My then-single mom won a trip to Europe aboard an ocean liner in the late 1940s. And while I've seen a photo of her from that trip, all glammed out with a handsome man — not my father —beside her, she swears she was only flirting. Her proof is in the handwritten cards and letters that she and my dad, the man she would marry, exchanged while she played heartbreaker with the other guys. It's 70 years later, and she still delights in rifling through the missives she and her future husband swapped.
As we rev up for the holiday season, I propose celebrating with memorable, personalized notes that recipients will know are meant just for them. Senders can include a question about a grandma about to turn 100, or congrats on new grandchildren. What about those who relish chronicling the year's highlights with a printed, two-page recap of what everyone in the family has been doing? They could maintain the tradition — and please shorten the recap to a page at most — with a handwritten, personalized embellishment for each recipient.
My parents modeled the pleasures of exchanging heartfelt letters, so perhaps I was destined to stash away many of the beautiful cards I've saved since childhood. But even if sending handwritten notes isn't part of your DNA, it's an art anyone can pick up or reclaim.
In fact, lots of people are still doing it. According to research by the Greeting Card Association, 9 out of 10 households purchase greeting cards each year. Americans buy 6.5 billion cards annually, in an industry that takes in more than $7 billion in retail sales.
And if you think older people are the only ones who love sending and receiving heartfelt notes, consider this: Since 2015, millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) have outspent boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) in their card purchases.
With e-cards, e-mails and texts at the forefront of our lives, stamped, paper holiday greeting cards declare, I took the time to recall all that I appreciate about you. I celebrate our relationship as the year wind's down. You are dear to me.
Who among us doesn't relish it when we spot, tucked between the bills and the junk mail, a colorful envelope with handwritten lettering? And how can we add to the goodwill that such cards generate, particularly as we approach the holiday season?
In her book The Art of the Handwritten Note, Margaret Shepherd confirms the powerful connections that such cards evoke when they come in the mail. As she writes: “It announces beyond a doubt that the reader really matters to you. Your handwriting ensures that your words will be read and thought about in a way that can't be mimicked by print, e-mail or voice. Handwritten notes are not going to die out, because people still love to receive them, and people value each note more because they receive fewer of them."