As those of you who know me are aware, I've always been a pretty atrocious card-sender (well, until I got married---any diligence now is due wholly to my wife's efforts). But I do like getting cards; in many cases they are the annual contact with friends I don't see or talk to much but still like to maintain a relationship with.
The ubiquity of cheap photo technology has resulted in many people sending photo cards, a picture with a little holiday border and a festive seasonal message. That's nice, and it adds a dimension to the "annual contact" missive. But I've noticed an unfortunate trend in this practice, and although I may be fighting an un-winnable uphill battle here, I must make this plea:
If you're sending out a photo card for Christmas, please, DON'T USE A PHOTO OF JUST YOUR KIDS.
I have nothing against your kids---they're cute kids, and I'm sure your pride in them is fully justified (even though no kids on earth are, in reality, as cute/charming/special as their parents think they are). But here's the thing: your kids are not my friends. YOU are my friends. My interest in your kids is, generally, through their derivation from you, not on their own merits. And frankly, if you think about it, that's the way it should be, and probably the way you want it.
So, if I'm getting a picture from your household, I'd like a picture of YOU. I'm far more curious to see what YOU look like than your kids. (Seeing how nobody seems to send pictures of their pretty college-age daughters, ho ho.) Sending the picture of just the kid seems to say, "We are not interesting; our child is the most interesting thing we could put in this card." Well, if you're friends of mine, you by definition ARE interesting, and worthy of being the subject of your own Christmas missive.
And I strongly suggest this applies to just about everybody to whom you send the cards. The few people who probably are more interested in pictures of the kids than you (i.e., their grandparents)---let's face it, they already have albums and albums of pictures of the kids.
Now, in case you just sent us a card with a picture of your baby on it, and are thinking, "That ungrateful asshole," please, I am always happy to hear from you, and I never mind seeing pictures of your children. I'm just saying that, maybe next time, use a picture of the whole family.
And, Merry Christmas!
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4 comments:
Hmmm... my cards this year had a picture of a goat. And a boy. Embracing.
Perhaps better to stick to your kids after all...
As an aside - I think the phenomenon you refer to is almost exclusively American. We sometimes get personalised cards like this from the US, but never domestically).
It may be at least partially explained by a phenomenon described in a book called Generations by William Strauss and Neil Howe, and which I heartily recommend: they are demographers with a theory about how generations have aggregate personality types that are cyclical. Some are more kid-centric than others. The cycles don't move exactly the same in different places, so perhaps the U.S. is in a kid-centric phase, but Britain is not.
Interesting, Chuck.
Britain is, whipped up by the media, terrfied of kids: hanging round in groups, menacing old ladies, feral, gun-toting gangsters.
No wonder we don't have 'em on our Christmas cards...
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