Sending Christmas Cards This Year Should Not Be a Chore

Do you buy Christmas cards at retail price or have cards embossed with your family name? Do you send out some generic card with just your signature on the bottom? Do you get started in the weeks before Christmas, or even AFTER the holiday? No wonder Christmas cards = drudgery to you. Here's a better way, and here's why I am already talking about this in November.

This year:

Buy Christmas cards AFTER Christmas (remember this for next year)

• Print out return address stickers on your computer or get ready to use the ones charities regularly send you thru the mail

• In the months BEFORE Christmas, start labeling the envelopes with the addresses of folks you want to send cards to. Look, I know some of those people are going to move, but would you rather redo a few envelopes for those who moved or sit down when time is tight and address the whole stack?

• People want to hear what you and your family are up to. They do not want some generic card with nothing personal on it. Ditto on just the signature line. I like to include a simple letter with a few scanned photos at the top in each letter. You don't need any special Christmas stationery. Plain white copy paper will do! One year, I even sent out just this letter in a business envelope. I also have a website. It doesn't change, website address-wise, and every year, I update it with the family goings-ons and new photos. I do this every year around Thanksgiving. Make sure to have a guestbook, so visitors can say hello.

• Photo cards can be inexpensive. Check Sam's Club or Costco for the cheapest prices I've seen. Last year, I was even able to get a photo card at Sam's, where I could put two photos on the front. It's sometimes hard to get everyone together, so having two spaces for photos really helps.
  
  What do you do?