Christmas Cards and when to post

I have posted all my Christmas cards. So has my cousin. We have this arrangement. It was thrashed out in the car on the way to Croft Castle in October. Mrs Bluefunnel thinks we should post so that the cards arrive on December 1st because she loves Christmas and, as far as she is concerned, it begins on December 1st. I think we should post on December 1st because that's when christmas starts and....... well you get the idea.

bah humbug

This year I made all the cards. I started in January. I am not a card maker, I am just not into all that work for something that will probably be shredded and used as compost in the following year. It was the photograph. I took a picture of my daughter's cat sitting under the Christmas tree with a very Bah Humbug expression on his face and a piece of lametta dangling down his nose. I thought it would make a good card and then I had an offer from snapfish for loads of 6x4 prints at 4pence each. I just couldn't refuse. It was a simple task to round off the corners and then stick the pictures to the card blanks - amazon 7.99 per 100 - and I had everything ready. I also made a few cards for charity. I have supported TENOVUS a cancer charity for many years now so I used the fronts of old cards and made new ones cutting out the pictures and matting and layering onto the card blanks. a peel off greeting and the job was done. I counted up how many I made and my total was 230. I was stunned. I also made gift tags from recycled cards and there were 50 packs of ten tags each with a coloured string and some embellishment - like a snowflake or tiny christmas tree. the cards I sold for £1 each and the tags for £1 per pack. I took 130 cards to the charity shop for them to sell and gave them the money from the stuff I had already sold.
My own cards were written by the middle of October, I just like to be organised ok? I am not OCD just organised. Actually my son in law says that my daughter and I could never be OCD we would have to be CDO because we need it to be in alphabetical order. I am reluctant to admit that he could be right. Anyway, I digress.
I have a special notebook that goes into the box where I keep the christmas cards. Yes I have a different box for birthday cards. The notebook has the list of names and addresses together with details of what else goes into the card. Some people get a family newsletter - the Gibbon Gazette  if they aren't on this here intarwebby and some get money because they are grandchildren that I won't see at Christmas and some get a different letter, a personal one because they are dear friends who live too far away to visit.
When we get cards I hang them on a bit of yellow string across the front of the mantlepiece. I used to be able to pin them to the cork tiles that covered the chimneybreast but since we had the "new" fire five years ago the tiles have nearly gone. One day we might decorate the room again...