I'm such a card

How many Christmas cards do you send out?

Do you send any at all?

Do you buy cards and maybe address them but then not send them out? And then maybe save them for next year - as long as the addresses don't change?

When I told Anna how many cards I sent out she said, "You have that many close friends?" And I thought, "Close friends? Is that the Christmas card rule?"

It's not my Christmas card rule, that's become clear. My list is just short of 150 cards. Given people's ever-present need to move house I usually end up sending out about 125. Last year I sent maybe 50 and just gave up because I got overwhelmed and I was making the cards plus making other cards for gifts and you can really only manipulate so many of those squares of pre-cut double sided tape before your brain stops short like my dog heading into the vet.

I send them to close friends, family, distant friends, distant family, colleagues, bosses, ex-colleagues and bosses, old roommates, industry contacts, neighbors, pretty much everybody in the world that I like and can dig up an address for. You're supposed to spread cheer, right? So I spread a lot of cheer. I like the conversations that get started and hearing back from people I haven't talked to in a while.

This year I had the cards made, with a photo I chose (taken by Miflohny) and they were in my possession a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. It was an unprecedented level of organization on my part. The experience was so blissful (thank you iPrint, and Audio Girl for introducing me to iPrint) I might just decide to be organized again next year. I've only got about 30 more cards to write and I've had fun doing it. The conversations may peter out by St. Patrick's day (or sooner) but at least I've had this much. Like I've said, I like to dwell in the past and digging up people from the past and finding out about their present is a treat for me.

What about you? Card sending philosophy anyone?