite frankly, a bit scary - lots of redeeming in blood and sacrifice. Just because I'd like to get a card with a vaguely religious theme for a religious holiday doesn't mean I'm a zealot, after all! I'm just looking for a baby with a halo, maybe a cow gazing over his shoulder, and the words "Merry Christmas" - why is that so hard to find? I'm not too fussy about the baby either - a star over a stable, a shepherd, an angel, three men with camels, heck, even a little drummer boy would do.

Some people do prefer the more "traditionsl" Christmas card, even I like the slightly religious. To me, it seems that even Christmas Cards are being commercialised. This year, the Royal Mail produced their Christmas stamps with no religious symbols at all. Shame

These days I usually buy charity cards. Like ren, I generally go for animal welfare charities, and I'll probably pick cards with cats on them.

I bought a big boxful yesterday. They are just gorgeous. Made by the children in school and printed and sold to raise funds for charity by the PTA. Some of the Y1 ones are just delightful.

What a nice idea to raise funds for charity and having the kids help. Helps them learn not to always recieve.

I really love to write but, since I've had the kids, almost twenty years now, and had a career and studies, I was finding that the days leading up to Christmas were so cram packed with things, that I basically felt guilty about not writing them on time before the big day, yet, I wanted to do it anyway.
The French custom is New Year's cards though, and you have until the fifteenth of January to perform your 'duty'. The week after Christmas is good for that. However, when I was in Europe, I more often than not had to work then!

I also noted that if I wrote to a friend who was like me, hadn't the time, but felt bad about not doing it, they would write me a 'guilty' one back. I have always reassured my friends that I do not care at all about how many years it has been, or what day it gets there, that I enjoy reading their words and do not at all object to type written words, or computer words, but I enjoy them.

This year I have to note that I am getting a few from people with whom I've done business, but, I received one that was beautiful and gold lined envelope and all, hand signed by several people, and it was from a prospective employer whom I'd met with, and who had never had the wherewithal to respond yes or no as to whether they had a job for me as planned!
I find that really odd.

Here's how I've come to deal with Christmas cards: [First to say, I wouldn't ever make one even if Rudolph was trying to make me do so at antler-point ~ but I have great admiration for those with the skill/interest to do that] I buy very specific sorts of cards. Of historical (local) themes, or from an organization I support - one year I got ones with these cool seeds in them (for some sort of poinsettia that bloomed outside in spring, I think it was). I never just send cards that are on sale or whatever; I insist they represent something that reflects me as the sender. After I buy them I dutifully stamp and address them. It is then that I decide that I simply MUST write a note for each card, since just a perfunctory signature never cuts it at my desk. So I do this (slowly) and tuck each note into each card nicely, tidily and with more intention than Santa has horsepower. It's about there that the notes get to be a problem. I'm some 50 behind by the 20th of December and, considering my structured approach, am driven to send all cards at once. They'll now be late, though, so I decide they'll all go early in the week AFTER Christmas. That's where they are now, as usual. A neat stack of calligraphed and letter perfect lovely paper(s) and pictures that may reach their destinations come Easter. Yikes.

It's about then (now?) I google "Online Greetings". Sigh....

Mmm, I used to 'religiously' send Christmas Cards to all family members, Aunts, Uncles, cousins etc, which usually was over 50 odd . . . some friends got cards too, they were usually the handmade ones (oh, and immediate family got either cross stitched cards, hand painted cards [like my friends ones] etc), but, last year was a pretty horrendous year for me and I didn't really feel up to Christmas (Bah Humbug) at all, made a huge effort for the kids, but, this year, aside from immediate family, no one's getting a card, less it's an e-card . . . The commercialism of it all is really starting to drive me to distraction, in an online poll, apparently in the UK, it was noted that less than 50% of the 7-11 year olds questioned knew anything about the true meaning of Christmas, they all knew about Santa Claus tho' . . . sad really, that's why I don't ask for anything for Christmas either, I prefer to give gifts (usually only immediate family tho') and drive everyone nuts by reminding them of the true meaning of Christmas.

superninjagirl, it might look pretty but I for one cannot read that pale pink text, could you please stick to black so we can read it without have to highlight the text. Thanks.