Tis the season to give and receive holiday cards! But what do they say about the person sending them? In a word, tons!
Holiday cards have become more of a projective test than ever before....similar to a Rorschach.
When I was young, holiday cards were pretty simple. My mother would find a few boxes of holiday Christmas cards that she liked and she would sign them herself. When my sisters and I were older, we would help pick out the boxes of cards from the store and would sign them all together with Christmas music playing in the background and watching the snow fall around our home in Rhode Island with a mug of hot cocoa nearby. It was great fun as I recall and we loved the various cards that we would receive. The fancy ones (e.g., large, multicolored, and with printed signatures) were sent by companies and the very few wealthy people that we knew. We hung them up and enjoyed them until after the first of the year.
Today, so many people (especially those with children) get and receive uniquely made holiday cards that typically highlight a family picture or pictures of travel adventures and activities. In a word, the cards have become more narcissistic. Often they say, "Here we are enjoying an exotic vacation or being impressive on the ball field or recital hall" or some variation on that theme (Gee, is that the Paris Eiffel Tower in the background or is it the one from Las Vegas? Maybe it's the one at Legoland). Don't get me wrong, I love sending and receiving holiday cards. I look forward to seeing how friends and family have grown and matured during the past year. I even look forward to those highy detailed holiday letters that some friends and family send out with remarkable and extensive details about their many achievements and successes during the previous year. My 13-year-old son loves photography (especially of nature) and enjoys nothing more than designing the annual holiday card from our family featuring some of his best nature photos (usually from his boy scout backpacking trips in the California Sierras).
