A novel approach to Christmas cards for narcissists

Once upon a time there was a novel tradition in Christmas cards. People would buy a box of cards to send to family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and general acquaintances. The cards had a typical layout which began with an image on the front. The image may have been a Bible scene including a manger, or perhaps angels heralding the birth of our Savior, or the more materialistic ones had images of a snowy winter wonderland, Santa and elves.

Inside the cards were printed a verse from the Bible and usually a warm wish for the Holiday.

Each year, a few weeks before Christmas, we would sit down and write a hand written note inside, personally addressing love and warmth to the individuals to whom we were sending the card. Maybe the thoughts shared would be "I miss you", "I love you", or "I really enjoyed the time we spent together this year. Let's do that again soon".

In these words were contained general affection and sincere wishes. After this, we neatly printed the address of the recipient on the envelope, tucked the card inside, licked a stamp and placed it neatly upon the top right corner of the envelope. When done, the envelope was added to the stack of the many others we were sending. So the process went until all the cards were completed. There is nothing more sincere in a relationship over physical distance than a kind word, penned by hand and sent by mail.

Even a hand written thank you note conveys and confirms the gratitude which may have been previously expressed by mere words. It makes the statement "I was so moved by your kindness that I took time out of my day to sit down and write down my thoughts of gratitude and love for you".

That's all changed. The contemporary trend has become a rather shallow, effortless, insincere relic of what was once an act of kindness.

Now, it has become all too common to go online, pick a card design, add a photo and have a few dozen postcard styled "cards" to send away. Some use excel spreadsheets for preprinted labels and some even upload the address data to be printed upon the envelope. A tidy, time saving, inconvenience of obligation has replaced a tradition of kindness.

But wait! That's not even the worse part! The worst part is the photos that are sent. THEY'RE PICTURES OF THEMSELVES! LOOK AT ME! THIS IS ME ON VACATION, or THIS IS ME IN OUR FABULOUS HOME.

It's become no longer about others, but about SELF and these narcissistic photojournal "holiday" cards which I receive get a laugh and a prompt file13 result with an obligatory "what a narcissist" quiet groan as they're file13'd

As social media has created a culture of more and more narcissistic perspectives, our society decays.

My solution...::chuckle:: Gather photos of these narcissists who send such banal self-indulgences each year and return the favor. Send them a picture of themselves with a note of good wishes.

"I was thinking of you this Holiday and thought to send you a note with a picture of YOU to enjoy."

My guess is they might not even understand the humor, some will actually be thankful to see a picture of themselves (feeding their insatiable "self" need) and some might even get a wee bit upset.

For those who get upset, you've only revealed to them that their "card" wasn't about kindness to me, it was really all about yourself.

But, it will awaken many to the glaring fraud of holiday cards with "selfies" in a season about giving to and loving others.

LOL - I did a parody “holiday update” letter like that one year back in the 90s and sent it to my closest friends and a couple of siblings. I received a few of those every year (serious ones) and I couldn’t resist doing one of my own

It began with something like “Well, I started my 1995 with a whale of a yeast infection,” and continued with reports of a family member getting arrested in full view of the neighbors for outstanding warrants (this is all made up), the annual barbecue and how many people were passed out on the lawn the next morning, etc., etc. I had a blast writing it, putting a pretty little holiday border around it and enclosing it in select Christmas cards to friends and family.

It was well received. 😁

Put some ice on it. You’ll get over it.

“Throw a rock into a pack of dogs and the one that yelps is the one you hit”

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