20 Questions Tuesday 121: Christmas Cards

In many ways the Christmas Card is a yearly reminder that someone is not dead yet.


Everyday for about a week, the family has been getting Christmas Cards in our daily mail. It is a nice change from the bills and spam mail that we are used to, and it leads into the 2 week topic concerning Christmas Cards.

Thanks this week go to Lsig, Dr B Dawg, All Rileyed Up, Sparky, and Belsum for the questions.

On to the Questions:
1. Do you feel like you "owe" someone a card next year if they send one to you?
Sadly, sometimes I do feel as if I owe someone a card that they do not really want. Other times I think, “Well that loser just wasted some postage.

2. If a card includes pictures of someone's children, do you feel guilty throwing them away?
If I have had very little exposure to said children or if I am not close with the parents who sent the card, it doesn’t bother me overmuch. I still will most likely throw the pics away, but I will feel sad about it.

3. Do you do something specific and/or decorative with the cards you receive?
We make the mantle of or fireplace become the Holiday Mantle of Shame where people can see and ridicule all the poor saps who know us. Of course, this means they are in our house and therefore should be the target for even more ridicule and potentially even scorn.

4. It's cool that you design your own card each year, don't get me wrong, but why do you feel compelled to do it?
I love playing with Photoshop and it is a skill that I feel I am fairly good with that my job does not call on very often. So I typically enjoy the process of making a card. In my opinion it makes the card seem a bit more like it is from our family.

5. How many cards to you typically send?
In the years past it has been between 30 and 50, but really Wify is the one with this information. I make the crads, she sends them.

6. What is the family phrase for smiling on cue for the Christmas picture?
Well, Little Man is partial to “Money” and I find saying “Egg-nog” pretty frikkin hilarious, but tradition calls for “Cheese” for the entire family.

7. Did your family ever do the family portrait card or is it a new tradition for you?
My family growing up was never very good with cards. I can remember only 1 or 2 years that we actually sent cards out, so the annual process of card sending is new to me since the marriage.

8. Have you ever thought of dressing up as reindeer for the photo?
Nope, that is too expected

9. Will this year's version play A Charlie Brown Christmas?
Nope, Unless you would like to play A Charlie Brown Christmas upon receiving the card.

10. What font will you be using? Lucinda calligraphy, helvetica
This year’s card used Ananda, Comic Sans MS, and Fantique Four.

11. How many people on your Christmas card list?
On the list? Probably about 75. We cull the before we send cards out. This year, I think more people will get the cards though.

12. Do you keep a few extra lying around in case you receive cards from people you didn't initially send one to?
Typically, no. We usually have just enough for our rather tight list.

13. What is your opinion on cards that play music when you open them?
I dislike musical cards. I guess I feel like cards should be an intimate exchange between the sender and the receiver, when music plays anyone within earshot can participate.

14. What is the best use for old Christmas cards?
Kindling

15. What, no Hanukkah or kwanza cards?
Not from our household. We have a hard enough time preparing for a single day celebration. Those 2 festivals are multi-day affairs. I don’t have the stamina for multi-day holiday fetes .

16. What do you think about going paperless and sending e-cards to save trees?
Funny you should ask. This year we decided to go paperless (as much as possible… some of the relatives don’t have the email). This was a conscious decision that we made in October. No one really keeps Christmas cards and if you would like ours on your mantle, you can print it out on your own. Preventative procrastination or environmental activism? You be the judge

17. I didn’t send cards last year. Did anybody notice?
I surely didn’t…

18. Do you stop sending cards to people if they don’t send one back to you? How long do you wait before cutting them off?
It depends on the person. I do not believe we have ever gotten a Christmas Card from Capt McArmypants, but he is a guy and single and, well, he would never send anyone a card, so we send him cards regardless every year. Now some of the acquaintances that we kinda would like to send cards if we have enough get 2 years.

19. Christmas letters: a great way to catch up or annoying bragging and filler?
It really depends on if any information is really imparted by the letter. If it is not silly and funny and/or doesn’t get us caught up with a family in a touching way, it is useless to us and should be destroyed for wasting our valuable time.

20. How long do you display photo cards on your fridge (or mantle or bulletin board or wherever) before taking them down for the year?
They stay up until, at most, Martin Luther King Jr Day. They usually get pitched when the decorations get put away though.


To recap:
The card is almost done
Wifey needs to write up some text and then we are sending these bad boys out
If anyone whom I do not already pester for 20 questions would like a card, please email me through the contact information on my profile
It is no skin off our backs if you get our e-card
I think it is sausage barley soup tonight
Mmmmm sausage barley soup
Has anyone else wanted to break out into some Michael Jackson signature moves for no apparent reason in the hall of where they work?
Not that I have or anything…
Listening to With or Without You by U2
Goodness I am old