My first Christmas card this year arrived on December 1st. My big brother, Raymond is always before-time (that means more than on-time!). It brought a smile to my face and it got me thinking.

I don’t know about you but I have noticed that the number of Holiday cards we receive have continued to dwindle each year. Back in the day before Facebook we would receive more than 100 cards at Christmas time. Some were just cards but many had notes and updates of family events, adventures and happenings. I was always excited to open each card and get caught up with a family member, old friend or associate. Currently, we still received nearly 50 but nothing like yester-years.

Should I take it personal?

Or

Did you see a drop in the number of Christmas cards received this year, too?

Laura Johnston’s post of “Why we send holiday cards — and what are the trends in 2019? states that Christmas is the largest card sending period; and, that more than half of Americans send a card during this holiday. That same post quoted an industry expert saying “For all of us who live in a very digitized world, it is a set of memories that your family will flip through later on in life. Social media hasn’t impacted that.”

In my humble opinion as a consumer, it has been a trend for the past 3-5 years that there has been a slight decrease; and, I do attribute it to social media. Ancetdotally, I believe that Christmas greetings delivered by the good old United States Postal Services (some fondly refer to it as snail-mail) have declined. I suspect that with Facebook and other social media channels that more people keep up with one another throughout the year; or, should I say on a daily basis? Although, I do see that some are sending their greetings via their Facebook page. It is no longer necessary to order greeting cards, include a family update, address the cards, affix a stamp and mail them by December 18th to make sure the arrival happens prior to the 24th of December. The process does seem arduous but I still like to do it. With that said, I have to confess that I too cut back on my Holiday greeting cards this year. It took me a while but I finally did it.

You can call me old fashion. I love the art of hand writing notes, special Christmas greetings with a card that I had to spend time creating. For me, it is a process. It gives me time to reflect on our year as a family, both our obstacles and our joys. After I think about it for a while, I curate photos that highlight our year and show our daughter’s growth. I show my ideas to the family who always approve the card on the first round.

Then I started thinking, is this a personal thing? Of course it is. It is my choice to communicate annually with Holiday cards. It is others choice to participate in Facebook and update friends and neighbors on a daily basis. I do know one thing, I can count on my brother, Raymond to send us the first Christmas greeting to get the Holiday spirit and the season off to a great start! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Sonya Ruff Jarvis, is the Managing Member of Jarvis Consultants and the Founder of the eRetailer Summit and JC Event Group. An expert in her field, Sonya has been published in numerous retail industry b-to-b publications. Sonya shares her experiences in her book series Mindful Minutes: A Marketer’s Journey Through Business. In addition, Sonya collaborated in publishing an anthology, Mentoring Moments: 14 Remarkable Women Share Their Breakthroughs to Success. To purchase Sonya’s books go to AMAZON.

Sonya has a M.B.A. in Marketing. She is married and has a daughter and they live in Trumbull, Connecticut.

Follow Sonya on twitter at @jarvisconsult or @eretailersummit