I'm not sure whether it's my age or the fact that I rarely pick up a pen these days, but I seem to have lost control of my handwriting. The wobbly scrawl adorning my Christmas cards is, quite frankly, an embarrassment. It's bad enough forgetting the names of friend's spouses/children, now I even write like an old person.
But I do like the tradition of sending Christmas cards. There are people I haven't seen for decades and we still exchange festive pleasantries at the end of every year. As modern-day communication is all email, text and Twitter, I'm happy to go back to basics with a handwritten note. Christmas cards are a 170-year-old British invention thought up by Henry Cole, founder of the Victoria & Albert museum. A busy man, he designed a decorative card with a standard greeting as a time-saving device. Some things never change...
I didn't know the cards were a Brit invention - leave it to you islanders to have artistic and gracious ideas.
ReplyDeleteI wrote mine yesterday and was shocked by my ratty scrawl. Whatever happened to my lovely handwriting?
ReplyDeleteHi there!! Hehe I'm slacking as I haven't even written mine out yet!! Wishing you a lovely Christmas and look forward to our Affogato date next year!! xxxx
ReplyDeleteI did write a lot more Christmas Cards especially when my children were younger and I always designed individual cards.
ReplyDeleteGlad my UK friends never let me down and send their cards very early. I often rceive lovely cards with birds, is it a British tradition?
Annette | Lady of Style
Well, huzzah for us! Inventing the merry piece of nonsense AND Christmas crackers too. Yes, handwriting is appalling and I have become more and more enamoured of the glitter strewn village scene as years go by. It is a form of stylistic dementia, I believe. Soon I shall only be sending cards bearing coaches, crinolines and timbered wayside inns. Thank God I'm not 25...
ReplyDeleteAddressed all my cards and added hand written notes on most two days ago and woke up yesterday with pain in my elbow and horrible pain in my pailm/thumb area. Carpal tunnel? Arthritis? I did not sign up for this part of aging, thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteBut I love the tradition and had no idea it was British. Thanks for the little lesson and Merry merry!
"Now I even write like an old person"...I laughed out loud at this! But I can sure identify with handwriting that is taking a nose dive. As an English teacher, for many years I had to write comments on students' assignments, both throughout the work as well as a summary comment at the end that would summarize my feedback. Since I always thought that the final comments were the ones the students looked at more closely (maybe because they were beside the final grade?) I tended to write the others quickly. One day a student who was staring at her marked paper frowning, raised her hand and said ..."Miss, why did you write 'goo, goo, goo' all over my story?"
ReplyDelete"Oh," I said sheepishly, looking at my scrawl on her paper. "That's "good, good, good."
Thank god for Google docs. In my last years of teaching students could submit works electronically and I could make comments on their papers without having to subject them to my increasingly terrible handwriting!
Love your blog.
Have a Merry Christmas!
I love cards too. See them as part of the Christmas decorations. Xxx
ReplyDeleteVix & Sue B - I'm going to practise before I write next year's cards.
ReplyDeleteAnnie - I quite like a glitter strewn village. In a post-modern way, obviously. I've already got digital dementia, can't possibly have stylistic dementia too.
NN Bartley - how many did you write?!
I make a point to use my most creative and stylish handwriting because it adds so much to the card and the meaning, imo. But I enjoy the creative effort as an exercise so I suppose it's not for everyone. I found the perfect cards this year, a macro photo of a deeply ruffled, dark crimson hibiscus that looks like velvet. I live in Hawaii so it says Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas in Hawaiian, a surprisingly active language here), instead of Happy Holidays, lol!
ReplyDeleteI like sending and receiving Christmas cards too. I still write quite a lot actually - I love the feel of a pen in my hand, it makes me think more clearly, I'm sure, and I write so much faster than I type. I know - I sound ancient! xxxx
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ReplyDeleteSo true! I can barely read my own writing these days. I have to practice before I start addressing my christmas cards…which need to go out by tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteI love the tradition of sending christmas cards too; there's something very lovely about receiving a handwritten card or note...thank you Henry Cole!
ReplyDeleteWishing you a merry christmas and very happy new year xx
I love a good card, a friend and I discovered we both have grading for cards - good ones to the fore, naff ones clustered behind #cardfascist
ReplyDeleteI totally agree my handwriting is illegible even to me these days. I said I would keep a journal in 2013 just so it would make me write something but alas I did not follow through maybe in 2014. I was appalled to hear from my niece that cursive writing is not even being taught in school here in the States. I too love sending cards and handwritten notes. Merry Xmas and Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteThought I wasn't going to manage cards this year, but finally got them out a few days ago - had to concentrate very hard to get the writing legible (and that's me with glasses on, peering at my own writing like an old biddy) ... But I do love Christmas cards. I think it's the only time of year I look forward to the mail!
ReplyDeleteI love that Ravilious robin. I usually get my cards at the V&A.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely Christmas.
Lilac in May - oh I'm a total card fascist too. I hang most of my cards on a string and the naff ones are always hidden behind the more tasteful ones and then the very best cards are on the sideboard. It's a three-tier system!
ReplyDeleteganching - I love buying cards at the V&A, only this year I've gone for a cheaper option #austeritybritain