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I did something I never do shortly after Christmas. I thought about next year’s Christmas. Normally, when Christmas is over, so is my interest in anything HO HO HO. I don’t do after Christmas sales. I don’t do post-Christmas parties. I don’t think about Christmas until I have to put away decorations, and even then my thoughts on the holiday are fleeting. This is why I pull addresses from three different sources every year when I sit down to write Christmas cards.
I prefer to have everything in a paper address book, the old-fashioned kind with alphabet tabs. For a long time I kept everything on the computer, but one year my computer crashed and I lost every address collected over 10 years. What a pain. I did what I could and put every address I was able to collect at the 11th hour into the address book you see above, confident I would never let a computer crash hobble me like that again. Then Mikey started school and I made new friends. I collected more addresses at play dates, choir practice, field trips, and school fairs. Those I put in my phone because it’s not like I carry my book in my back pocket. The plan is always to update it when I get home, but, you know. When the Mister got his new job, with it came new contacts. He gives me a print-out of people to add to the Christmas card list every year. Last year I stuffed it in the address book. When we get new cards, I cut off the return label and–you guessed it–stuff it in the address book.
Hold on, my math was wrong. Address book, phone, print out, return labels–that’s four different sources for addresses every year.
This year, after Christmas and the threat of “Happy New Year” cards was long past, I sat down with all my addresses and updated that infernal address book. It felt so, so good. I’m ready for next year. All I have to do is pull the book and sit down to write. That’s all I think I have to do every year, but next year I won’t be delusional.
Another moment of self-preservation came when my sister in-law asked me what I wanted for Christmas. On a good day I have no idea what to say, but this year I channeled William Morris and asked for a personalized address stamp. This is something I’ve wanted for years but would never buy for myself. Don’t ask me why. We all have weird money rules, and when it came down to it, I didn’t want to spend money on a stamp, to say nothing about shipping. Now that I have it, though, I’m over the moon. No more scrambling for address labels every year. (I’m cheap and just make my own from Staples labels or use the labels we get from charities.)
Now all I have to do is take down the decorations. Ugh. Every year I tell myself I’m going to put up less, and every year I add to the collection. I’m the woman who can’t walk past a Christmas village without buying property.
Sadly, here in Britain no one uses return addresses. In fact some idiot woman at the post office once bawled me out for using one, saying it would confuse the system, so I specify ‘to’ and ‘from’ even though I’m certain most postal workers are smarter than she. For most of my 20s my Dad’s Christmas present to me was a new year’s ‘Month-at-a-Glance’ organizer with cash inside. I miss those books (him as well). It was part of the New Year tradition for me to re-copy the addresses (people move around a lot in their 20s) and the birthdays into the calendar. Filofax has taken over here and I’m not prepared to pay their prices. I have a few phone numbers in an address book (that I never can decide where to keep…under the main phone would be a great place now I think about it) for when I don’t want to fire up the computer. Paper is better, unless you figure out how to make it print the address labels for you…or is that too automated to be ‘gracious living’? I email myself my address spread sheet just before I travel, in case I need to contact anyone, so there are copies out there in the ether…which may or may not be a great idea…
That’s really thikning out of the box. Thanks!
Thank you Jules for this beautiful price. I’m a twenty-something who accidentally became a grown up in the last 12 months and took on the responsibility of starting a Christmas card list. I hand wrote and posted over 100 cards this silly season, which was a pretty big effort considering I hardly had and addresses when I started. I am completely envious of your return address stamp, and hope to invest in one of my own when my partner and I move into our ‘forever’ home. Next Christmas I should move all my addresses to an actual address book!
oh, i need to do this….. for some reason, i’ve been holding on to last year’s cards AND now this year’s with the intention of checking addresses…. never put off….!!
“I�m the woman who can�t walk past a Christmas village without buying property.” – that made me snort!
Anyway, we’re also experiencing computer woes (I switched from a PC to my first-ever Mac in 2013… mistake), including a computer crash right before Christmas, which meant I lost a lot of addresses, or at least a lot of sanity. Anyway, I made the comment to the hubs that I knew I should have stuck with paper, and this post just reenforces that. Call me old fashioned, but I like the feel of knowing that I can literally put my finger on an address or phone number.
In other news – I also laughed at your stamp and money comments. I’m one of the ones that can’t justify it (I print my own labels), but have always wanted one. Maybe I’ll ask for one next year for Christmas… not a bad idea. :)
My post today on WMP: http://www.carriesbusynothings.com/2014/01/once-upon-time-i-lived-out-of-suitcase.html (which I wrote before you did the WMP 2014 general post, so I need to update the link)
I used to use a paper address book, but got tired of crossing out or erasing people’s info. Plus, I always seemed to need it away from home or my husband needed info from it. I made the effort to put all my contacts in to my gmail several years ago so that I can access it pretty much anywhere. Since most people send out contact info updates in e-mails I can make the changes right away at the computer. It works well for me and I don’t have to worry about a hard drive crashing since it is all out in the web. That isn’t the thing for everyone, but it greatly simplified things for my family.
I am so encouraged by your WM posts. Thank you.
Love the cover of your address book. And think how on top of things you will feel next year when you send cards!
I asked for this for Christmas a few years ago. http://www.lovelydesign.com/lovely_products_address.html
It makes me happy and is easy to update. I hand write our return address – I have a certain vanity about my handwriting and enjoy it. (I hand wrote 100 personalized wedding invitations – not the envelopes the invitations themselves – 18 years ago when I got married the second time – NUTS!) But I like the idea of the stamp and think it will be a great gift to give others.
I feel the same way about the personalized stamp! Something I want, but would never buy for myself. I have my mom’s address book, where she had pages devoted to my addresses. She would cross through one every time I moved and write the new one. (I moved about once a year for 7-8 years.)
Jules – your post is so timely! I just put away all of our Christmas decorations – and this year, I separated decorations. Those we put out this year and those we haven’t put out in years (can’t bear to part with them yet; kids might want them when they have a place of their own). I actually LABELED the bins this year. Yay me! And I updated my Christmas card list a few days ago. I feel so organized – at least for now. ;-)
Wow I thought I was the only crazy address stasher (still have a ziploc with last years envelopes waiting for me to copy the return addresses into something). I used to write addresses in my yearly planner so I would have them with me but still written down….that happened only 2 years, too tedious to re-copy each time. Maybe it is time to buy an address book. Thanks for sharing. Now to get my butt in gear.
Address book? I would lose it in no time. Everything is on the computer – hence in Dropbox – and also on a flash drive so I can find things anywhere. Including a chart of my children’s birthdays, wedding anniversaries, grandchildren’s birthdays, etc. (Don’t expect me to memorize all the significant dates for nine kids and more than a dozen grandkids, so far!) I have never sent holiday cards, but I do have a running list for wedding invites – having made four weddings already – I only want to update a list, not create one!
I found using an address book a pain–too much crossing out and re-writing. Somehow, I stumbled onto the idea of using index cards. They sit in a black box (though you could use a more attractive recipe box) by my desk. Love this series. Thanks!
Well, I haven’t sent out cards in two years because I don’t have addresses. This year, I saved the return envelopes, it’s a start. This post has reminded me to get on it so next year I won’t be a scrooge. AND I’m going to write them out well in advance of December. I too use labels from charities but I’m going to put a stamp on my to do list as well. Thanks for the gentle reminders!
Is it weird then to send an email with a form for everyone to fill out? :D
Again, you and I are living parallel lives! I, too, have multiple sources of addresses (and almost the exact same as your list) and I keep telling myself to update ONE source and somehow…you know.
I have been able to wrangle my Christmas d�cor though and I’ve stopped buying. (I also took the time a couple of years ago to mark all the boxes so that we can rotate items and not have to get out Every Single Thing).
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