Call it a serious dose of nostalgia: During December’s lead up to Christmas, high tech doesn’t take center stage for me.
The Nat King Cole Christmas album my parents cherished is playing—granted it is the iTunes version instead of the 33-1/3 LP.
I open the fresh box of holiday cards, uncap the fountain pen and begin to write, in long-hand, our holiday cards. I verify postal addresses using the contacts list on my SmartPhone. This year’s holiday stamps are affixed. Stickers with trees, festive birds and St. Nick himself double seal the back of the envelope. All are now ready to be physically "snail-mailed."
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Just how does technology and tradition match up? It’s a timely question with this week’s announcement of proposed service reductions by the U.S. Postal Service. According to usps.com, “We’re expecting nearly 16 billion cards, letters and packages between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve . . . .”
'Tis the season for holiday cards, letters to Santa, the annual family newsletters, and boxes of gifts.
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Holiday Cards: Technology on Paper
Customization has raised the bar. The "old school" way—pick a pre-printed design with its associated text—just doesn’t do it anymore. Select a basic design, employ your own photos and text, order the specific quantity you want, and order online.
There are dozens of card websites. Just Google “holiday cards 2011” and click through them. Two of my favorites are minted.com and holidaycardwebsite.com. Minted has mini-book and timeline features in addition to traditional flat and folded cards. Ongoing design competitions, professional typesetting and thick paper stock make minted.com cards unique. Holidaycardwebsite.com has dozens of messages you can pick from or write your own. It also gives you several ink colors from which to choose.
Letters to Santa
Children have been sending notes to Santa for over a hundred years, according to usps.com. These are filled with reminders of all their good deeds (and apologies for the bad) along with their wish for a particular gifts. Operation Santa began in 1912 with postal employees, citizens and eventually charitable organizations and local businesses as well, answering thousands of letters every year.
There are dozens of “free Santa Letter” websites. Some include Santa templates and North Pole postmarks on the response. Tip: Go with a website featuring an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to reduce the possibility of a scam.
Annual Family Newsletters
These usually make me uncomfortable. Why would someone detail the lousy year they’ve had or divulge personal hardship in basically an open letter? So, the annual family newsletter tends to be annoyingly cheerful and somewhat pompous.
Still, it’s easy to see where the notion came from—a one-size-fits-all summary of the year’s achievements. Shutterfly has a combination holiday card and an easy to take, reduced annual family newsletter called “Top Moments.” The 5 x 7 version gives you space for your “Top 10 of 2011”, while the 4 x 8 “Top 5 of 2011” is perfect to convey true highlights without going on and on.
Online templates and recommendations for what to write abound. Squidoo offers eight suggestions to help any struggling author make it easier on the letter’s recipients.
Boxes of Gifts
Personally selecting, wrapping and mailing gifts engages me more than handing off these tasks to another. Time is of the essence in getting gifts from here to there. Several options are available in the Burke area including the big three: US Postal Service (USPS), UPS and FedEx.
USPS handles billions of boxes. December 22 Express Mail is the last option for getting your box to its recipient by Christmas. Helpful tips on what to pack, how to pack it, and deadline dates for shipping increase your possibility of success.
UPS and FedEx offer those and more. Cards, calendars and printing services extend shipping alone. Unlike USPS, UPS and FedEx offer services to pack and label your gifts at their stores. For absolute deadline dates, FedEx will accept packages as late as December 23 for delivery before Christmas and UPS as late as December 24. The recycling services post-Christmas from UPS are impressive.
Burke has a UPS Store on Burke Centre Parkway and several drop box locations. FedEx has three self-service locations in Burke.
Maybe it does work to blend nostalgia and new technology in wishing family and friends well for the holidays, in your child getting his or her message to Santa, and in getting gifts to their recipients'.
Should I add Justin Bieber singing "Under the Mistletoe" to Nat King Cole’s “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” for a new mix of holiday songs?
