How long should I keep the card?

I was alerted to a recent Dear Abby column that answered the letter of a woman who spent each holiday season making hand-crafted Christmas cards with her niece. It was a tradition that went back five years, took many hours and dedication to implement yet for some reason was seen as "being cheap" by one member of the family that received the cards.

It's that time of year when we start sending out and receiving cards ourselves and I am struck by all of the people that spend what must be non-negligible amounts of time on their cards, either by making them by hand or by having a picture taken for the card and designing the layout. I hardly have time for that kind of craftiness. Instead I'm the guy that's likely to buy generic, pre-printed cards and write 'XOXO' before sending them out.

But the fact is, looking back over the past few years, the style of card that has hung around long enough to get placed on the fridge is the former: the one that the sender clearly put thought into. Maybe because it has a picture of you or your children on it or, as was the case this year, has a reproduction of a painting you did yourself. I'm touched by these gifts. 

The cards, on the other hand, that are sent with just your signature and maybe a cursory "Happy Holidays" or "love" don't hang around as long. Maybe I don't toss them straight in the trash within minutes of opening like Jerry but I can say without a doubt, they visit the trash sooner rather than later. Which begs the question, how long should I keep those generic cards?

When we look to The Pledge Drive for an answer, we find that, of course, it depends. A card from your grandmother, gotta keep it. (I know with my great-grandmother I keep them all because they usually contain cryptic messages that take days to decipher. The latest one contained the phrase "Ol' Grandad" in the margin -- I still have no clue what that means.) A generic card with just a signature, right in the trash. (Although, if we're being exact, George thought you should keep it "a minimum of two days". I don't buy into that though.)

So remember that when you're sending out cards this year: unless you're cousins with Ms. Grouchypants in the above Dear Abby column, a hand-made or a personal card is the way to go. A generic card? Right in the trash. I'm not making that up.