Merry Christmas 2022 Blytonites!

[Katharine]

Get well soon, Nigel, my old friend. I'm certainly not wasting nearly a quid to send you a card.

With the current postal service it might be next Christmas before it reaches him anyway.

[Katharine]

Well the decorations came down on the 6th, apart from my Nativity scene as the wise men only arrived at Epiphany so I think they ought to be allowed to stay out for a little longer. I've also kept my cards up, as many didn't arrive until a day or so before Christmas (and one or two afterwards), so it seems a shame to have to take them down almost as soon as I put them up!

I'm not sure if I've broken an unwritten Christmas rule though. I didn't get a chance to watch 'Love Actually' in the lead up to Christmas, and I was feeling fed up today of the miserable weather, so I indulged in a couple of hours of 'comfort viewing'. It certainly cheered me up - I just hope I haven't brought about all kinds of bad luck for the rest of the year though in watching a festive film at the 'wrong' time.

[Moonraker]

Well the decorations came down on the 6th, apart from my Nativity scene as the wise men only arrived at Epiphany so I think they ought to be allowed to stay out for a little longer.

They managed a good journey from the wilds of Persia to get to Nazareth by the 6th. I must say, I get slightly irritated to see them on Christmas cards, for the reason you give!

[Katharine]

Well if I ever start to send you a Christmas Nigel I'll try and bear that in mind.

I find the choosing of cards soooooo difficult. I don't send religious ones to people unless I feel they would appreciate them, as I'm always afraid people will think I'm trying to 'preach' to them. I recently found out that someone who doesn't mind religious cards absolutely hates choir boys though, so that's another thing to have to remember for the future.

I tried to stock up in Card Factory the other day as they were selling their cards off half price, but the only ones I liked the pictures on had soppy words in them! Whatever happened to phrases such as 'Happy Christmas', or 'Seasons Greetings'?

[Bertie]

I only got to start taking down the decorations later than planned on the 6th, and so left my tree until the 7th. Which at least gave me one more night to enjoy it in all its glory!

But they're all down now for another year.

Though the tree will remain outside for a couple of months - looking a little sad without all the lovely decorations and lights, but at least still looking in quite healthy shape so far.
And I'm definitely going to put all the decorations back up around the house the minute Bonfire Night has passed.
I also keep my favourite baubles / decorations in a place that's a lot more accessible than my Christmas cupboard, so I can have a peek at them at times throughout the year rather than not see them for 10/11 months of the year.

[Wolfgang]

I tried to stock up in Card Factory the other day as they were selling their cards off half price, but the only ones I liked the pictures on had soppy words in them! Whatever happened to phrases such as 'Happy Christmas', or 'Seasons Greetings'?

You could try creating your own Christmas cards and print them out if you're happy with the result.

[Katharine]

That is a good suggestion Wolfgang, and one that I have considered in the past. For several years now I've thought that maybe I could try one of the designs from either a copy of The Teacher's Treasury or one of Enid's Holiday books. I even went as far as buying some coloured card a couple of years ago, but that's as far as my creativity got.

My biggest problem is firstly the quantity: I send about 60 cards, and I'm not sure I would want to manufacture that many. If I decided to only make and send cards to a few on my list, I'm not sure where I would draw the line between who should get/would want a hand made card, and who would prefer a shop bought one.

Plus of course it doesn't really solve the design problem, ie would those who are religious be upset to get a card with a snowman/Father Christmas on it, or might people think it's too childish? Someone I know had a child a few years back who was terrified of Father Christmas, so I always made sure I sent them something else!

Oh well, I have another 11 months to think about what to do for next Christmas and who knows, I may spot some suitable discounted cards somewhere between now and then.

[Boodi 2]

Although we have really cut down on sending Christmas cards due to the cost of postage we generally make our own. My husband is the artist and contributes the front of the card (usually a fairly abstract design), while I write the greeting inside in calligraphy, which most people seem to appreciate. In previous years I also wrote an appropriate text in calligraphy for the front of the card and then had it photocopied about 50 times, which meant that I only had to write the greeting inside the card and address the envelope. As calligraphy is slow it often took me three days to finish all the cards!

[Katharine]

I'm lucky that most of my cards are local ones so can be delivered by hand. I think I have 6 that need to be posted, and one of those is a friend who often visits her family near Christmas, so sometimes I can give that to her in person. I don't have any overseas ones, so that obviously helps keep the cost down. Out of the local ones that aren't within walking distance, I think about 10 can be sent via our local Scout groups who operate a postal service which raises funds. They only charge half the price of Royal Mail, so another saving.

I probably have another dozen which my parents usually drop off for me when they deliver their own - I know that sounds a bit unfair as it's their petrol, but most of those they deliver presents with too, so they'd have to drive anyway.

So I don't have to worry too much about the cost, it's finding the time to choose and write them that is sometimes a struggle - my daughter and I were out on Christmas Eve delivering the last half dozen by hand. This year it was quite pleasant as it was a sunny day.

[Boatbuilder]

I have a room full of craft materials and equipment as Enid used to make lots of cards herself until a few year ago. I wish I had the time and patience she had to do that. She made some beautiful cards over the years. I would create the inserts with the verses on them on the computer and print them out for her to glue them into the card.

Maybe one day.....!

[Moonraker]

Plus of course it doesn't really solve the design problem, ie would those who are religious be upset to get a card with a snowman/Father Christmas on it, or might people think it's too childish? Someone I know had a child a few years back who was terrified of Father Christmas, so I always made sure I sent them something else!

I think you may be overthinking the issue, Katharine. Is it really a problem? If anyone took offence/got upset over receiving a Christmas card from you, then they don't deserve to get one in the first place.

[Katharine]

I would just hate to think I'd sent someone something they didn't like.

[Boodi 2]

We received some (actually two) cards at Christmas that my husband and I found somewhat over-religious and old-fashioned. However, far from feeling offended by the senders we appreciated the fact that they had thought of us and sent us good wishes. I then placed the (in our view) "not so nice" cards behind some of the others, which we display on the top of the piano, on a window ledge and on a small table in our living room!

[Katharine]

Now that's just the kind of dilemma I have when choosing which cards to send.

[Courtenay]

I don't send or give nearly as many paper cards as I used to — I subscribe to a really good e-card service, which I use for my family in Australia (to save postage!), and most of my paper cards for friends here in England are ones I can deliver by hand. I do always give a lot of thought to which kinds of cards I give to whom, though. I'm a churchgoer myself, but my family are not religious at all and so I never send them cards with a religious theme; ditto if I'm giving a card to anyone I don't know well enough to know what their personal beliefs (or non-beliefs!) are.

Of course most people won't get offended either way, and I myself don't mind at all whether the Christmas cards I receive from others are religious or secular or whatever — it's the thought that counts. It's just that I personally like to try to pick cards to suit each individual as far as I can. I tend to buy up a variety of different cards for that reason, and often have some left over from previous years, so there are plenty to choose from. For example, this past Christmas I deliberately picked a card with St Michael's Mount on it (printed by a Cornish company) for a pair of friends who love holidaying in Cornwall. And I happened to have a few copies of a card with a picture of a stained-glass window depicting Isaiah chapter 11 from the Bible ("the wolf shall lie down with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid" etc.), so I gave those to friends who I know are vegetarian!