Recently I read an essay in the New York Times by novelist Ann Pachett. Her nostalgia for physical mail struck a chord with me. She wrote, “I loved the mail. In my youth, I ran to the box to see if there might be an envelope whose contents would change the course of my life – an acceptance letter, a love letter, a check.”
To me, there is something special about opening the mailbox and seeing a letter with a handwritten address on it (not those phony ones that try to look like handwriting!)
Christmas still brings a bumper crop of these correspondences. I reached out to several local enthusiasts of the postal experience to get their perspective on the tradition and future of cards in the mail.
Colleen Fitzgerald is the owner of Fitzgerald’s Fine Stationery. In her downtown Oak Park shop, she designs custom holiday cards and more.
“In a world that moves faster every year, sending a holiday card is a simple way to slow down and connect,” she said. “When someone opens a holiday card, they feel remembered. It’s a small gesture that can lift a heart, spark a smile, and remind us what the season is really about: connection, gratitude and love.”
Another local card purveyor Gail Eisner of Pumpkin Moon and Scratch ‘n Sniff, both in downtown Oak Park, echoed that personal connection.
“Somebody thought about you and they went to the extent to pick out a card and, address that envelope and get that stupid stamp and get it to the post office. And that is a gift,” she said.
“We don’t touch anything anymore. Christmas cards, I feel are one of the last things that you get to hold in your hands,” Megan Rose said.
Rose designs cards and stationery. Her Forest Park-based company is Silhouette Blue.
“It’s so nurturing to send a piece of mail,” she said. “You have to put into the world what you want back from it. It’s a two-way street. You have to start sending them out.”
At the Oak Park River Forest Museum on Lake Street, they have a collection of historic greeting cards. Those made Operations Manager Rachel Berlinski think back to a time when long distance phone calls were expensive or not even possible.
“Cards would’ve been a really important way to keep in touch with family that you wouldn’t normally see, especially during the holiday season. How else would people keep in touch?” Berlinski said.
Keeping the tradition alive, the museum’s gift shop sells a pack of six cards, which are a collection of historic images from the area that evoke the holiday spirit.
“I have some diehard friends that are still doing it. God love them. And again, I love it. And I love the photo card where I get to see the family, the update letter,” Eisner said.
“Christmas is such a nostalgic time of year. People are willing to go the extra step,” Rose said. “Christmas kind of pulls you back in time a little bit. And so much of it is tactile. I hope that it keeps going because I love holding the cards in my hands, putting our friends’ pictures up on the wall and getting to look at them for a couple weeks. It’s such a special time. “
