Look through the holiday cards and messages you’ve received this holiday season and ask yourself which ones really give you that warm, fuzzy feeling inside.
Very few, if any.
The sad reality of living in a time-crunched impersonal digital age is that most holiday messages we now get are nothing but glorified PR blasts on behalf of the sender that do little more than remind us that we are still an active record in their database or one of their ‘friends’ on a popular social media platform.
My parents never sent out a Christmas card that wasn’t personally signed and which didn’t include at least a sentence or two specifically written to the recipient. Each holiday card they sent was hand-addressed and mailed first-class with a special Christmas stamp and a wax seal. If you received one of those cards, you knew that your friendship was important to Grant and Lee Chester and that they had you and your family in their thoughts.
That process is old school, and who’s got time for that, right? I mean, if you’re going to actually be among the few dinosaurs who actually send out a holiday card via snail mail, don’t go to all that trouble! Simply pull out your smartphone and take a selfie, then either rush to Walmart or go online to a speedy card printing vendor and have them zip out a few dozen holiday-themed cards with a politically correct all-encompassing holiday greeting. Then print out a page of labels from your Outlook address book, peel and stick the labels and stamps, randomly drop those cards in the envelopes and check this item off your holiday to-do list.
And if even that sounds too laborious, just do a Google search for an image of a puppy wearing a Santa hat and post that to Facebook or Instagram with a generic message wishing everyone who reads it a Merry Christmas, or a Happy Hanukkah, or a Happy Kwanzaa…or whatever.
In fact, why even go to that much trouble? Just go open a window and scream at the top of your lungs, “Happy Holidays, world!” That will mean every bit as much to those who hear your voice as those unsigned selfie cards or social media post, and it won’t kill a tree or chew up megabits in cyberspace.
Okay, enough sarcasm. But this does bring up a few interesting questions, like…
If you don’t take time to personalize a card, or at least sign it, does the recipient put any value on it whatsoever?
Does blasting out a one-size-fits-all message of goodwill make the slightest positive emotional impact on anyone?
Where do we draw the line between a holiday greeting from a friend and commercialized junk mail or SPAM?
Look, all I know is that there is a special place in our hearts for those individuals who take the time and effort to honor and acknowledge us in simple ways. And if there’s some good news in all of this, it’s that in this ever-increasingly impersonal world, it doesn’t take much to stand out in the hearts and minds of people we really care about.
Say what you will about the old school generation my parents were a part of, but at least they had this right.
ON POINT – Stop searching for that magical app. There is no technological substitute for an authentic one-to-one, heart-to-heart, personalized human connection.
I totally agree. I hate those pre-signed cards. Or cards that tell you nothing from folks who don’t keep in touch but once a year. For years I sent my college roommate a card filling her in on my life’s events. She sent back a card with just her signature. I got tired of it only feeling one way so stopped sending. I’d rather have a Christmas newsletter than nothing.
You make excellent points, Eric.
Thanks, Rebecca. Hope your holidays are bright!
I am friends with a real life card-writer for Hallmark. She has some great observations about card-writing. She’s a good one, but boy there are some that are very lame.
Personally, i get blank cards and write my own inside sentiment. But, as a writer, I can do that. Not everyone can