As residents in France we have difficulty in finding decent christmas cards, so we order from England on the net. One charity we bought from in the past took ages to deliver, so we have changed to another supplier. We ordered last week and they were delivered today. They are to our liking, traditional Christmas scenes, and not at all expensive. For anyone who may be interested, the supplier is ‘Cards for Good Causes Ltd’ at http://www.cardsforcharity.co.uk
Boadicea's Chariot 
Morning Tom. We here in England are awash with traditional Christmas cards, you can’t move for them. Every charity known to man, are in every shop on the high street, all at good prices too. Buying through the Internet would be a bit foolish for us I reckon. Only my opinion of course.
http://www.cardsforcharity.co.uk/
Hello Val, I had in mind those who, like us, live abroad.
I think I’ll get in before Christina on this one. I gave up sending Christmas cards years ago… 🙂
MrsOMG and I usually place an announcement in the ‘Times’, wishing all who know us a merry Christmas, this year we thought we would send cards instead so we have placed an announcement in the ‘Times’, saying that we will be sending cards this year and not placing a Christmas announcement.
Oh sorry Tom, I didn’t think, smack bottom.
Hello, boadicea. We are not christians, but some of our friends are, and the exchange of cards maintains minimal contact with some who we might not have seen or spoken to for a while.
Hey Tom,
Just what the blue blazes has Christmas got to do with christianity????
That puts you in your place, Boa! 😉
Parent-Child transaction, eh, Tom?
Ferret
But surely we are told in the Bible: ‘There shall come a great profit’, or have I got that wrong?
Hee Hee OMG,
This year I shall once again be steadfastly refusing to let god botherers hi-jack a perfectly good pish-up and time of much excess. 🙂
OMG
Putting an ad in the THE TIMES seems a good idea. Writing cards is a real hassle, mostly I leave it to Mrs J who maintains the Xmas card list. Strangely although we’ve reached the age(s) where friends and relatives are starting to die off the bloody Xmas card list seems to get longer.
PS No one I know reads the Times.
The alleged messiah was born in summer, according to some book I read once. What we celebrate is, of course, the Winter Solsice – eating up everything that’s perishable, even if it’s a bit off (spiced mincemeat.) The early christians hi-jacked the date along with the other pagan festivals they stole. So eat, drink and be merry and make sure you make as much noise as possible to make sure the sun recovers and the days start getting longer again 🙂
Thats the chap Bravo!
Yule log, Xmas tree, holly, ivy garlands of winter greenery and berries, eating and drinking, fellow man and what not. Pagan festival every time for me please. Oooh and lets not forget the prezzies, ooh lurvely prezzies. 🙂
Of course the churchy lot can believe what they like, it’s their right. But I shall be having none of it. 🙂
And the sex, O Furry One, don’t forget the sex.
bravo, do you mean sex of presents?
It’s Yuletide – each to his own 🙂
I only gave the address, there was no suggestion that sending cards is compulsory. I have been anti-cleric all my adult life, but some of our friends are practicing christians. They are, in the main, educated, intelligent people who are as aware as I am of the historical points being made here. They send us christmas cards and we return the courtesy. I wouldn’t see it as my role, or even polite, to argue with them. They don’t proselytise, and I don’t knock. It seems to work.
It is a strange time of year, and I think Bravo is right, he was, according to history, born well before December. But, it’s nice to be able to wish all our family and friends a happy Yuletide with pretty cards and inexpensive silly gifts. I’m not keen on Christmas and the commercialism it is, but I can’t avoid it, so I get on with it by eating, drinking and having a bloody good time.
The Vikings don’t let religion get in the way of a good Jul. It’s all over by midnight on 24th December though. Then Backside and I have our own sneaky Xmas while they’re nursing their hangovers. Works for me.
Bo, it is the only thing I do do, ie send cards!
It is a mine field here in the USA. The cards tend to be very religious in sentiment or merely plain vulgar. The art form being to find a good reproduction of a mediaeval stained glass whatsit with not too fulsome words, some would be quite unacceptable in Europe. I don’t send many but every one has a full length personal letter in it, takes me a week to write them full time, I always do it last week in November. It is a way of staying in touch, not everyone especially the old and the Welsh have computers.
I don’t actually care what they cost, the postage from here is far more, nearly a pound a card!
Interesting Christina. One of my cousins in the States occasionally sends me a card – horrendously religious, as is her message… I cringe!
I try, but don’t always succeed, in contacting everyone who I want to keep in touch with sometime before Christmas – being of the opinion that just sending a card is an easy option! And no, I don’t send a ‘one-fits-all’ e-mail on “What we’ve done this year” – and I’m not too keen on receiving them either.
Attagirl, Val 😀
Christmas card lists? Wozza Christmas card list then? Along with the washing machine, ironing and much else, this is Zangada territory. Is there something I should know?
OZ
bo, I hate and detest those round robin letters to all and sundry, total bloody insult. I dropped them like that years ago from my list.
Most of mine are not returned, they are to single people who don’t have much of a Christmas and really to let them know that I still think of them, probably some of them can’t actually read what I write, Welsh farmers are well known for literacy problems in either language. I expect they put it on the mantelpiece until someone comes past who can read. Most of them used to bring their mail in to me at the Post Office for me to read to them. They never write back but were out in force for the boy’s funeral, so I caught up with them then, I get their important news from an old girlfriend in Swansea.
When I go home I do the rounds and call on all the farms, word always proceeds me up the valley that I’m back. As good as it gets, a lovely smile from a posse of old curmudgeons and a glass of stale sherry!
Seems to me Christina that you have the true ‘Christmas’ spirit…:-)
The Telegraph announced a few years ago they would be holding a competition for the most ghastly Christmas mass circular letter received by anyone over that particular Christmas season – the word was leaked to all the usual culprits that I was planning to forward their seasonal ramblings to the Telegraph competition, and judging by past performance they may have a good chance of winning; We haven’t received any of the ghastly variety ever since!
Morning Tom
I love this time of the year, it is of course summer here, I love the general feeling of peace and goodwill to all men, I love the children’s faces when the see Santa, the excitement when they open a present.
We had a similar sense of community spirit and general pleasantness during the hosting of this years World Cup.
We are fortunate in that we are able to buy our Christmas cards directly from the charity producing them.