For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for December 05, 2021

Peevish

In real life, Lynn Johnston did do all the Christmas cards because she would draw the family Christmas letter every year. There was an example of one of them in her 3rd Treasury edition. Given her celebrity status, I imagine she had a huge list of people to receive her annual Christmas cartoon from the Johnston family.

Not quite…lol

As far as I can think, the X contacts would only be the Ximénez family.

Our family for about 10 years used to get a card from some family we had never heard of before. That card was the only time that we heard from them. Once we moved we never heard from them again. I’m sure someone in that family must have wondered “Who are these people and why am I sending them a card?”

A different perspective changes everything!

Elle: “Oh, yeah…. I forgot.”

Happy Holidays all!

I can’t stand doing Christmas cards.

It’s always been my job to do the cards, which I don’t mind. This year my daughter asked if she could help. We sat next to each other on the bed. I signed, labeled (yeah, I print out labels & return labels) & stuffed, she stamped & sealed with my ceramic envelope sealer. We had music playing as well. We had a blast & worked like a well-oiled machine; I’d always pass her the stuffed envelope just as she was finishing sealing one. She is SO helping me again next year!

I print address labels and each year I insert a different Christmas image on them. Sadly, each year there are less to send.

I still send Christmas Cards, too bad so few people do these days.

Christmas cards, man… Seriously, if you send out more than one hundred, you’re sending out too many. I don’t dislike the idea of them in and of themselves, but it shouldn’t be such an unpleasant burden.

I love sending and receiving cards. Since so few people do them anymore, I save the prettiest ones each year so I have enough to make a display on my piano. But yeah, the younger generation hasn’t seemed to pick up that gauntlet….it is a dying tradition, sadly.

What’s a Christmas Card? Heard some explanation that involved some business called The Post Office and you had to buy something called stamps. Maybe it will catch on.

I sure seems like the “season to be jolly” puts a lot of stress on us. Perhaps a little more egg nog would help? Actually, we had “Tom and Jerry”‘s when I was a kid. I wasn’t allowed more than a little bit, but it tasted pretty good.

When I was a kid, it was a ritual sending out the Xmas cards. When I started working, Momma took over and cut down on the number. Now, I practically never send out cards. But, the family expects me to keep up with everyone.

From a list of over 100, I’m down to 3 now. I’ve lost track of most of the people I used to send cards to. Some have moved to the cemetery with no forwarding address – not that I really want to know which way they went.

If you don’t send cards, you won’t get cards. When growing up, it was like a neighborhood contest to check each other’s houses out for the number of Christmas cards on display. The one with the most, was the one to beat.

If you have a hundred Christmas cards to send out, ask yourself if it is worth the $58 fee for one hundred stamps.

I’m doing Christmas cards this year to let people know we moved out of state. Paper and electronic cards. Its a one time deal

The key to doing that is to break it up into 1-hour sprints so that you’re not spending more than an hour or so each day.

Even if I send them only to family, that’s 2 brothers and 11 nieces & nephews, two granddaughters plus one aunt and a few cousins. Oh yeah, and my son. But I won’t mail that one.

My husband’s mom used to do that, my mom no, she loved receiving cards but never sent any out, and for me I do mail out a few as family is small.

My wife writes individual notes for about 100 cards to friends and family. I keep a worksheet of the names and addresses to print the address labels from. We get more than enough “free” return address labels each year to take care of that part. We consider it a public service to keep the United States Postal Service gainfully employed. With relatives in Namibia and Tasmania, we have to mail cards out before Thanksgiving.

Sometimes we need kids to remind us what we’re doing. ;-)