Editorial: In praise of the handwritten Christmas card

The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune on Dec 3, 2025

Published in Op Eds

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We’ve all come to dread checking the mail. And not just when property taxes are due.

Most of the year, the only post we get is bills, which are depressing, or advertisements, headed straight for the trash. Our mailboxes, once filled with interest and promise, have become a breeding ground for junk.

Once a year, that changes. Yes, each day’s haul overflows with glossy printouts and holiday gift guides, but they’re also stuffed with photos and letters from friends and loved ones, a return to the joyful nostalgia of those days when the mail was our primary means of correspondence.

Cards with pictures of smiling faces show up in bright-colored envelopes, and lucky households gather a collection that can adorn entire doorframes — or refrigerators or fireplace mantels— with cheerful galleries, offering warmth every time you walk by.

Sure, there are the overlong letters that accompany some cards, replete with mass-produced rundowns — often highly embellished — of a child’s impressive achievements or that trip overseas that was absolutely to die for. The disappointments of life rarely make the cut. But even the eyerolling inspired by faux-humble brags comes with its own pleasures tradition, an inside joke shared with spouses and kids.

We’ve grown to love the fruits of those over-posed, high-priced family photos on custom cards, knowing full well the folks who send them spent a fortune on a professional photographer and coordinated outfits. So what?

They look great and we love seeing them. They’re often our only glimpse of a nephew we haven’t seen in months or a friend’s new baby we haven’t met yet. Or a sneak peek of a new home or an old one we haven’t visited in ages. We also enjoy shots that include cats and dogs. We’re here for it all.

More than anything, we cherish a heartfelt message from someone who took the time to write something personal to us. It may seem simple, but it’s one of the best gifts any person can get.

If you’re thinking of skipping cards this holiday season for financial reasons, we understand. Custom cards — and the stamps to go with them — can run a few hundred bucks per season, and if you’re on a budget this is a logical place to cut. The good news? A stack of blank cards is a fraction of the cost, and trimming your list down to those you love and miss the most is a way to make the project more manageable.

Industry estimates still suggest Americans send more than a billion holiday cards each year, spending a small fortune for something that, on paper, should have gone extinct. But those envelopes in the mailbox remain a quiet civic glue, connecting families, neighbors and colleagues with a human touch no text message can match. A handwritten card isn’t just tradition; it’s one of the last rituals that asks us to slow down and mean what we say.

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