Raymond Briggs

So, thank heavens, it’s all over. No more Christmas cards to do, to make, to buy or to make lists of. No more cards IN; cards OUT; URGENT letters needing a reply; letters that need to be sent; charities that make you feel guilty, overfed and wallowing in wealth and comfort.

A friend does all his cards by internet. Does one card, puts it on his computer gadget and, in a minute or two, dozens of people have received it. Bit impersonal, though, isn’t it?

At the Christmas just gone, I phoned a married couple and said, ‘I’ve received a card from you, but who is it for? There’s NO NAME on it! What shall I do with it? They couldn’t even put the slightest message either: ‘Hope you are well...’; ‘Hope to see you soon...’

So why bother to send it at all? Completely pointless; as if it was some tiresome duty, like paying the rates, which is exactly what this Christmas card nonsense has become.

Then there is the problem of the recently bereaved. Happy Christmas? Well, no, but, if you don’t send a card at all, they will suffer another loss, just when they are most in need of friends. Quite a diplomatic problem.

Another one is religion. It is supposed to be a religious festival, but the very name CHRISTMAS is usually forgotten. So you have to make sure you are not offending someone by not being religious enough, or perhaps by being too religious. Of course, it was a pagan festival which the Christians took over, on the principle ‘If you can’t beat ‘em, join ’em’.

Well, it’s all over – here we are in 2019 – and we don’t have to think about it for another year. Then I came across a wonderful KFC poster (pictured): it says, in Japanese, ‘Snowman’s Mug’. I pinned it on the wall – the perfect, readymade Christmas card.