Christmas Cards – I’m a Failure

So it finally happened.  I knew the day would come but I didn’t think it would be this soon.  How could something so important have just fallen by the wayside to join the likes of blockbuster video stores and 8-track tapes?  But the reality is, it just doesn’t really matter anymore!  Did it happen to you too?  Are you also a failure?

For the first time ever, I didn’t send out Christmas cards

I had all intentions of doing it but somehow the time just slipped away and now here I am exactly 7 days before Christmas Eve and at precisely 2:54am this morning, I pondered this epic failure and decided that IT’S OK!!!

Because I realized that things have changed!  My family and friends no longer need an update on my family, they see it daily on Facebook.  They don’t need the little 2×3 school photos that Lifetouch Studios continues to diligently convince parents they need to purchase but no one ever takes out of the original envelope more than once.

What used to be a once-a-year attempt to connect with family and friends in a somewhat intimate way, is now the LEAST intimate way to connect.  You can’t even hit reply and give your instant feedback!  So while the old-schoolers will say that we have lost important connections, I beg to differ.  I believe that we are now more connected than we have ever been in history, thanks to technology, social media, email, chat, skype, etc.

We can still reconnect in meaningful ways

I’ll be the first to admit that technology overload seems to be at a peak right now but that pendulum will swing also and soon we’ll have standard communication methods that everyone uses.  Remember when the gold standard was AOL? LOL (If ANY of you still have an AOL email, just let it go!!)

So this year, I realized that everyone I care about (and several I really don’t) I have interacted with in the last 30 days either personally over the phone, via email, or social media.  Will it really mean anything to you that I spend $2.50 on a Christmas card with a logo and I take 2 seconds to scrawl a holiday message?

For a few of you, I know it still matters. So here it is –

I wish you the Very Happiest Holidays and I thank you so much for your continued trust and friendship.

Blessings this Holiday and into the New Year!!

There! I feel better.

Your humble servant, friend, and failure,

Nancy Hetrick