Christmas cards?

HISTORIAN MERVYN EDWARDS TAKES A SCEPTICAL LOOK AT THE TRADITION OF SENDING YULETIDE MISSIVES

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HAVE readers sent all their Christmas cards yet - and while we're on the subject, how do you feel about the annual ritual of sending spidery scrawls on flimsy pieces of card?

You'll gather from my tone that I am no staunch believer in what is to some people akin to a military exercise - the keeping of a Christmas card list from the previous year, logging the folks who sent you a card, the regular trips to the post office to purchase some more stamps, the exhaustion of the household’s supply of Blu-Tack, the painful discovery of stray drawing pins and the rehanging of cards that blow down every time someone comes through the front door.

Perhaps you're thinking, “Come on, Mervyn, how much effort does it take to send a Christmas card to a friend?” You're right - very little. And that's my point. Sending a card whose cover depicts a cartoon reindeer and a pre-printed greeting inside accompanied by the words ‘from Dave to Mervyn’ hardly rates as an act of undying friendship.

I accept, also, that many older people relish receiving a card at Christmas - but I can assure you that they'd prefer a phone call or a personal visit if you're offering.

In recent years, some individuals have decided to make a stand against sending Christmas cards and have stated their intention to give to a good cause instead. This is nothing new. In the December of 1904, this newspaper launched what it called a Penny Fund where kindhearted readers, local pubs and workplaces etc sent donations to The Sentinel in order to feed the poor children of the Potteries.

One reader excused what he thought was his meagre contribution, explaining almost plaintively, “I wish it were more, but these bad times affect us all.”

Not that this meant festive card sending was as dead as last year’s Christmas poinsettias.