An E-mail Christmas letter

Today I had the best day! I sent a Christmas letter by email to about 80 people. I had many responses, maybe 16 within 5 hours of sending the email. Emails from people responding to my email Christmas letter.

When you send a card by snail mail...., it arrives...., you assume...., and you can imagine that the recipients have taped it with their other cards up around the archway between their living room and dining room... or you can assume that it is taped with their other cards around a mirror in the family room. Maybe your card is even nestled among other cards on their sofa table, the mantle over the fireplace.

Certainly it is not on the coffee table. Everyone knows you will need the coffee table before Christmas is over. Isn't that where everyone puts their pizza that gets delivered more often than normal at Christmas time?

After Christmas, friends and relatives will toss all the cards that aren't photographs. They may save a few whose addresses are new. Some will look again at the signatures, some will save them in a bag for next year. Most won't.

Lets examine the financial aspect. First you invest cash for 'kind of nice' cards, that actually mention the birth of Jesus and aren't too expensive, but don't look cheap. Then you call people whose addresses you don't have. If you aren't on a good cell phone plan, you will spend money on a land line phone bill. Next comes the time...........hour after hour after hour, with the help of a glass of wine, writing addresses, tearing up envelopes that have the right address but the wrong name......rewriting addresses...., pouring another glass of wine for courage to get through the project.

Even if nothing goes terribly wrong, you go to the post office to buy stamps. To send the same 80 messages, oh my gosh..... it would have been $31.20. Of course, I never would have sent 80 greetings. Maybe 20 people at the most would know I was thinking of them and wishing them the best this Christmas

Instead, I spent a couple of hours to send them individually and within hours I was warmly "regreeted" by 20 percent.

And so, it was.... the end of paper greeting cards in the Farris household.