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Christmas Cards: Worthless Tradition?
Posted by John Stickley in Bible & Theology
According to the U.S. Census, over 1.9 billion Christmas cards are sent every year in the United States. That’s billion, with a ‘B’! Needless to say, we Americans spend a TON of money on this activity… easily over a billion dollars.
Now consider the average Christmas card you receive… a card depicting something humorous to do with Santa Claus, a generic “Happy Holidays”, or perhaps depicting something that’s actually related to Christ. They frequently lack any kind of personal note, and sometimes are not even signed! Feel loved and appreciated yet?
Now perhaps I sound a bit cynical about the whole thing (perhaps I’m even jeopardizing ever being on someone’s Christmas card list!)… but seriously… what’s the point in sending them if they’re being done “because it’s what we always do”?
Are Christmas cards simply a worthless tradition?
Obviously, Hallmark would beg to differ… they’ve got hundreds of millions of dollars on the line! And you may find it surprising based on my opening here… but I do too. Christmas cards are NOT a worthless tradition… when done in a meaningful manner.
That’s the key question I’m getting to here… what do you do to ensure the Christmas cards you send are meaningful to your recipients, and moreso… meaningful for the cause of Christ?
As for me?
A few simple things:
- The message given by the card is important to me… it MUST reflect Christ. It doesn’t have to be somber or overbearing, but it must serve as a reminder to the reader of the true meaning of Christmas.
- Every card I send goes out with some sort of personal message. As my wife says, even “Merry Christmas, ding-a-ling!” is personal and requires thought! Granted, she’d “string me up” if I ever wrote such a thing to someone…
- Hand-written… it’s a must to me to let the recipient know I value them. Writer’s cramp is a small price to pay to touch someone’s life, isn’t it?
- Prayer. I try to make time to pray for every person I send a card to, individually and by name. Granted, it’s generally just two or three short sentences, but prayer doesn’t have to be a ten minute speech!
So what about you? What do you do to make Christmas cards more than just a worthless tradition?
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We stopped sending cards out a couple years after we moved to Birmingham in 1975. Altogether.
Personally, I liked Henry Morgan’s approach. He’d buy two cards around 12/1 each year, and carry them all month. One was a really nice one, and one was an el cheapo. If you were a good friend, he’d show you the good card. Casual acquaintances got to see the cheapie.
He figured that, if you didn’t see him personally in a month, you weren’t a close enough friend to get a card anyway.
I always did like him…
We’ve never sent out cards, probably because we’re too lazy. I think it’s a good tradition and serves as a way to keep in touch; however, that’s just another bonus of Facebook. I keep in touch with everyone and then some and I don’t have to buy any stamps and non-Christian Facebookers are exposed pretty consistently to the Christian Facebookers.
They can see what God is doing in people’s lives and see how Christians respond to rough times. So with apologies to the greeting card industry but those days are pretty much over.
I like Christmas cards. I think they are an important, even critical, way of maintaining community and family contacts. They say a lot and can be a valuable witness. I vote for ‘em. Looks like I stand alone so far
I wouldn’t want facebook to replace cards, but fb will make it easier and cheaper for me to send holiday greetings (oh, I bet I get in trouble for saying THAT) to even more people.
Like many, our church operates a post office as a Lottie Moon fund raiser. Cards are delivered for a portion of what it would cost to send them through the USPS, and the money goes for missions. Thard to beat that.
Also, I certainly enjoy receiving Christmas cards, so I think they are significant.
Don’t get me wrong on this, folks… I enjoy sending and receiving Christmas cards as much as anyone. I just like to see them be a bit more meaningful than seems to be the norm.
I mean, really… what does it say when you only hear from someone once a year through a Christmas card that’s not even hand-signed? While, yes, it’s good to know you’ve been “thought of”… I’m not sure having a list of people you feel obligated to send cards to is all that “thoughtful” to begin with.
So… much of the card-sending that goes on this time of year seems somewhat pointless. Given the money spent on such, I often think we’d be better off sending those dollars where they can truly make a difference.
I’m just a man, I guess. I’m okay with receiving cards, but hate to send them. And I especially hate the ones with the “Year-end Newsletter” that leave you thinking, “Could anyone really have it that good in one year?”
Dang, Geoff. One of my cousins sent out an update and I thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread. There are so many things they are involved with that otherwise I would have never done. It seems pompous and presumptuous to think that I should just have known without them ever telling me. That’s ridiculous.
I guess I’m just a sentimental old idiot that actually happens to be interested in the people I know. Dang. Everywhere I turn, people are anti-Santa, anti-gift giving, anti-cantata, anti-carols, anti-nativity scenes, anti-Happy Holidays, and now anti-Christmas cards. I’m not meaning to sound bitter, but it’s rather ridiculous. I happen to love Christmas and a lot of stuff about it. Dang. I’m rather sick of all the things about Christmas that everybody don’t like. Dang. Complain complain complain. Next I’m gonna be self-consciously embarrassed about even telling someone to have a nice day. Dang.
I love getting Christmas cards, especially letters. I have a file of every one ever gotten. I just wouldn’t know as much otherwise about the people who have sent them to me.
It is sometimes hard to make everybody happy. If I just send a card with our signed names, that doesn’t seem adequate. But if I send a newsletter, it sounds like a lot of people hate getting them.
I also like getting famiy pictures or pictures of kids in with the cards.
I try to pray for the people from whom I get cards.
@Geoff Baggett
I’m with you on the newsletters. My dad calls those bragging letters. To me they feel insincere and sometimes arrogant. And I guess as some of you said. If I need a newsletter to tell me where everybody works and goes to school, I don’t know em well enough to bother with sending me a card. I do like the pictures though.
With due respect, I simply cannot believe that a BLOGGER, of all people, would refer to a “newsletter” as a bragging letter. There’s an irony there that is just totally unfathomable to me. To think that we spend hours and hours during the year writing things on the WWW to be read by people we don’t even know, but to feel that a letter by someone we do know is insincere and arrogant absolutely boggles my mind.
Love you guys, but you really oughtta think about the attitude you’re projecting – “Keep Christ in Christmas, but for gosh sakes don’t send me a Christmas card! We really don’t know each other that well!” I’d rather hear a Wiccan tell me Happy Yule and mean it than a Christian say Merry Christmas and not really care what kind of day I have.
If we Christians want folks to realize the value of Christmas, we need to get up off our royal patoots and do our daggonedest to BE CHRISTLIKE TO THE WORLD AROUND US instead of sitting at home in our stockingfeet by the fire complaining about every move “they” make.
Gee whiz.
Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Tell somebody who that baby in the manger is! Celebrate! Drink some eggnog! Party with your friends. Party with your enemies! Tell them you love them and Jesus does too. Quit trying to shut down Christmas! It’s a GREAT DAY!
Sorry. The collective just really stepped on my toes here. I know we all have preferences and thoughts about things, and I’m not meaning to be personal. I realize that some may not enjoy Christmas, and that it may be a sad time for a lot of folks. It may be lonely, and I feel so much sympathy for those who are hurt, sad, lonely, and disappointed at Christmas, because it is a season of hope. But I have no tolerance at all for folks who have SO MUCH and yet they want to tell others that they should not do Christmas in the way that means something to them. No tolerance at all.
I fully realize that I sound a good bit hypocritical here by admonishing folks to be joyful while obviously being very frustrated. I’m working on that and I’ll get over my “fired up” state. My apologies if I’m harsh. But I’m pretty convinced I’ve got a point, and I really would like to make it. If y’all can’t understand what I’m getting at, please just forgive me, ignore me, and move on. But I bet that if you think about it, it will make sense.
Christmas is a HUGE opportunity to witness Christ’s love to the world.
Yet we make it a season of battle and legalism.
Bernard,
If that’s what you’ve gotten out of this post… a bunch of poopooing on Christmas, I’m sorry. That was NOT my intent here.
My hope for this post was for people to THINK about what they’re doing with Christmas cards (and all the traditions associated with such), and make them truly meaningful. If that means people’s chains are rattled a bit as they’re re-thinking “Christmas letters”, or that they’re realizing that they really haven’t spoken with 80% of the people on their “list”, or that it’s dawned on them that they’ve wasted an opportunity to proclaim Christ by sending a humorous card depicting Santa farting with a punchline about a peppermint odor… GREAT!
My mission here has been accomplished if people are suddenly considering how to make the most out of the opportunity that Christmas (and all it’s associated traditions) presents.
@ Bernard Shuford
touché
Whew. I feel less confrontational now, by far
Merry Christmas to all!
I like the Christmas cards with $$ in them…
John,
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I’m with you. I like the Christmas card tradition although I don’t send them near like I should. It’s a great way to present the true meaning of Christmas to fellow believers, and to those heathens in the family
This year our church printed a half page flyer entitled, “The Christmas Story.” It is plain print but includes a little clip art and is printed on bright red paper. It quotes in full Matthew 1:18-25 and Isaiah 9:6. Then it refers the reader to other Christmas verses in the Bible. It concludes with “Merry Christmas from your friends at Northside Baptist Church” and gives the address and a welcome to attend.
The flyer can be given to people directly or included in Christmas Cards. It’s another way to present the Christmas Story to many who only have a vague understanding of it. Several have expressed appreciation for the story and for information on where to find it in the Bible. Some are already using it to read aloud at Christmas gatherings.
Another thing those who send out family letters can do, is to at least print a Christmas Bible verse or two at the end of the letter.
Christmas gives us great opportunities to present the gospel.
Merry Christmas,
David R. Brumbelow
I’ve already “recycled” some of the Christmas cards I’ve received THIS year. I hope they’re not SBCimpact readers