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To Send Christmas Cards or Not, That is The Question
Ending this tradition would be so easy, but would it feel right?
I can remember back in the 1950s, my mother sitting at our card table with piles of cards and envelopes, signing and addressing every one of them, and then mailing them to half the world’s population.
How did she know so many people? We never visited many people, so how did all of them come to know my mother and father? Did my mother walk up to strangers and ask for their names and addresses so she could mail them a card?
Her address book should have been donated to the Smithsonian after her passing. She had pages upon pages of addresses crossed out, with new ones taking their place. Sometimes she added pages if there wasn’t any more room for that particular letter of the alphabet. Little side note: “Aunt Flo’s brother” and “Helen’s second husband” were written to remember who these people were.
Besides telephoning, this was still the only way to communicate with people who didn’t live with you. US postage stamps were three cents each until 1958, when they became four cents. I imagine my mother sent out 200 cards a year for many years. That was six to eight dollars back then. My father was probably making about $3,000 a year.
