To wonder if sending Christmas cards is a dying tradition

[Fallingovercliffs]

A few colleagues were just discussing this and a good few of them said they only send out a handful of cards nowadays and prefer to text or email most people. I have noticed that the number of cards I get, or that I see in people's houses when I visit over Christmas, seem to be a lot less than our parents' generation. My mother always ran out of places to put cards!

Just wondering if, generation by generation, this is becoming a dying tradition and AIBU to secretly think it would be great to not have to bother anymore?

Oh and both dd's send Christmas cards to their school friends. Ds hasn't bothered sending any for the past 5ish years since he was around 8.

It's dying out. Thank fuck.

Bloody hate writing them but its a tradition that I missed the one year I didn't do it. Walking round the street hand delivering the neighbours cards is usually my last job. I quite enjoy it.

I'm not from the UK and in my original country, the tradition, thank God, died out ages ago. There are people on another thread complaining that of course they can't be expected to remember the names of all those millions of people they send cards to - why send them then? You can't be that close to all those millions of people and I bet most of them don't really care that much either, if they get a card from someone they haven't otherwise talked to or thought about for the past 20 years.

HazleNutt - to be fair, they were saying they couldn't remember the surnames of their friend's DW's who hadn't changed their name on marriage. I have been to weddings of some of DH's friends and the first time I've found out the bride's surname as been on the invites - although have known his friends well and knew their girlfriend's first names. I honestly couldn't tell you if some of my married male friends' DWs have changed their names or not, I know them as say "Joe and Mary" and know Joe's surname.

I've cut down my list this year ,but won't give it up for a few more, it's no longer 'everyone you've ever met' but with families being more spread out, it's a nicer way to keep in touch. And yes, I could send letters to my cousins up north at other times of the year, and I do always intend to write to those who arent on facebook (to ping a quick "how's the family" message to), but some how I don't get round to it. It's nice to have a reason to sit down and make yourself write at least 'thinking of you' to distant friends and family.

Definitely dying out. Waste of money and resources.

Mary, the one I was thinking about said 'People are in a rush to write millions of cards. I can't always remember the name choices of all my friends.' I would think that if you're really friends, you know their names.

But that's offtopic - I still think that most people would not notice if they got a Christmas card from an ex-neighbor or second cousin twice removed, if they otherwise never talk to them. So seems like a waste of time and resources to send millions of 'Love from xx' cards to everybody you've ever known.