Tag: christmas cards

Sending Christmas Cards that Actually Say Merry Christmas

I recently started a side job working in a neighborhood doctor’s office. I’ve worked in many different jobs over the years and the skills used are all pretty similar. Typing letters and transcribing notes is all the same except for the terminology used. However, after a few months it became very apparent that this job was very different from others. The doctor sends out Christmas cards to his patients…ALL of his patients, whether they celebrate Christmas or not! You may be saying to yourself, “So what? Our office sends out holiday cards too.” You may be right, but the difference is that our doctor sends out company Christmas cards.

There is a distinction. In this day and age of everyone being politically correct, we actually pick out Christmas cards that wish everyone a “Merry Christmas.” Not holiday cards that wish “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Holidays,” but Christmas cards that say the often forbidden words “MERRY CHRISTMAS.”

The doctor’s philosophy, which I happen to agree with, is that there is nothing wrong with sending Christmas cards wishing people a Merry Christmas, whether they are Christian, Jewish or Muslim. He feels that he is sharing his holiday joy with everyone he comes in contact with and how can expressing his thoughtful message with Christmas cards be construed as wrong.

So if you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, our office wishes you the best of the holiday season, peace and the love of family. And may you receive plenty of Christmas cards yourself!

My Dad’s Favorite Holiday Cards Inspired by Mother Nature

Once the Christmas season rolls around, we all come across plenty of holiday cards in stores or our own mailboxes. Some greeting cards are beautiful, others are funny, and then there are some holiday cards that bring back memories and truly hit home. Whenever I see winter scene cards, I’m reminded of my dad.

My dad was a real nature lover, preferring to be outdoors whenever he could. Growing up on a dairy farm in a small town in Pennsylvania, he spent his boyhood days taking care of the barnyard animals, fishing, swimming, and just enjoying the countryside. On snowy winter days, he would put on his skis and set out for school, trekking across the meadows to a one-room schoolhouse. My dad had an endless assortment of stories about growing up on the farm with nine brothers and sisters. When he spoke of those long ago days, it brought to mind the beautiful Currier & Ives paintings of winter scenes and I thought about how nice it must have been to grow up in such a place, surrounded by so much natural beauty.

My dad left the Pennsylvania mountains when he married my Mom. They moved to New York City, where my mom was from, and then to the suburbs when they started raising a family. I could tell that he missed country life. He lived in the suburbs, but his heart remained in the mountains of Pennsylvania, a place that would always be home to him.

One Christmas while shopping for holiday cards to send to family members, I came across some really wonderful Christmas cards. I picked out one of these pretty holiday cards for my dad, a greeting card with beautiful snow-covered mountains, a babbling brook and a family of deer in the foreground. He never mentioned the greeting card to me, but after the holidays I stopped by his house to take him out to breakfast at his favorite place, IHOP. He was crazy about their buckwheat pancakes! Anyway, I noticed that on his bedroom dresser was the holiday card I had sent him. The Christmas card was propped up in front of all his other stuff, so he could see it each time he passed by. He saw me looking at the holiday card, came over and picked it up. “You know,” he said, “This is the best greeting card anybody ever sent me. It reminds me of home. “

My dad’s been gone quite a few years now and I’ll always miss him, but I smile each time I think of that one little Christmas card and how happy it made him.

Christmas Cards and their Lasting Beauty

It’s February and I just put away the Christmas cards that were sent to me this past holiday. You may wonder why it took me this long. Yes, I know it’s been a month and a half since Christmas but I was enjoying the artistry of the holiday cards and didn’t feel the need to take them down immediately. Or maybe I’m just lazy!

During the Christmas season, I display all of the holiday cards that my husband and I receive on the back of our front door. With a little tape and strategic positioning, the door quickly turns into a collective masterpiece of Christmas trees, ornaments, snowmen, and landscapes. Photo cards showcase the smiling faces of our nieces, nephews, and friends’ children, who all seem to grow up faster and faster every year. Also included are business Christmas cards extending season’s greetings from our employers and colleagues. It’s nice to pass by the colorful display and admire all of the well wishes sent to us by friends and family.

All good things must come to an end though, so I relented and decided it was time to take down the holiday cards. I don’t throw them out because I like to reuse the designs in creative and eco-friendly ways. Greeting cards are perfect for making decorations or adding some style when wrapping gifts. Keeping our Christmas cards also ensures that we include each sender on next year’s mailing list. I look forward to seeing new cards next Christmas!

For the Love of Sending Greeting Cards

My friends will all tell you how much I love sending greeting cards. I’m the type of person who has been known to read half the cards in the store before selecting the perfect one (which is why nobody I know will go to a card store with me). I don’t just send birthday cards or Christmas cards; I love sending thinking of you cards or even “Today is Wednesday” cards. Whatever the occasion, I’ll buy cards in advance so I have them on hand when needed. Naturally, when I started working for a greeting card company, my friends laughed and said I must be in heaven now.

I am in heaven because not only are there new and beautiful cards to admire every year, I am surrounded by people who continually chat about greeting cards. “How do you like the new birthday cards?” our Creative team wonders. “Which Christmas cards are your favorites?” asks our Chief Marketing Officer. “Did you see the new assortment box?” questions a coworker. The all-things-greeting-cards atmosphere combined with the enthusiasm of our employees are surefire ways to produce a quality product that I personally love to talk about.

So when my boss asked me to write for our greeting card blog, I decided that my love of greeting cards was the perfect topic. Greeting cards are a wonderful way to connect with people, and I’ll share a tip…I save and reuse cards too. I cut up the cards with great pictures and use them as gift tags or presents. This is a terrific way to reuse a paper product, and anything friendly for the environment can’t be a bad thing.

Christmas vs. Season’s Greetings

When I set about to order my Christmas cards, I became aware that in the past, being politically correct was not an issue that affected me. I reviewed some of the cards that I received in previous years and, lo and behold, most of them wished me a Merry Christmas!

The more I think about it, the more I am starting to doubt the “correctness” of avoiding the Merry Christmas phrase. After all, do the recipients of these cards not know that the season in Season’s Greetings includes Christmas?

In my opinion, anyone who thinks about me and takes the time to contact me is obviously not trying to offend me. On the other hand, if I am aware that a friend or contact is sensitive to this issue, I will act accordingly. I think that we should take the recipients of our cards into consideration, and then choose a card that pleases us as well as it would please them. It is a well known observation that when choosing a gift, one should choose something that they would really like to keep for themselves!

Should we no longer send Season’s Greetings cards altogether? Of course not; but let’s not make using “Merry Christmas” a thing of the past either.

Religious Christmas Cards Celebrate the Reason for the Season

The day and the season are called Christmas for a reason. I like to acknowledge and celebrate the reason for the season. That’s why I choose to send religious Christmas cards. They allow me to express the joy and peace I feel for this glorious occasion, and to spread and share these feelings with others. It’s a choice that helps me to stay centered during a hectic time of year.

Often I will choose a nativity scene; there are so many beautiful versions from which to choose. Certainly I have used prints of famous paintings, but sometimes I’ve been drawn by the simplicity of more modern representational art.

Some years, as I recall in 2001, I felt an urgency to let a white dove represent my deeply felt beliefs. I’ve found a couple of other ways to express both my religious beliefs and my hopes for peace on this earth. One year I sent a whole wreath of doves, and last year I sent a lovely Christmas tree that was decorated with doves. I also enjoy using religious Christmas cards that picture angels. It’s my little way of sending the reminder that “angels are among us.”

Although I’m not trying to tell others what beliefs they should hold or how they should worship, it’s important to me to express my faith in my daily life. One way for me to do that at Christmas is to choose religious cards celebrating the birth of Christ and wishing peace to everyone.