Rebuilding Rob

Here’s one I don’t think I’ve ever really talked about:

The death of the Christmas card.

At the tender age of 50 years young, I’m old enough to remember when people actually sent each other Christmas cards in the mail. Sometimes that might be the only correspondence you have with someone the entire year. Of course, this was before social media, emails, and the elimination of added fees for long distance, phone calls.

Remember in the computer range, again before social media, or people would actually print up a “family newsletter“ along with our Christmas card, to let people know what was going on in everybody’s lives. This sounds corny, but I they’ve been guilty of creating one or two of these myself during my previous life.

Today I might get one, maybe two Christmas cards during the holiday season. Last year I got one. This year I’ve only gotten one so far. So what happened? Exactly when did we stop sending Christmas cards?

These days, I usually buy a box of some general holiday cards to take into my coworkers at my school. I’ll personalize the envelopes at least, and give a very generic holiday greeting card to each of them by putting them in their mailboxes. But I still remember the days when people would hang up Christmas cards almost like they were another decoration to celebrate the holiday. “Hey everybody! Look how many friends we have! I guess nowadays we just do that with social media

Last year, after getting a card from a woman who I met on one of the dating apps (only to become “friends” with) I made the decision to put out an all call on Facebook. I said I would send Christmas cards to anybody who sent me their address via Facebook messenger. Zero people responded.

There’s no doubt that while people are more interconnected than ever in this ever shrinking world, people also seem to be climbing for more privacy than ever. I’ve heard many standup comedians talk about this; about the way we used to rush to the door when there was a knock or the doorbell rang. Likewise, with the way we used to run to a landline telephone whenever it rang. “We might miss something!” We all thought. Today, everybody wants to just be left alone.

I’ve always liked the idea of Christmas cards. They’re relatively inexpensive, and it’s a simple way to let people know. “hey, I’m thinking about you“.

None of this e-card bullshit either. Hell, those things are dead too! I miss paper or card stock, hard -copy Christmas cards that people wrote out in their own handwriting, signed, and placed into a mailbox with a postage stamp and delivered via snail mail.

I guess this is just another reminder that I’m getting older.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:

• Teacher Armor and the Saturday Clearing
• The Extra Day: A Ten-Year Memory
• Of Training Wheels and Christmas Lights
• Charity Starts at Home (And I’m Back in My Childhood One)
• The Muscle of Empathy

The article “Wither, Christmas Cards?” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.