Have you ever received an unsigned greeting card, in an envelope with no return address? If so, you may be more likely to appreciate the efficiency and freedom of personalized Christmas cards.
On the surface, you might find the incident to be amusing. But, like her Royal Highness, “I am not amused.” I am annoyed. Who do I thank? How sincere are these good wishes if the sender was too uninvolved to remember to sign? I have enough to keep track of in my life without a little mystery like this popping up to distract me!
Perhaps you can imagine my embarrassment when I discovered that I had committed this very faux pas. I truly don’t know what mental lapse caused it, but one year I discovered that several of my Christmas cards went out in this clueless way.
How did I discover this, you ask. Well, I had picked out some really distinctive, fabulous looking cards so it was easy to spot mine within the tree-shaped Christmas card display on my friend’s wall. I was so proud of myself! Until I started peeking inside the cards to see who sent which. When I peeked inside my card I was chagrined, but of course my friend knew who sent it because of my return address on the envelope, right? That’s when I learned that I had sent an unsigned card in a blank envelope. We shared a little embarrassed laugh. Oh, well, these things happen.
When I saw the same unsigned card on display in a client’s office, I was mortified. The worst part was, I had no way of knowing how many went out unsigned (I remember signing some cards) or how many went out with no return address on the envelopes (perhaps a blessing in disguise if the card was unsigned).
That was probably the first time that I messed up in that way (I hope) and it was definitely the last time! Now I order my cards with my name printed on them and I order my envelopes with my name and return address printed on them. I still like to handwrite a salutation and a couple of words, if time allows, and sign my first name. But now I have the comfort of knowing that, if I’m in rush or if I forget, my Christmas greetings will still go out to spread holiday joy without creating confusion.