Thursday, September 06, 2007

carding

I had this great idea.

I'm terrible about sending out birthday cards to my family and friends. When I got married, Sam informed me that he never got a birthday greeting from his brothers until they got married, implying that it was now my wifely duty to send birthday cards to all Sam's siblings and their spouses, along with my own siblings and their spouses, as well as to our parents and grandparents. I wasn't too surprised and even expected that I'd do so, no matter who I married. So, the point is, now that I'm married, I really feel a responsibility for birthday cards.

So here's my plan: in free moments of time, I'll write birthday cards with generic well-wishes like, "Hope you had a super day!" "See you at the holidays!" "We miss you!" which could apply to everyone (kind of like horoscopes). Then I'll pop them into envelopes, address one to each person I'm responsible for, slap a forever stamp on there, and then file them away to be sent monthly.

What do you think? Brilliant? or Un-feeling and Insensitive?

4 comments:

tpmotd said...

That's really funny, because on Tuesday I put all the birthdays I need to remember onto my Google Calendar and figured out just how many different kinds of cards I'd need to make or buy in bulk for parents, siblings, and nieces/nephews in order not to send duplicates to the same household. It would seem that great minds think alike! Or at least cold, heartless ones belonging to the same family.

Karen Ahlstrom said...

You know, that's what Grandma Stay does. Another option you could consider is buying the cards, putting them into envelopes, addressing and stamping them, but NOT sealing them. Then, when it comes time to send it, you could either write a generic something, or put in a sentiment suited to the current situation depending on your time and inclination at the moment. That way, you can at least pretend to yourself that you're being thoughtful and efficient at the same time.

PS Happy Birthday to YOU!!! Um...I didn't get you a card.

Anonymous said...

I just talked with my dad - Grandpa Roly - and he told me he had just bought all the birthday cards for October and November and had addressed them and was bringing them with him to our house so he could send them out on time. . . ALL of these methods are better than mine: panic on the last possible mailing day, take a stamp with me to the store and mail the card before I come home. . . . . Love Mom

D said...

Here's what you could do: send out "make your own birthday card from Heather" kits. Include an entire box of 100 greeting cards (one for each year of their life, plus a few extra) and a rubber stamp with your signature. Then, you never have to worry about it again!

When I worked at McDonalds one summer, there was a key on the register that said "Thank You." You were supposed to press it after every order. All it did was make the words "Thank You" appear at the bottom of the order, for the person fetching all the food to see. I thought, why don't they just put it on automatically? It wouldn't be any less robotic, inhuman and emotionally absurd than what they're already doing.

My guess is that Sam wasn't hinting that you ought to send cards to his whole family. I would guess that if Sam actually thought about it, he would send the cards himself.