Christmas cards

We received our 1st Christmas card today.

I know I've written more than once about my ritual of writing, addressing, and sending Christmas cards. I've done it with joy every year for the last 18 Christmases without even questioning it. But this year I'm undecided about whether to continue this tradition this year.

The main reason I'm unsure about it this year is the expense. I usually buy deeply discounted cards right after Christmas for use the following year, but I didn't do so last Christmas. Even if I can find bargain-priced cards I will still spend about $40. - $50. to get 130 cards. Then there's the $57. cost for 130 stamps. In the past I usually order special Christmas and generic holiday return address labels for another $15. or so, making the total cost of sending 130 Christmas cards close to $125. Although work has been going well, we're still not in a position to casually spend $125. at a time when we're also purchasing Christmas gifts for family members and contributing toward Secret Santa for the needy.

An additional consideration is the time needed to write, address, seal, and stamp the cards. Although some people print address labels from their computers, I have always preferred hand-writing recipients' names and addresses. It seems much more personal to me. I suppose I have the same number of hours I'd had in past years to do this, for some reason I'm concerned that this year I may not have enough time.

Obviously I have considered that reducing my card list would require less expense and less time. But every year its hard enough to scratch some recipients off the list in order to add new recipients without increasing the total number, let alone to reduce the total number.

So even though Christmas is less than a month away and we've already received our 1st card, I'm still not sure what to do.