Wait until next year

Today I received my first email Christmas card of the season.

They are a bit rubbish, aren’t they?

I’m not particularly interested in shoring up the greetings card industry, but a written, real card feels personal, heartfelt. They take just a little bit of effort to buy, write and send. I also like how they hark back to the days when people wrote letters and had correspondence and all that stuff. I love the idea of letter writing. Collections of famous correspondence are always fun to read. I suspect in twenty years there will be collections of emails and tweets and Facebook posts and it might still be fun to read, but I doubt it will feel so romantic and earnest.

Although I guess the communication is the thing, not the format, right?

Anyway, I received my first email Christmas card of the season, and it was from a big company that happens to have my email address so it didn’t feel especially festive or personal. Their rationale was an email card saves trees and they were donating the financial saving to charity, which made me feel a little warmer. But I’m not convinced it was an entirely worthwhile exercise.

Then again, I’m terrible at sending real Christmas cards, let alone digital ones, so I shouldn’t complain.