Are E-Christmas Cards Acceptable?.....

[global1]

I feel a little uncomfortable this Christmas. I sent out e-cards to family and friends this year instead of snail mail cards.

Yesterday while at a mall I stopped to get a bite to eat. At the table next to me I overheard two soccer Moms talking and they were knocking people that send out e-cards for Christmas. They were saying that these people were lazy and cheap for not sending out traditional Christmas cards.

Now I'm not sure what is proper etiquette. Did I cheap out and get lazy? Will my family and friends think less of me because I sent them an e-card instead of a snail mail Christmas card?

I look at it differently. I wanted to use the latest technology and thought that an e-cards - which include animation and music - is a cool and modern way of wishing someone a Happy Holiday.

This year the majority of the Christmas cards I received where snail mail. I got a few e-cards as well - but again - the majority of the cards I received where snail mail cards. All in all however - the total cards I received were way down in numbers - and that got me to thinking that people are stopping sending out Christmas cards altogether.

What do you think? Any thoughts?

[loudsue]

1. e-cards are greener for the planet.

But I like to send and get the snail mail cards. But then again, I've been seeing them for 64 years, and the e-cards don't play well on my very old PC.

[FSogol]

2. My thoughts:

We are in a transition period where paper cards are being replaced with e-cards. Whether you get a real card or e-card don't really matter as long as the card is personalized A mass email sending a card to everyone lacks sincerity, imo. Mrs. FSogol and I send about 40 paper cards to friends and relatives every Christmas. We receive about paper 25 cards and 8 e-cards.

My suggestion: Track who sends an e-card and send them a e-card next year. Send anyone between age 18 and 30 an e-card, they are used to the digital world. Send everyone currently older than 30 and little kids a paper card. Over the years the people on your list getting e-cards will increase and the paper cards will decrease.

[mainer]

3. I dislike e-cards very much

If you bother to view the whole thing, it takes a good minute out of your life. And when you get ten or more of them, you end up just hitting delete. Now, if you can write a personalized email (and I mean more than two sentences) and attach your own Christmas photos of family, then that's a big step up. But phooey on Jacquie Lawson cards.

[SheilaT]

4. Personally, I'm not fond of e-cards

because they feel like just one more bit of junk email that I have to delete. But I certainly do not think of the sender as lazy, because that person at least took the time to compose and send the e-card. However, it feels a lot like the unwanted e-mails I get from people asking me to be outraged or happy (it varies) over some bit if urban legend.

I haven't sent out Christmas cards in years.

[LeftyMom]

5. My family has a complainer. Every holiday she finds something to be offended about.

If your family has one an e card will make his/her day by giving him/her something minor to gripe about, in which case you have done that person a great service by allowing them to demand attention for no real reason. If not, you should be fine.

[RC]

6. As far as I am concerned, E-Christmas cards are not acceptable.

If you want to send electronic cards, break out your word processor and make you own. Print to PDF and sent that.
You can include your own art work or pictures or steal something off the Internet. There are also many programs, some free, that allows you to make your own cards.

As far as I am concerned, E-cards from web sites is the lazy, mostly thoughtless way to send a card.

[Sheldon Cooper]

7. I wouldn't be offended by an e-card, but I certainly wouldn't pay any attention to it,

either. I normally delete them without opening, frankly. I think getting a paper card in the mail is a nice sentiment, but I normally just glance at them and then toss them aside. After Christmas they all go in the garbage. I really don't care if I get cards or not.

Unless your family and friends are weird about it, I'd forgo cards altogether, whether they be paper or electronic.

[Nictuku]

8. I dislike getting e-cards

... because now my email address is given to this 'free e-card site', who will then sell it and I end up on multiple email lists which increase the amount of spam I get.

[NV Whino]

9. It's e-cards or nothing for me

I find them perfectly acceptable.