[evay]

Here's my PNQ, or just call it a rant:

This is the time of year when many folks are sending out cards. Holiday, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, Solstice, whatever. And given the ease and ubiquity of stores and websites which allow you to upload a photo, throw on some text, and print out a hundred personalized cards for thirty bucks or so, many folks are sending cards with a picture of themselves and the kids, or the pets, or kids and pets. I think these are great. I love seeing how the sprogs have grown.

Additionally, many computer-using people have their address books in some kind of database, so they can use a mail merge function to print out address labels for all the people to whom they wish to send these cards, and practically everyone has return address labels (even if they're the ones you get as a "free gift" from some nagging charity). I certainly do this; after 20+ years of keyboarding, my handwriting has deteriorated to the point where even my poor husband needs a Rosetta Stone key to decipher the grocery list. If I didn't mail-merge my to-labels, none of my cards would ever get out of my zip code.

To recap:
You have a pre-printed card.
You have a pre-printed "to" address label.
You have a pre-printed "from" address label.

So WHY, for the love of little green apples, can't people SIGN THE DAMN CARDS?!?!?!

They don't have to be personally addressed with thoughtful comments ("to Bob and Mary, hope Junior and Muffin are well! throw Spot a bone for us! can't wait for next year's Arbor Day BBQ!"). They don't need some cheery holiday-specific sign-off ("Merry Christmas! Happy Chanukah! Bitchin' Bacchanal! Reason's Greetings!"). I'm just talking about SIGNING YOUR DAMN NAME at the bottom of the card to prove that you didn't hand off the entire project to a fulfillment house.

Hubby and I are graphic designers, so we put a little more effort into the creation of the pre-printed cards, but we still take one or two evenings and personally sign every. single. card. we send. It may just be "Merry ho ho! evay and mr. evay," and I often sign the ones for the distant in-laws because hubby doesn't care, but there is physical proof that somebody touched every card before it went into an envelope.

Is it so much to ask?