Holiday Cards
2025-12-22
I like sending holiday cards, I think the main reasons is because it is nice to connect with people I dont often connect with once a year. Doing this costs a small amount of money but it is something my Mom did with care and so I follow her tradition. Also sending physical cards requires having people’s addresses and contacting them about where they live and what they are up to. Some people don’t send any cards, some people send super silly cards.
This is a bit of a tangent but I do think it would be funny to send really morbid cards. The cards kind of say something like ‘I am still alive’. So it would be funny, to me and probably only me, to send really dead pan cards and then some really morbid text like: “Here’s to another year and let’s hope it’s above ground” -Carol Shields . Dont worry, my wife would never let me send something like this.
But one thing I was thinking about for this is how I address the cards. I send to a variety of people, family, friends, family friends, old coworkers, etc. And they have a variety of relationships, some people are married, divorced, engaged, dating, single etc. And so I thought about my naming convention and the best way address it to people.
- For family that I am not the most close to I address them like ‘Button Family’
- For couples that are married or engaged and I have met both couples I address them like this: ‘John + Jane’
- For couples that are married or engaged but if I only know one of them well I do something like: ‘John Button’
- For couples that are dating I only include the person I know well: ‘Jane Button’
- For singles I do first and last name: ‘John Button’
This is really silly and arbitrary. But along with most arbitrary things I try to have some rules and guidelines I follow. I do make changes, if I meet a spouse I will add them to the card. If a friend becomes engaged and I know them well enough I will add them to the card. If people gets divorced then they get separate cards, etc. Peoples lives change, they move, get married, any my cards slowly change with them.
-Gary