I took the plunge into using the web for Christmas cards this year. Well, sort of - I still don't think e-cards are very personal (though I use 'em for birthdays) and so I tried out Hallmark's service to print up personalized cards and send them out direct from Hallmark to each of the addresses I wanted to send to. No muss, no fuss.
Or...some muss, a great deal of fuss and angst. You can select from many cards on Hallmark's site and add the traditional Christmas letter text and even pictures. But then you must import addresses or enter them manually, a tedious process. And if you make a mistake and hit the "back" button on your browser, Hallmark promptly wipes out all your personalization work on the Christmas card and you get to start over from the beginning.
I know this because I got to start over from the beginning three times.
Even worse, in my opinion: Once you finally do have the card set up and "approved," Hallmark won't let you see the card after you commit to ordering it. So, I've ordered what I think is a card for everyone this year, but because Hallmark doesn't store the information anywhere to view, I have to take it on faith that my list won't end up with a pretty, blank card.
Looks like Hallmark has a ways to go before this process would be used by a lot of people. If you do get a blank card from me this year...Happy Holidays and perhaps I'll blog my Christmas letter right here!
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