To think it's Bah Humbug to not send cards and say you're giving card money to charity

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How much does a box of cards cost - £5? I suggest sacrificing a bottle of wine and giving wine money to charity then ..

Expat - I'm sorry you lost your little girl.

This thread is not directed at those who grieve, it's poking fun at the self proclaimed do gooders that I spotted on Facebook.

I buy charity cards. I like cards, I like the fact that someone has thought of us at Christmas. I like the fact that others are thought about by us.

We don't have a large circle of family and friends and so I am somewhat envious of being in a situation where I would get so many cards that they mean so little.

sometimes a card is all my grown up children can afford, and it means so much does a well chosen thoughtful card

The moral of this thread is something I suspected already: Christmas in this country is out of control and those who want to regain some control in their own way are often seen as misery gutses. It's sad.

For Christmas this year, I long to go to an island somewhere with my dp and forget about being childless, forget about having to buy presents for other people's children who won't appreciate them anyway, when I will never get to buy my own child anything, let alone Christmas presents. Where excess and greed isn't expected and encouraged. We won't though of course. We'll get in the car and drive all round the fucking country appeasing relatives like we do every year.

Christmas cards are a small part of it really.

I'd like to go to a non-Christian country for Christmas, Hester, like Bali or Thailand.

St Kilda would do fine for me, expat. Or Rockall :)

xxx

I don't send cards.

I usually never get round to putting a donation in either.

Gawd, NO, Hester. Far too cold. Let's go someplace warm - Bali, Thailand, and non-Christian and eat exotic food and go to the beach instead!

YANBU

I love receiving Christmas cards and displaying them. More and more people seem to be stopping it, sadly. I bet most saying they are giving to charity instead if cards, don't.

Expat, NO PEOPLE though.

Perhaps isolated rocks in the North Atlantic in midwinter are a bit silly however.

Pitcairn looks good. Not many people there. Nice and warm. Isolated and miles from advertising and Christmas bollocks

I like Christmas.

I have never sent Christmas Cards.

On occasion when people have asked for my details I explain that I won't return the favour, people are fine.
No one has ever been outraged or defriended me

I find it a non issue.

I don't mind those announcements on FB either. If some one has spent years doing it out of protocol and suddenly thought all that stamp money and envelope money could be used on something they feel is worthier than good on them , it may not be a big deal to you! put perhaps it is to them.

I think it's fine to not want to send cards for whatever reason. No problem with that at all. Why broadcast it though that card (and stamp money) is going to charity as that is a good and noble thing?? There's nothing noble about it particularly. Far more noble probably to sacrifice your turkey or your christmas booze.

I do both. I used to buy live expensive cards specially picked for family members. They all throw them away after christmas. What a waste. So i buy cheapo cards, and spend the money 'saved' by donating to charity. And i may even inform my friends and family via facebook.

Um. Lovely. Not live.....

My friend has gone down this route this year due to a recent bereavement. I'm quite offended that her announcement that she's going to do this could be perceived as showing off - it's just an explanation, and a desire not to offend those who won't get a card - how else is she supposed to let them know??

I like cards, I like the fact that someone has thought of us at Christmas, I like to hear from old friends that we never see as we are all over the place, i like the family updates and round robins and am sad that lots of folk don't do it anymore. Not those who are email contacts, happy if they do an e mail and charity, but those people we don't see anymore... it's nice to know we are thought of even though none of us make the effort to see each other anymore.

I don't object to the cost of the cards (if you shop around you can get them for pennies). I do however object to the cost of the postage and that is the reason I won't be sending them this year I'd rather give my money to charity than royal mail. I'm also in touch more regularly and more often than ever before with my family via FB.

I like receiving cards but I wouldn't notice who doesn't send me one. I send as few as possible, but have elderly relations who simply can't not be sent one. The sad stories upthread remind me I must never leave out my elderly and old-fashioned neighbours either.

A friend posted as her FB status yesterday that she wasn't sending cards and was donating the money to the "bloody boiler blew up" fund instead. That amused me.

For me the whole issue is yet another example of "everyone has their own motivations and reasons which are valid and logical ... but I do not want to hear about it on FB".

I don't like cards.

The cards are inexpensive but the stamps aren't. YABU and not getting into the spirit of Xmas.

I prune our Christmas card list enthusiastically (and in everlasting hope) every year, and look forward to the year when I don't have to send any.

I just do immediate family really, and only then if we are not likely to be seeing them at Christmas. The postage is soooo expensive it is hardly worthwhile.

In reality I can see that for a few years yet I will have to send a few cards, as the older members of both of our families see it as quite a chore tradition and send to us religiously every year. I wouldn't ignore them.

But surely not everyone uses FB? I would have no idea if friends sent a message on FB saying they weren't sending cards - I have had the odd email stating that people are giving to charity instead.

I love cards, I just looked through last year's last night and I can almost tell who sends what sort of card, it gives me a lot of pleasure .

Just to add, I don't use FB or email as a Christmas card substitute, though I will say Happy Christmas to all of my friends on there when the time comes.

Most of my older relatives do not even have computers, let alone use social network sites, so I do need to send some cards.