Wow-Finally Received One Christmas Card this Year! How about You?
Wow-Finally Received One Christmas Card this Year? And that was from my cousin, Sr Teresa of Avila AC, St Agnes Convent-Mangaluru. This makes one to ask-“Who Killed the Christmas Card ?” And the right answer would be- “The Internet Did !”
Mangaluru: Few days ago before Christmas I was at the Kodialbail Post Office sending the last batch of Christmas cards to my relatives and friends, -and while I was there affixing stamps on the envelops I was surprised to see no else around me – I remember decades ago during this time of the year you would see post offices windows crowded with customers trying to buy stamps to mail their Christmas cards. But not anymore-post offices are deserted these days during Christmas season. The traditional way of sending holiday greetings is not extinct, but those who still send cards by mail are fewer and fewer. With each passing Christmas season, I always look forward to opening the mailbox less than I used to.
It is not true that “nobody sends Christmas cards anymore,” as non-senders announce with an air of self-evident finality. But, certainly, fewer do. I know this from first-hand experience. I receive less than half the number of Christmas cards, it did five-ten years ago. But I still send cards. I recognize this is increasingly a minority position. But in return I get Christmas greetings wished either by email or a few dozen of SMSs on my mobile phone. Last year I mailed nearly 30 Christmas cards, and believe it or not, in return I received only four Christmas cards. This year I mailed nearly 25 Christmas cards to my closest relatives and friends- and in return just received ONE Christmas card, and it was from my dear Cousin sister, Sr Teresa of Avila, an Apostolic Carmel Nun at St Agnes Convent-Mangaluru.
And also if you noticed that this year Christmas seems like it has been dull, with people not so much interested in celebrating it- not many Christian houses have been decorated, didn’t hear much noises of fireworks like last year, not many exchanged Christmas greetings and so on. It’s kind of sad to note that Christmas celebrations were huge and fun-filled is slowly dying down, with people lacking interest in celebrating it. That’s what I feel. There are many things to celebrate about the rise of social media, and many to regret. Among the most regrettable is that the Internet has rapidly eroded one of the season’s most charming traditions. There’s no real pattern. Some business firms to please and retain their clients still send cards, timelessly accompanied by tiny calendars. On the other hand, a surprising number of close friends, even immediate family members, blast out a few words on Twitter or Facebook and consider the job done. That’s ridiculous!
Could that all be changing? This year, especially, there seems to be a dearth of dead-tree holiday cheer filling up mailboxes across the country. Even the postman didn’t showed up with bunch of Christmas cards like he used to do years back. The spirit once distilled inside the Christmas card is dying, and a familiar, if fairly obvious perpetrator killed it: The Internet. If you’re getting fewer Christmas cards in the mail than you used to, you’re not alone. People are sending less traditional Christmas messages, choosing to either create their own cards online or send ecards or electronic cards. What they are not doing as much is using the postal service or sending Christmas cards at all- and according to a senior clerk at Kodialbail post-office who said, ” During Christmas years back, the post office was buzzing with activity, where people used to send out lots of Christmas cards, the stamp buying window had a huge queue, but gone are those days-the post office wears a deserted look these days since not many people are sending cards-it’s sad that the decades old Christmas tradition is dying down”
Ullhas Rasquinha-owner of Jerosa Company said, ” Sale of Christmas cards is going down year after year. It’s only adults and older people who are still keeping the tradition of sending Christmas cards. This year is much worse than last year in cards sales. With people conveying Christmas wishes through email, SMSs or e-Card, we as business owners are feeling the brunt of it. People should start sending Christmas cards, thereby keep the Christmas tradition alive”
We already have real-time windows into the lives of people thousands of miles away. We already know exactly how they’ve fared in the past year, much more than could possibly be conveyed by any single Christmas card. If a child or grandchild has been born to a former colleague or high school or college chum living across the continent, not only did I see it within hours on Whatsapp or Facebook, I might have seen him or her take his or her first steps on YouTube. If a job was gotten or lost, a marriage made or ended, we have already witnessed the woe and joy of it on Facebook, email and Twitter.
You know who you are, and you can save the excuses. I’ve heard them. Cards are expensive. Signing and addressing them are time-consuming. Besides, you’re busy. With a few strokes at the computer keyboard, you can spread more cheer among more people than snail mail ever could. To which I say: Stop kidding yourself. Electronic communication is efficient, convenient and cheap. It is not charming. It is not thoughtful. It tells friends and loved ones that sending them a Christmas card takes up time you could spend more productively.
When you’re sending mass greetings by social media, your primary thought, let’s be honest here, is of your own convenience. It treats the expression of personal affection as one more obligation to be crossed off the seasonal list. By contrast, the minute or so it takes to sign and address a card is time spent thinking of someone else. You drive a few extra blocks on your way to work and mail it. A few days later, someone opens up an envelope and reads your signature or better yet, a short note. It says that friendship or kinship means something, that it’s worth the effort.
A card is best when it comes from people in other cities, annually renewing past friendships divided by time and geography. The card says that the ties haven’t been broken, that even if you haven’t seen someone in two decades, that person is still in your thoughts and part of your life. An electronic greeting sort of means that. It might equally mean that you haven’t updated your address list in ages. Sending an electronic greeting is a breeze, but receiving one is only marginally more heartwarming than opening spam.
The fact that the practice has spread so wide and so quickly without protest is a tribute to the fact that a large number of the recipients are doing the same thing. Electronic mass greetings are not going away. I write this essay knowing full well that the world spins only forward. In the long history of Christmas, charm has collided with personal preference many times, and there is no record that charm has ever won. The demise of the Christmas card is deeply saddening. It signals the day is near when writing on paper is non-existent. It’s true, my Christmas tree this year has only one Christmas card hung on it.
The spirit of the Christmas card is indeed alive and well. It’s just not necessarily in a Christmas card. So let us face the future and hope for the best. Some people, undoubtedly, will save electronic Christmas posts in their archives. They will tear up at the memory of bygone days and good friends, and they will recall that poignant moment when they clicked “Like.” Sending Christmas cards-It’s a custom. It’s a tradition in our society. It’s something that’s ingrained in our society. Greeting cards are part of our culture. It’s certainly better to get 50 Christmas cards than 50 texts or 50 Facebook shout-outs or 50 e-cards. There’s nothing to replace a real card that you can place on your Christmas tree or hang it somewhere in the house.
In conclusion, all I have to say is that seeing family pictures online isn’t the same as receiving one in the mail that you can put in a frame on your desk. Getting something in the mail that doesn’t require payment, isn’t trying to sell something, and that brings news from loved ones is such a joy! I love both sending and receiving letters in the mail. I still keep sending Christmas cards, so why not you too-let’s keep the centuries old tradition alive! So next Christmas, make it a point to send Christmas cards, and bring back the tradition. Thanks!
