To e or not to e? That is The Question

Why do you send Christmas cards?

I used to send well over a hundred Christmas cards.  Gradually the number has dropped.  A few years ago after I'd been in NZ for a couple of years I decided to drop them altogether.  Sending Christmas cards is not a Big Thing in NZ.   However that never quite materialised and this year the number has risen again to somewhere around 40.   I still like sending them as a way of keeping in touch and letting people know that I'm thinking of them but I don't see the ones sent to Scotland until May (although Pat opens them and emails me the details) but they have dropped off each year (in fact I may not have any this year).  All the cards I send go overseas.  I don't know of anyone in NZ who sends cards apart from the occasional one to overseas relatives.  The thing is that the number of cards I've received has dropped significantly.  I'm sure one reason is that we keep in touch a lot more by other means: emails, texts, Skype, Facetime, Facebook and all these means of communication mean that if we want to keep in touch we generally do.  If the only communication is a card at Christmas I think one has to ask 'what's the point?'.

This year, for the first time, I received a significant number of ecards (I'm going to call them ecards and not e-cards to keep them on a par with emails):  Jacquie Lawson cards.  I've always wondered about them.  You look at them and then what?  I'm not sure that you can keep them but then why would you want to?  Mind you I have Christmas cards from some people going back to the year dot but then I'm a sentimental creature underneath this bluff exterior.

Anyway it seems that ecards are now acceptable to quite a lot of my friends.

Of course Christmas cards are not the only cards.  There are birthday cards too and all sorts of other cards although an ecard might be pointless to many people in hospital and I really can't see anyone sending an ecard for a bereavement.

Another problem I foresee in relation to Christmas cards is a problem someone sending me a card doesn't have.  I am me and only me.  What about couples and families?  Is the person who opens the email going to call everyone over to view it?

So do you still send Christmas cards (and if so do you send ecards) and what would you think if you received an ecard? 

Forms of Address

I've started my Christmas cards this afternoon (Sunday).

When I started work back in the '60s protocol was important.  A Minister of Religion was addressed as Reverend and Dear Sir unless he was higher up the ladder than a simple Reverend.  And so it went on.  We kept a Who's Who in the office and every honour etc was meticulously used.  Even the order was important.  I can still recall that I used to use J Graeme Bryson Esq CBE TD DL LLM JP as my guide for the different types of honour and their order of use.  When I came to the Western Isles I discovered that formalities of address were virtually non-existent.  In fact Lewis is a good training for New Zealand where first names are the order of the day most of the time and you have to know someone quite well to know their family or surname.

Nowadays however there are many more pitfalls for people who cling to some formality in addressing people on letters.  I've given up trying to work out which of my female friends likes Ms, Miss, Mrs or just plain Jane Plain.  Some use the family name from their first marriage, some revert to their surname, some use the surname of their second marriage, some hyphenate any combination of the two.  All in all it's a bit of a minefield for the unknowing and the unwary.  

Men are easier.  I've taken to doing something I actually find anathema - or would have done until now - and for the most part am just using the forename and family/surname with no embellishments.  

And that's just the start.  I'm not venturing any further...

Monopoly Deal: A Compuslive Game

When Mike and I were staying with Judy near Palmerston North for a croquet tournament Judy introduced us to a card game called Monopoly Deal.  To be honest I find Monopoly a little tedious because it goes on for so long and, if you are playing it with children, they tend to get impatient and fractious.  I played a lot of card games with my Mum and Dad and Grandmother when I was young but the only card game I have ever truly loved is Bridge. So to have a card game of Monopoly did not sound inviiting.  How wrong I was.  Monopoly Deal is quite a different kettle of fish.  It's fast and serious whilst being light-hearted and full of fun (if played in the correct spirit).  

So when we went to stay at Sandra's bach for the weekend a few weeks ago I took along Monopoly Deal.  Just as well because the poor weather curtailed our walks a bit.  Jayne wasn't too enthusiastic because she doesn't like cards.  Like me, though, she was soon converted!

I decided that a few friends were going to get it as presents but couldn't find it in the UK over the internet.  So I bought up the New Zealand supply!  Now it's available on Amazon UK!  Bum.  I could have avoided all those games in my case.  But they will still be getting it and in the $ version anyway!