Constable: No Kardashians, but holiday cards hit spot
Don't ask me to justify the reason for any of this, but I read in the International Business Times that the Kardashian family won't be sending out a holiday card this year. The addition of Kanye West to the Kardashian brood might have something to do with the decision. Or maybe it was the subtraction of Bruce Jenner. Or maybe, with all the attention given Kim Kardashian's most recent photo shoot, the family couldn't agree on a suitable wardrobe choice.
However (and again, I can't really explain why I know any of this), I read in USA Today that Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi picked up the holiday card slack by goofing on Kim Kardashian's recent magazine shoot. The married couple appear on a card that features the heads of DeGeneres and de Rossi photo-shopped on bodies with big, glossy rear ends (tastefully adorned with red bows) while wishing folks "Happy Holidays, And a Shiny New Year."
If that tickles your fancy, you can log onto jibjab.com and send friends "Merry Christmas" wishes by adding familiar faces to the big-butted cartoon elves in Santa's Twerk Shop. Opinion is mixed on the Holderness family, the latest group associated with holiday greetings. The adorable family of four became a viral sensation last year with their sweet video about their Christmas Jammies. Now, they produce videos for a living, appear in commercials, landed a reality-TV deal and are discovering that some members of the fickle public already are sick of their 2014 Christmas video and their new "Season's Eatings" spot for Weight Watchers.
Meanwhile, in my suburban inbox this week, I received an assortment of eCards, ranging from the impersonal "Sending Warm Wishes for the Holidays" e-card with animated falling snow from a nonpartisan research center, to the always enjoyable and joyful smilebox.com Christmas card from a couple of readers and friends who moved to Arizona but still take time to put together an e-card with photographs, great music and a quick update on their year.
With all the possibilities to spread holiday greetings in our digital age, it seems as if my family actually has been getting a goodly number of old-fashioned cards sent through the even older-fashioned United States Postal Service.
"We're seeing the same thing," says Natasha L. Rankin, executive director of the Greeting Card Association. "What we have found, interestingly enough, is that while there has been a significant decline of first-class mail, holiday cards have held their own. I'm actually receiving more cards than I did three or four years ago."
According to The Household Diary Study, which is funded by the post office and surveys more than 5,200 households each year, the number of people sending greeting cards through the mail actually increased each year from 2010 to 2012 among people who made $35,000 to $65,000 a year. The number of people younger than 35 who mailed cards increased by 30 percent from 2011 to 2012. That number jumped by 25 percent for people ages 35 to 54.
Among the entire American population, the number of personal letters in the mail fell 23.5 percent between 2010 and 2012. But holiday cards dropped only 6.2 percent from 2010 to 2011, and remained unchanged from 2011 to 2012.
"Sending and receiving greeting cards is part of the tradition of the holidays," Rankin says.
That tradition survives and even welcomes the addition of Bridget, a single woman with four married sisters who mocks those "perfect family" holiday cards by producing cards signed "Love, Bridget, just Bridget," and showing her embracing her single status by surrounding herself with pets and alcohol.
"I saw that. That was awesome," Rankin says, adding that today's holiday consumer has so many card options. "Greeting card companies are selling at farmers markets."
Many people display the holiday cards they receive so that the cards become part of the holiday decorations.
Fears that the digital age might kill holiday cards have given way to an appreciation for the ways technology makes it easier to mail cards.
"It's like, 'The king is dead. Long live the king,'" Rankin says. People who used to go to a store, buy cards, write notes, look up addresses and mail them off, can do the same thing with the same card companies online "just as if you went to the store and picked it out," she says. Companies will track down a mailing address from a cellphone or an email, allow customers to personalize cards and "sign them via an app," and mail them out just as if they were cards sent in 1967.
"I wish I had a crystal ball to see what the future holds," Rankin says. "But I see cards remaining robust. They've been around for 150 years, and I think we'll continue to see them around for another 150 years."