When one of novelist Ernest Hemingway’s characters was asked how he went bankrupt, his response was: “Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”

I feel the same way about the inexorable demise of Christmas cards.

For decades, I have been sending - and receiving - fewer and fewer of them each year - but, this year, I suddenly stopped completely. I sent none and I got none. Zilch.

Such is the way in which once hugely popular and universal traditions become extinct.

It’s not just me that is sounding the death knell for the Christmas card, it’s a global trend. How and why did this happen?

The quick answer is the rise of the internet, social communications, and social media. We can all now keep in constant touch, even with fringe friends from years ago and distant relatives. A catch-up Christmas card or a note to say hello is simply not necessary. A tap of a button does the same job.

But there is another reason too.

Even though we may communicate constantly with friends and family on a surface level, modern life - and the effects of the pandemic - have turned us in on ourselves. We are time-poor and creatures of addiction. We can’t - or won’t - commit the time needed to perform a task which was once an annual habit - but far from a chore.

Our contacts with others online are often self-serving and lack the kind of depth, sacrifice, and special connection that a Christmas card used to bring. It’s a cop-out........

© Evening Echo