I admit that [my] using the email to send out holiday greetings still seems a little tacky (even if I tried to spruce it up). I would love to hide behind the ecological zeitgeist, but facility, timing and economics are all part of the “excuse.” Meanwhile, I was quite taken aback by the deluge of the Happy New Year messages I received via SMS this year. And the messages came throughout the day and night from all around the world (Sydney to San Fran via Iceland).
As you may now realize, I like to tabulate…things. This post is about tabulating the latest holiday greetings’ media.
SNAIL MAIL As a family, we received the dinkiest number of Christmas cards in my memory (which in this case likely means in my lifetime). I have found a grand total of 22 cards sent by post to our home (I exclude professional cards). No woe is me in this stat, especially since I barely got out any cards myself. Updated Jan 6, 2008: Since we live on the 6th floor and our elevator is closed for renovation [for two months, yikes], our mail it turns out was being held by our concierge. I just spoke with our concierge who handed me a sack of mail, including another 20 or so Christmas cards… so snail mail isn’t dead yet!
ELECTRONICA There were 10 Happy Holiday e-cards, 4 “spam” i.e. non personalized mailings (like mine cited above), and a good number of replies to my spam (I didn’t count, but I would have to say near 40 return hello’s). Naturally, on Facebook, there was the barrage of x-mail and 12 super wall messages.
TELEFONICA You still get the phone calls from the nearest and dearest (including a few Skypers). Then, there were the 34 SMS messages that I received on my cell. Wow. I get the feeling that the phone companies will not be complaining about that!
So, what will the 2008 Happy Holidays landscape look like? Facebook up or down? SMS more and more? Skype’s the limit?
For as long as I am allowed, I continue to wish you all ha pi ho li daze (that’s the second time on this blog, for those of you counting). And, am glad to usher in the wonderful period of the Galette des Rois…
Ah hem…I sent emailed cards this year too. The way I think of it: better for the environment, better late than never, any contact is good! But you are right too in that it is likely partly excuses…still, I heard back from lots of folks that I hadn’t been in contact with a while.
Well, now, at long last, I am trying to do a little tidying of blueVicar and I realized that I failed to add a link to your blog when you left a jotting wwwaaayyyy back in July. I will do so now; please let me know if you would rather I remove it.
Meilleurs voeux!!