No, I'm sorry, we won't be doing that either.

[apocalypsos]

So my mother took the names of my brother and I off the Christmas cards this year, which I could care less about and my brother is mostly annoyed about because he's still living at home and he didn't get a warning. After all, you can't complain that your kids are old enough to send their own cards when you don't tell them they're not going to be on this year's cards until after they get made up. It's especially hilarious considering my brother is, as you all know, a twenty-three-year-old guy still living at home because he can't afford to move out yet, which means he's more likely to spend his money on new iPhone apps than sit down for a few hours to fill out, address and mail Christmas cards like some sort of a real grown-up or something.

As for me ... well, there are several reasons I won't send out Christmas cards this year:

1. I could easily give up Christmas in general in a heartbeat. These days, I'm down to two things that really make me happy during the Christmas holidays -- Yuletide, and giving other people gifts if I can manage to ignore that I can rarely afford the money I'm spending on them. While I appreciate any gift I get, I can certainly live without them, I hate Christmas music, think Christmas lights and decorations look ugly for the most part, and quite frankly would rather have a second Halloween.

2. As an extension of that, I own no Christmas decorations and never buy a tree for a reason. It's one more expense I can afford to pass over. Yay for being poor! *headdesk*

3. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike greeting cards in general? 'Cause ... yeah.

4. Okay, look, here's the thing. If it were just cards, I might think about it. MIGHT. However, my family is majorly into photo Christmas cards. Which ... fabulous! While my mother's sending people photos of her cats in hats and scarves, one of my cousins is sending out photos of her with her new husband and her new baby while one of my other cousins sent out a picture of her and her husband with their little boy and a sonogram of the baby girl they're expecting. What the hell am I supposed to send out pictures of? Me sitting on my couch swilling Smirnoff eating Cheetos watching I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant reruns?

You know what? I'll send out a Christmas card to my family when it'll feature a photo of me holding up an infant in one arm and a copy of the New York Times Bestsellers list with my name on top on the other.

... soooo, never, then. Baaaaah humbug! \o/

(I'm in a terrible mood. Can you tell?)

Comments

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

My sister didn't get on the card merry-go-round years ago when she moved into her own apartment, so now when she doesn't send them out, people just shrug and accept it without having any problems with it if they notice at all. Of course if I missed anyone, there'd be scandal out the wazoo! She doesn't send out cards for anything; not wedding, birthday, sympathy, get-well, nor Christmas, from the beginning she maintained that cards were just not her thing. And apparently once you start, you're on the hook for the rest of your life.

I figure she's saved at least a couple of thousand dollars in cards and postage at this point.

[ulkis.livejournal.com]

What the hell am I supposed to send out pictures of? Me sitting on my couch swilling Smirnoff eating Cheetos watching I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant reruns?

I would love to get that kind of card. Much better than your regular 'card with kids on it'.

I love my Christmas tree, but cards, especially from people I see all the time, (or on the other extreme, never see or talk to), I think are an extra aggravation.

[anne-jumps.livejournal.com]

At least you don't do the dreaded ~Christmas Letters~

[random-serious.livejournal.com]

I could easily give up Christmas in general in a heartbeat.

Thank you! I always feel like I'm the only person who is not that attached to this particular holiday, but apparently there are others out there. Xmas? Too much socialisation, and not enough chocolate, napping, books, and movies during my precious days off.

[fyrdrakken]

Years and years ago, I came up with a few people I wanted to send cards to, so I just started spelunking in the leftovers from the cards Mom had bought in prior years. As time passed I had more and more people on my list, and started buying my own boxes of cards to replenish the stash, and then came a point when Mom didn't have the time or energy to send out cards and wound up just adding her signature to the cards I was sending to family members. So nowadays I'm the designated card-sender for the household, and I keep it up largely because I take such joy in sending the most egregiously Texan designs I can find off to Australia and the United Kingdom, and getting back cards from all over. (Not so many this year, but some.) Also there's the way I tend to buy my new cards when they go on sale after Xmas, so the next year there's always an element of anticipation in seeing what I'd forgotten about having bought last time.

Definitely it costs a bit (though getting my cards on sale helps), but the added bonus is that it counts as a sort of Yuletide participatory credit in terms of keeping me from being dragooned into helping decorate the house or anything else like that. I've sent the cards, my contribution is complete.

ETA: And there are some fun options in lieu of the photo cards, even if Halloween is your preference. I wish Hot Topic still sold holiday cards, I got some fun ones there, like unto the ones sold here for more than I'm generally willing to pay. Still, fun to browse.