Death of the Xmas Card?

(Author’s note: this is a blog post that shows how much of an “old man” i am turning into. yikes.)

Maybe it’s a true sign of the times. Or maybe it’s because we didn’t send people our new mailing address. But whatever the reason, it definitely seems like we received less cards this year than any other. Is it that the annual Christmas card/letter may be going the way of audio cassettes, floppy disks & Von Dutch trucker hats?

It may be that my generation is the last line of defense for this annual tradition. Back in the day, it was often the only way to see an updated picture of someone (and/or their family, pets, etc.), catch up on their lives (be it through a brief note or a lengthy letter) or simply stay connected.

Now, thanks to Facebook & Twitter (and before them – email & texting), it seems that we are more often “in contact” with people (sharing news, photos, etc. throughout the year), thus eliminating the need to update them via an annual snail mail and rendering the process of sending an actual physical card somewhat obsolete.

This is a little sad. There was a time when letters were handwritten and stationery (and the words written on them) was carefully chosen. My wife and I still have the stacks of letters we wrote to each other over the years. As time progressed, however, letters were supplanted by phonecalls. Then emails. And texts. And now it seems like we are gravitating (and possibly, irreversibly so?) to more frequent yet less personal updates via Facebook and Twitter. Will something else take the place of these sites? Perhaps.