Here it is:
Twas the 20 Questions before Christmas
And all through the blog
Not an author was posting
Drunk on Egg-Nog
Anyhoo… This post is the extension and, shall we say “culmination?” of last week’s 20 Questions Tuesday concerning Christmas Cards. Thanks this week go to John P, Nadolny, Atmikha, and Wifey.
Onto the questions:
1. What is your market share at this time vs. Hallmark?
I have 0 shares of Hallmark or against Hallmark.
2. What is the appropriate amount of time to keep a Christmas card before you can discard?
12 Days.
3. Is Little Man at the stage of signing his own name?
He loves to write his own name. It is pretty cool to watch
4. Do you have joint input with Tuesday for this year’s card or is it pretty much up to you as the designer?
There was more permission granted than input. She did get the editorial duties though to make sure that it looked correct, and she always retained veto power.
5. Will you be releasing a collector’s series of Christmas cards in the near future? Maybe a where’s Waldo type version?
Probably not. We have only been doing Christmas cards like this for about 5 years now. IT would be a pretty short book to say the least.
6. So e-cards or snail mail? (I know the lazy factor bends towards email)
Honestly, with how few people actually care about the physical manifestation of Christmas cards, we really feel that e-cards are the way to go. If more people treasured the gift of a physical card we might be more inclined to print them out and mail them, but in our small survey of friends and family, no one kept Christmas cards, even the ones that they found clever or especially poingiant.
7. Do you think e-cards are more impersonal?
I think e-cards are no more impersonal than physical cards that do not have a personal note scrawled in them. E-cards are no more impersonal than any mass copied Christmas letter stuffed into mass produced cards.
8. Holiday letters. TMI? Anyone you'd like a little more info from?
I think holiday letters can be lots of fun. They either need to be general enough to be mildly informative or focused on a single detail enough to be entertaining. I think they become a bit cumbersome when they lie betwixt those two categories. There are always people that I want to have more info about… but there are some I want no info about at all.
9. How many realllly late xmas cards do you get?
About 5 or 6.
10. At what point should folks say, well crap, I missed this year, no reason to send them out now?
As long as they acknowledge how late the card is, they could send it in July for all I care. Christmas cards are a simple way of showing others that you are still alive.
11. Do you prefer photos or artwork?
Depends on the photographer and/or the artist. For example our card this year was photography and art, at the same time.
12. Tastefully displayed, or hastily piled?
A little of Column A and a little of Column B
13. Should people who send Thanksgiving Cards be punished?
Nope, I think they should be commended.
14. Are holidays like Valentine's Day, and Secretary's Day invented by Hallmark?
Valentine’s Day: No
Secretary’s Day/Boss’s Day/Sweetest’s Day/etc…: Yes
15. Newsletters: Yes? No? No (but secretly yes)?
Why not? (Secretly, I especially love the self-delusional newsletters.)
16. Christmas cards - do you even care? I mean, you're a boy...I'm the one who reads the ones who come in...I'm the one who makes you design one each year for our family...I'm the one who is apparently a little bitter...
I don’t care too much, no. See how much I love you?
17. Garfield Christmas cards: is Garfield in a Santa hat any funnier?
Is he eating lasagna?
18. Do you send any Christmas cards for obligation not for love? Who to? Why?
Yes, to many of the fam, because they are fam.
19. Tell me about the Christmas "letter" folks - are they trying to update us or brag on their fat cat lives?
I think they are most likely bragging… but I have seen their kids and they are not that cute and their cats are not that funny either. Bunch of blowhards, the lot of them
20. Is there anything you wish you had done differently for the Christmas Card 2008?
Yes, the gutters between the images are a bit wide, and I think I would have liked to splice the pics into the text a bit more and make it a bit more storylike.
To Recap:
Not nearly as cold today
Left overs for dinner tonight
Because tomorrow starts the Christmas Feasting 08
Any preferences on the capitalization of the word “recap?”
To recap:
Or
To Recap:
Which do you like?
Probably should have asked before year 3+ of blogging
I have 2 things left to get for a stocking
Some people have suggested a severed human foot
For the irony… of course
I am also afraid they may have a few extra laying about
Tomorrow will be the Christmas Eve blogging service
I hope you are not afraid of candles or Stille Nacht
Listening to Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee
Twas the 20 Questions before Christmas
And all through the blog
Not an author was posting
Drunk on Egg-Nog
Anyhoo… This post is the extension and, shall we say “culmination?” of last week’s 20 Questions Tuesday concerning Christmas Cards. Thanks this week go to John P, Nadolny, Atmikha, and Wifey.
Onto the questions:
1. What is your market share at this time vs. Hallmark?
I have 0 shares of Hallmark or against Hallmark.
2. What is the appropriate amount of time to keep a Christmas card before you can discard?
12 Days.
3. Is Little Man at the stage of signing his own name?
He loves to write his own name. It is pretty cool to watch
4. Do you have joint input with Tuesday for this year’s card or is it pretty much up to you as the designer?
There was more permission granted than input. She did get the editorial duties though to make sure that it looked correct, and she always retained veto power.
5. Will you be releasing a collector’s series of Christmas cards in the near future? Maybe a where’s Waldo type version?
Probably not. We have only been doing Christmas cards like this for about 5 years now. IT would be a pretty short book to say the least.
6. So e-cards or snail mail? (I know the lazy factor bends towards email)
Honestly, with how few people actually care about the physical manifestation of Christmas cards, we really feel that e-cards are the way to go. If more people treasured the gift of a physical card we might be more inclined to print them out and mail them, but in our small survey of friends and family, no one kept Christmas cards, even the ones that they found clever or especially poingiant.
7. Do you think e-cards are more impersonal?
I think e-cards are no more impersonal than physical cards that do not have a personal note scrawled in them. E-cards are no more impersonal than any mass copied Christmas letter stuffed into mass produced cards.
8. Holiday letters. TMI? Anyone you'd like a little more info from?
I think holiday letters can be lots of fun. They either need to be general enough to be mildly informative or focused on a single detail enough to be entertaining. I think they become a bit cumbersome when they lie betwixt those two categories. There are always people that I want to have more info about… but there are some I want no info about at all.
9. How many realllly late xmas cards do you get?
About 5 or 6.
10. At what point should folks say, well crap, I missed this year, no reason to send them out now?
As long as they acknowledge how late the card is, they could send it in July for all I care. Christmas cards are a simple way of showing others that you are still alive.
11. Do you prefer photos or artwork?
Depends on the photographer and/or the artist. For example our card this year was photography and art, at the same time.
12. Tastefully displayed, or hastily piled?
A little of Column A and a little of Column B
13. Should people who send Thanksgiving Cards be punished?
Nope, I think they should be commended.
14. Are holidays like Valentine's Day, and Secretary's Day invented by Hallmark?
Valentine’s Day: No
Secretary’s Day/Boss’s Day/Sweetest’s Day/etc…: Yes
15. Newsletters: Yes? No? No (but secretly yes)?
Why not? (Secretly, I especially love the self-delusional newsletters.)
16. Christmas cards - do you even care? I mean, you're a boy...I'm the one who reads the ones who come in...I'm the one who makes you design one each year for our family...I'm the one who is apparently a little bitter...
I don’t care too much, no. See how much I love you?
17. Garfield Christmas cards: is Garfield in a Santa hat any funnier?
Is he eating lasagna?
18. Do you send any Christmas cards for obligation not for love? Who to? Why?
Yes, to many of the fam, because they are fam.
19. Tell me about the Christmas "letter" folks - are they trying to update us or brag on their fat cat lives?
I think they are most likely bragging… but I have seen their kids and they are not that cute and their cats are not that funny either. Bunch of blowhards, the lot of them
20. Is there anything you wish you had done differently for the Christmas Card 2008?
Yes, the gutters between the images are a bit wide, and I think I would have liked to splice the pics into the text a bit more and make it a bit more storylike.
To Recap:
Not nearly as cold today
Left overs for dinner tonight
Because tomorrow starts the Christmas Feasting 08
Any preferences on the capitalization of the word “recap?”
To recap:
Or
To Recap:
Which do you like?
Probably should have asked before year 3+ of blogging
I have 2 things left to get for a stocking
Some people have suggested a severed human foot
For the irony… of course
I am also afraid they may have a few extra laying about
Tomorrow will be the Christmas Eve blogging service
I hope you are not afraid of candles or Stille Nacht
Listening to Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee