Christmas cards

[Oma]

This morning I received a lovely email from a charity that does Christmas meals for the homeless and needy ,
I sent a donation to help out and they were so grateful for any help towards it
So I have decided ,

Next year I won’t be sending out any Christmas cards via post only ECards ,
All money I would spend on cards and stamps I will add to my donation to this charity again ,

Its heart breaking the number of people who are homeless or live alone and have no one to share the day with ,
if I can feed even one person or give a seat at the charities table so no one will be alone , to me is better than a card .

My DD has done this for a couple of years , I didn’t know she did till we were talking a few weeks ago so I will now be doing the same

[Plantaholic]

I admire your decision Oma but I would be worried that my friends would think I had popped my clogs.

[Gemini]

LOL Plant, people do assume that as we get older!

[Mimi]

Plant I understand completely what you mean. This year we haven't received a Christmas card from OH's best friend ( he was best man at our wedding) and his wife.
We have been exchanging cards for 50 years so its worry when suddenly it stops.

I understand the donate to charity instead of sending cards but I could never agree with the practice of paying for a Christmas greeting in local newspaper. Anyone who wanted to read their message had to buy the paper to read it. It worked out that you would have to pay to read your message!

My way around it is to buy Christmas cards directly from a favourite charity.

[Plantaholic]

Always buy my cards and calendar from The Lifeboats and pay the local Scouts to deliver the local ones. I think it is a bit daft to hand a card to a friend and they hand you one back, I would rather give that money to charity as they can see I am alive and well, wouldn’t say kicking. Oma, perhaps it would be a good idea to send cards next year and write in it what your intentions are for the following year.

[Oma]

I intend letting everyone know via FB or phone call Plant
there is only one or two that I only hear from at Christmas I will email them .
The German side I will tell when we phone them ,
we always send cards to them though they rarely send us cards , they tend to phone ,

ECards and emails from now on

Mimi I haven’t heard of the messages in the news paper , it’s not something that’s done up here , most people read our local echo online but never seen Christmas messages

[Daisy]

Oma - I agree, being homeless must be one of the worst things. We technically became homeless once when a house move went spectacularly wrong. We were lucky in that we could buy our way out of the situation, but actually finding somewhere to rent was touch and go. But imagine if you have no money, no job, no family ... life must seem hopeless. I've never forgotten that feeling, so I think what you are doing is kind, thoughtful and generous.

It's something I think about every year, but most of our cards go to friends a long way away, and many of them have been friends for many years and their friendships are very special. I like writing them a card and most years I put a little message in as well, commenting on their news or mentioning ours.

I think I would rather say give a donation to your favourite charity instead of buying a present.

Plant - yes, it is worrying when you don't hear from someone.

[Gemini]

Oma, that is a very worthy cause for your charity donation.

I enjoy giving and getting cards, and it is a tradition which will soon die out I fear. Not many young people send cards. Mainly just to us oldies I think!

[Nanto2girls]

Oma, i understand your sentiment,but i wouls still send cards.

[Daisy]

Gem - I agree. Most young people don't seem to send cards like we do. Perhaps it's because they have so many other ways of keeping in touch with people than we had in our day.