@Whohashiddenthebiscuits
I'm genuinely sorry if you think that I flamed you OP. It sems to me that nearly everyone else who has commented on your thread agrees with you (well the vote was 67% positive for you last time I looked, which would be quite good odds for a bet), so you should probably do what most other mumnetters appear to do, which is ignore posts written by me (to be fair, that may be because they are often off putting due to their ridiculous length - I don't seem able to use one word when I could easily use three if I am selective enough!). The only parts of your posts that I was drawing attention to when referencing you OP was your insistence (is that too strong a word?) in believing that sending personalised cards is a sign that someone is working class.
I will try not to derail this thread by discussing the legitimacy of the classifications of the Class System in the 21st Century in the UK, however I do have to acknowledge that there are, to my mind, far too many people like you who still want to classify peoples place in society - I am not suggesting that you are equating someone's worth by their class, I would have been reporting your post instead of replying to it if I thought that - but unfortunately, to a lot of people, classifying people in that way does come with some weighty and potentially insulting connotations.
I was trying to explain both to you OP, and the other pp's on this topic, why I don't believe that whether one gives personalised cards or not, has anything to do with their perceived class. Which is why I went into quite a lot of detail about my family background, as I believe it points to the fact that me and my Dfamily, and my Din-laws are all what society would consider middle-class, and yet we still give personalised cards to our loved ones.
I wish that I knew, and could prove, what sort of cards the Royal Family give to their nearest and dearest (I don't mean the official Christmas Card photos that they send and publish), because if they send personalised cards then this 'argument' should be resolved.
I think that whether people give and/or like personalised cards is usually down to what their friends and loved ones do, and have done, going all the way back to Victorian times. By the way we only give our personalised cards to immediate family, and by hand if we are seeing them on Christmas Day, otherwise we post them.
Anyway OP, the majority of my response, which you took personally, was in fact aimed at @RedwineforSantaplease, and the other pp's who were writing in what I consider to be such a crass way. I did not accuse you OP of laughing or sneering at people. However if I suddenly found out that my DH had hated (on any level), or even disliked, the cards I had given him over the years I would feel like a complete idiot, and been upset that he hadn't told me the very first time instead of enduring them for years - so I really hope that your DH never finds out your true feelings on his cards to you, even if you do like them a little bit OP.
Penultimately, to anyone who might still be reading this, neither my family or I keep our sentiments to ourselves for most of the year, only expressing them via Christmas and Birthday cards; we often both tell our loved ones how we feel, and hopefully show them our love through considerate and caring actions throught the years. I just don't know where all the pp's got the idea that we would only tell them through our choice of cards!
Lastly, my other point is that even if I live with someone I will still give them a card (I date them surreptitiously), because like me they might like to keep them, and read them again, especially when that person is no longer with us. Yes I have boxes full of my special cards from loved ones.
@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule and @Whohashiddenthebiscuits and
@Everyone else who say the sentimental cards just get thrown out after Christmas (not in my house) so they are a waste anyway, do your classy, elegant, artistic cards that you spend so long choosing, and then putting your own carefully thought out words into, not also just get thrown out after Christmas?
By the way, I send charity cards to my friends, and aquaintances, and any with lovely pictures in that I don't recycle post Christmas, I frame and hang on my walls. I usually love the pictures on the charity cards that I send, so I will often keep one of each scene back and frame them too.