Today is my brother in law’s birthday…he lives in the US and all I had to do to show that I cared and remembered was send an e-greeting… how convenient…but how impersonal… And while I say that to myself, I realize that in all our humdrum and chaos of connectivity and being reachable; its extremely daunting to remember birthdays and anniversaries and other such important dates and days in our lives… we have become lazy as a culture… lackadaisical and even jaded to some extent…
When I was little, my mother taught me how to make a greeting card album…first of course there weren’t any emails and e-greetings and twitters and Facebook… (Bah! Facebook even helps you remember important dates in people’s lives)…but in those days to have received a greeting card on one’s birthday and a phone call on one’s anniversary gave one that special buoyant feeling that you are remembered, thought about and people care to remember when you first landed on this planet 
So well yes, everyone sent handwritten letters or cards … and we received a dozen… every year…anniversaries, birthdays, just to say hello cards, congratulation cards to wish on getting good grades in school and invitation cards to marriages et al. My mother used to buy the simple drawing books or sketch books and paste the cards in there… soon we had some two or three such large drawing books full of lovely greeting cards and invitation cards…they were such amazing conversation starters when people came over… they were some things that I showed off to my friends… they became my store house of creative ideas and designs that I could draw from…
Image is from www.clarks-news.co.uk/
So everyone I knew had a coin album, stamp album and all that… but I had greeting card album… my grand parents marriage invitation card, my brothers annaprashan ceremony (first time a child is given rice to eat ) cards, my parents wedding anniversary cards, cards from my friends, and new year cards…
But now we don’t get cards that often… we send e-greetings.. so there is hardly anything to collect… of course we do save a lot of trees by not sending paper cards and all that… but the charm of remembering people is lost… Facebook helps you remember birthdays, 123 greetings helps you send e-cards, you sms wishes and even have gtalk statuses saying Happy Birthday dear… but the old world charm of Oh-you-remembered-my-birthday excitement has faded… guess am aging … but then am not complaining… it’s something I miss… a fond memory of beautiful thoughts, lovely words, thank you notes and three dimensional two folds that made each of those days so special…
wow maddy, i ahve a huge collection of cards that we have got over the years tooo.. i carry them with me everywhere.. when i left home and went to hostel for the first time i took them.. when i left chennai and returned i took them and the additions that happened to the collection over the 3 years. They have followed me to Bangalore also and its great to spend time reading them sometimes. Never fail to bring a smile on my face
Nicely written
Love Poo
wow maddy, i have a huge collection of cards that we have got over the years tooo.. i carry them with me everywhere.. when i left home and went to hostel for the first time i took them.. when i left chennai and returned i took them and the additions that happened to the collection over the 3 years. They have followed me to Bangalore also and its great to spend time reading them sometimes. Never fail to bring a smile on my face
Nicely written
Love Poo
yeah…same here… but somehow over the past few years i have hardly got any… and i always loved getting cards.. because somehow its special… it means someone at least remembers the day and walks into a store thnkking of what u may like and sends u a card:)
Yes, I have cards from when I was little and they are all saved up in a photo album. I also started the tradition for my daughter who turned 1 last year, as she got some very special cards.
I agree that ecards are impersonal. However, the people who love to send them do it mostly for convenience.
But there is a system, called Send Out Cards, that allows you to send a customized and personalized card from your computer (like an ecard) BUT then prints it, puts it in an envelope and mails a REAL CARD to the recipient. And, it’s very economical…less than 1/3 the cost of a card at the store.
Anyone is welcome to try the system FREE at http://www.remembergreetingcards.com/ivette
Hope everyone gets more cards in 2010!
thats a great option Ivette…. will check out the link and let you know… Seasons greetings to you and your family
Hmmm… Agree.. while we like it or not, it is becoming too very impersonal.. I still try and make it a point to buy a card along with a present for my parents, coz i know they treasure that more than any other materialistic gift they receive. Somehow have not been able to get myself to do so for everyone, but do add in a personal message in the e-cards sent..
Thats so sweet Divs… I got a few cards at my wedding and i treasure them…
Its always nice to get greeting cards and save them for memories. I like displaying holiday cards during Christmas on a fireplace mantle. =)