2019 Holiday Card Exchange is Here!

We’re pleased to announce the 6th Annual LibraryThing Holiday Card Exchange! Sign up to send a card—home made, store bought, holiday-themed or not—of your choosing to a random LibraryThing member. You’ll receive a card in return from another LibraryThing member. You can sign up to send more than one card, if you like. The idea is that, for every card you send, you’ll receive one yourself.

Signups are open now until Tuesday, December 10th at 5:00pm EST.

» Go sign up now!

More details on the blog.

Reminder: In order for your card to be addressed to your real name (rather than your LT handle), you must include your name in the address box. Please also note that some postal services require that addressee names match what's on your mailbox.

My favorite part of holidays at LibraryThing!

OK, I'm signed up! Now I just have to remember to buy cards sometime in the next few days.

Yaay! All signed up!

What >2 ILuvBookplates:, >3 rastaphrog: and >4 beaniebear: said. :-)

Signed up. Looking forward to this. Last year I only got one or two cards.
I always want to do Santathing, but can rarely afford it so this is the next best thing!!

Hooray! Signed up!

As every year, I wish it was started a bit earlier - by the time we get the addresses and add a couple of days for operational purposes on the sender's part, it will be too late to send in some international pairs for the cards to have a chance to make it on time.

I am in - but US only.

Maybe those who are up for international exchanges could get a tick box to indicate whether it's important for them to get the cards before the holidays start? Personally, I don't give a toss about when I get my cards, but of course some people do. Such a tick box could be useful in matching.

>9 anglemark: Even so, I'm not sure we'll ever start the Card Exchange before SantaThing signups close. Not only is it just a lot for our small team to work on at the same time, but SantaThing has—and always will be, I think—our BIG holiday event. The Card Exchange is a fun way to extend the holiday season, and I personally don't mind getting cards after the holidays. They decorate my wall the whole dreary month of January and make winter go by that much easier. :)

I do get the preference others have for getting cards before the holidays, but this is the best we can do at the moment. Thanks for your patience, every year!

>9 anglemark: Quick fix: The two of us can just exchange cards without involving LT :-)

>11 bnielsen: Makes sense, they always match us up anyway.

>9 anglemark:

Yeah... if I knew that everyone on my list won't mind that their cards are not posted until the Saturday after the names are sent (some of us cannot get to a post office during the week and I have no other way to send internationally) and won't be there until after the holidays, I would love to send cards to them. But there had been upset people in the last years so... :) I even like late cards - they make me smile.

Meanwhile, if someone does not care and decides to share their address, I will be more than happy to send a postcard to them.

I did not mark international this year either. I did last year. One of my recipients was someone who joined LT during the period the card exchange was live. The person entered no books and the Albanian address made me wary. However, I mailed the card. It was returned as undeliverable. If LT had a way to prevent such a recurrence, I'd love to participate in sending one internationally, but I don't want a repeat of last year.

What a great idea! Thank you for organizing this. Y’all keep so busy on our behalf. I signed up and am looking forward to my first ever LibraryThing Holiday Card Exchange!

Yaaayyy it's here! I actually wasn't sure about signing up this year as I'm not really active on LT lately, but this community still feels like 'home' to me and I can't imagine not sharing in the holiday spirit!
Fun Fact: I still have every card I received last year hanging on the back of my front door. Wonderful way to bring a smile to my face every single time I leave the house!

I signed up - first time for me!

>15 chibitika: and >17 NorthernStar: Welcome to your first ever LibraryThing Holiday Card Exchange! It's so much fun getting often very creative and gorgeous cards from fellow LT members. :)

I'm signed up! I have been anxiously waiting for this! :) I have kept all of my cards from the past few years.

I'm in! A decade on LT, and I've never participated until now. I'm definitely in the "don't mind if it arrives after christmas" camp. :)

>21 Mirabelle: Yay!

I'm in!

I saw some New Year cards today - is it okay to send those to people who are far away and where it's very unlikely that cards will arrive by Christmas? (Not that I hacn't already got some special Christmas cards for the occasion!)

>24 Peace2: I sent a few New Years cards for that reason the first time I did the card exchange.

>25 ILuvBookplates: Sounds like a plan then - once I see the addresses, I'll check out the last posting dates and work out how long after Christmas cards are likely to arrive and choose accordingly. :D

>24 Peace2:

It's Holiday cards. Any holiday will do (even non-holiday ones with a holiday wish count ) :)

Also - don't forget that the Old-style Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate Christmas on Jan 7 and not on Dec 25 - your recipient may not even celebrate this month :) So being late is just a state - as long as they make it there, I am always happy... :)

>27 AnnieMod:. I just have the recollection of one of my December 2017 cards arriving at its destination on April 5th 2018 despite my having posted it the day after the matches were announced! Clearly it went via the moon and lapped the globe at least twice!

Sign-ups for the Card Exchange are now closed!

Matches are being run and notices will be sent out soon thereafter with your recipients' addresses. :)

We'll post official stats later, but we more than doubled our signups from last year with over 300 participants for the Card Exchange and over 1,500 cards to be sent! What a great way to extend the holiday season, thanks to all who have signed up.

Signed up and waiting to see my matches

Matches are made. It looks like everything went smoothly, although I had to remove myself to make the number of users even. So if you signed up for a card from LibraryThing, it may come from New Zealand.

Let me know if there are any problems, and happy card-sending!

>31 timspalding:

What are we doing with people with no addresses?

I got a name with no address too. I did post a message to that person as I didn't see anything on her site. I'm hoping I get a response from her or from LibraryThing.

>31 timspalding: My message on the one with no address said LT had sent them a request for their address.

Yeah. We'll try to get that address.

Meanwhile, I need to make it so that they can edit their address now! (At present, you can't. I need to make that editable, but none of the other fields, because changing how many cards or where they can go would invalidate the picks!)

I signed up a few days ago, are we to get our matches via email? I'm not sure?? nvm just saw them, in my account, I think you could make it clearer for newbies how it all works. And I think it would be beneficial for participants to mark their cards as SENT.

> 36 qu33nb33 I like your idea of a sent box.

Mine are in the mail tomorrow. Thank you LibraryThing Staff, for all of your hard work.

I know this comes up every year but what should people do when they have an address but no "real" name. It seems odd sending something addressed to a user name.

Sending tomorrow.

>38 ILuvBookplates: I send to usernames. It might sound odd to the mail carrier but the person on the other end will know. Some people just don't like to share their given names. I have an friend online who just doesn't like her name so I use her screen name by default.

Thank you for doing the holiday card exchange this year. I've had a lot of changes in my life the past few years and the holiday card exchange was a constant I have looked forward to for the past year. Cards are addressed, stamped and ready to go out tomorrow.

>40 WeeTurtle: I'll do that. Maybe my card recipient gets a lot of mail using their user name.

One of my recipients has only an email address listed - what now? I'm a bit puzzled as to how to send a real card ;)

I have a couple cards ready: the ocean crossing ones. Still need to get stamps though. I don't have any international ones on hand, and I have only 3 USA stamps and 5 cards to send!

I stuck the cards in the tote I'm taking to work. No promises on getting them done today. It's a colleague's last day with us in the office (marriage and move to another state), the last full day of finals so some students may come by before leaving campus to return books and speak to some of us, and the last day of work for librarians until January 8 (although we process in graduation Friday). Then Living Christmas Tree dress rehearsal is tonight. I'm hoping I can do them later tonight or in the morning before I go do Christmas shopping.

>43 Rotschopf: I believe Tim's trying to request for people's addresses that were missing, so hold tight!

Thank you!

I have since looked at my recipient's profile. As it turns out, it has their actual name and address (it matches up with their email, too), so no need for any additional request :) .

I have a potential (waiting to hear back from them) member who might need a couple of matches!

One member for them to send a card to, and one member to send them a card—they're in India.

Any takers to receive an extra card and/or send an extra card to India? I'll follow up with you if it comes through as a go. Thanks in advance!

>48 kristilabrie: I can do an international card.

>48 kristilabrie: I can do extra cards, receive and send.

I can do some extra cards, both in US and International.

>48 kristilabrie: I could also do another to send, receive, or both.

All of my cards have gone into the post - I elected to send Christmas ones in the end as there is a reasonable chance the cards will arrive this side of New Year at least.

Thanks to all who have volunteered! I'll keep your names on bank for any pairings we need (nothing new so far). :)

>54 kristilabrie: Feel free to add my name to your bank of spare people to send an extra card as well.

I see two familiar names on my list, and I'm pretty sure one of them I've sent a card to pretty much every single time I've done this exchange, lol.

I have all my cards (and stickers and related decorative stuff) spread out on my table ready to be written... And I'm realizing I have entirely too many different cards and no idea how to pick which ones to send! I usually poke around each person's profile trying to match possible likes (a dog in the profile picture means they get a dog card, etc), so I guess I'll be doing that for awhile.

Sent mine off this morning! So looking forward to more colorful cards to hang on my wall this winter. I also participated in a cat owner holiday card exchange, so I am laughing to think what kinds of goofy cat cards will arrive to share the wall with LT cards! :)

All my cards are ready to be sent out tomorrow so hopefully everyone gets them by mid-next week. Happy holidays everyone!!!

This is my favorite annual event. My cards are going out tomorrow. Only 2 international ones this year, so they should all make it well before Christmas. Most of my people had blank or private profiles, so I didn't get to personalize my cards or make book recommendations, which is the best part. Happy Holidays!

I am one who doesn't mind getting cards after Christmas.

Both my matches (only 2) were international for me - one to the US and one to Ireland. They both went out today. I imagine the US one will make it, but the one to Ireland may not.

Now, if there are more people who need a card sent to them, I don't mind, but any international ones, I do need to get to the post office (which I won't be able to do again till Friday). If there is anyone in Canada that needs one, I can do those right away. :-)

>56 Heather19: I usually poke around each person's profile trying to match possible likes (a dog in the profile picture means they get a dog card, etc),

I do that, too!

Kristilabrie: One of my addresses didn't come through...all I got was the street line, no name or city/state. Can you help? It was address #8 on my list.

Thanks!
rgherndon

My cards all went out this evening, except for the one that doesn't have an address. I'll keep checking back to see if that person's entry gets updated.

As it looks like I need to go to my post office on Saturday, if anyone from the international (non-US) people still need matches, I can help with it. Or if someone up thread wants to send me their address :)

I know this comes up every year but what should people do when they have an address but no "real" name. It seems odd sending something addressed to a user name.

I would send it to "Username!" I think it's okay people don't want their real names out there. They'll get it.

Also have my cards ready to go and hitting the post office tomorrow. 3 to the USA and 2 overseas.

I don't mind picking up wayward cards exchanges either. Did that last year with Australia. Their return came rather quickly. :)

My cards will be mailed today with the exception of the one awaiting an address.

>62 rgherndon: Looking into it and will get back to you, thanks!

Foiled by a mad back! Stuff going out tomorrow. Really!

Cards are done, will get them in the mail tomorrow. Need stamps for the international ones.

Sent out half my cards today, the other half going out tomorrow because apparently I didn't have as many stickers as I thought! This is so much fun, why did I only sign up for 7 cards? 10, always do 10!

Cards done, will be sending them out today.

My cards sadly will have to go out late. My son has the flu. :(

Cards away!

And that sucks mellymel. Hope he gets better soon!

I've posted my international cards today and I have received my first card from someone only signed as 'Keith'. Whoever you are, I would like to say thank you for the lovely poetry pamphlet 'The Christmas Wren' by Gillian Clarke. It is a simply magical read and did make me cry a little (with happy memories of Christmases past). I am about to put up my Christmas tree and shall read it every Christmas from now on as a prelude to this event.
Thank you also to LibraryThing staff for running this event. Bless you all. xxx

I sent my cards out on Thursday, and I've already received my first. Thank you so much to Lisa (ILuvBookplates)! Your hand-painted card is so beautiful and I'll display it for years to come. And I love the Titanic boarding pass bookmark too! How did you know I love a good shipwreck?

Mailed my cards a couple of days ago but I have extra cards if you need people to send out more!

Thank you for doing the card exchange. Over the years many friends and relatives have opted out of card exchanges but I love to get, but seldom receive, personal mail.

I received a couple cards today!

I received my first card today! Thank you perennialreader :)

Mine went out Saturday. Bon voyage!

Three cards today! Thanks to NorthernStar, Dana from Duncan, and Heather39. The cards are all beautiful!

Received 3 cards today! This is my favorite annual event!

Only 1 for sure is from LibraryThing exchange because it was written on the card: Nicole W from NJ. Thank you, Nicole! I believe we have received each other's names for several years now 🎄☺

The other 2 (which may be LT, or a completely unrelated exchange I am in) are from:

Rebecca R from CA and included a cat magnet and Meow sticker. Thank you and I wish you a blessed Christmas as well! 🎄👼🏼

Sara P from WY sent a cute handmade card that looks like an elf outfit. Thank you: I love the colors and hope you have an awesome holiday season as well! 🎄☃️

This is my first year to do the Holiday Card Exchange and I received my first card today! Thank you karenmarie!

I received two beautiful cards today, one from perennialreader and the other, along with a bookmark that I’m already using, from bayleaf. Thank you both!

>83 perennialreader: thank you!

Thank you to Sharon in Port Arthur, Tx (no LT handle given) for the cute card and the beautiful Texas sunset postcard!

I recieved two cards today. One from copperskye ( thank you so much). And one from someone I can't find on LT. The name is Meander and was sent from MD. Thank you whoever you are.

I sent my 6 cards out yesterday.

I received my first card today, inside a parcel from my sister! Thanks tardis! (I got my sister's name in the card exchange)

I received two more cards today. Thank you, thank you!! I just love this card exchange.

One was from Tracy in Iowa City, IA who included a lovely note regarding our shared appreciation for certain authors. I wish they had included their LT name but maybe they’ll see this post. *fingers crossed*

The second was a darling pop-up card, the first I’ve ever received, from jessicamhill. I have it displayed on my dining room table (fingers crossed that the cat doesn’t gnaw on it!). I’m so tickled by its adorable-ness that I’m sharing it here. It’s even cuter in person.

>88 Copperskye: Oh that is adorable! I feel like I may have gone a little underwhelming on my cards this year, but I did get them out.

>89 WeeTurtle: I keep it simple myself and really, that’s all I ever expect, but wow, I am often amazed at the creativity and generosity of my fellow LTers!

>87 NorthernStar: Oh, that's funny!

>88 Copperskye: Oh, I love it!

To: mistrust
You're welcome! I'm sorry. I thought I wrote "beehappy" inside all my cards.

I’ve sent out my cards earlier this week but there is one that still has no address.

>93 beehappy: Oops! As I've never come across you on LT before, I took your handle for a cheerful bit of advice. :-D Thanks for clearing that up, and now I'm sure I'll bump into you all over LT!

I just remembered to check my list for the one card that didn't have an address, and the address is there, so that card will go out today! It's to the US, so I hope it will arrive before Christmas, but one never knows!

I sent my 3 (all US addresses) out today. I'm on child care detail and it sort of wears me down a bit. He is 5 months and I am 72. What happens when he hits 1 year. . . I'll still be 72. My first grandson! I have received two back. . . I wasn't expecting that. Thank you!!

Eight cards to USA out, have to get to post office for the two international.

Six cards now received, but only one gave their LT name.

The address for my last card appeared overnight so I’ll get a card in the mail as soon as I can.

Second card arrived yesterday. Thank you Elizabeth S! Your kitties are adorable.

>96 tardis:

I did not even think to look in the last 2 days - I seem to have an address for the other missing one as well -- so one more going out in the morning.

Thank you to Gloria (iamadruid) in Corpus Christi for the old-fashioned Santa card- very pretty!

I have sent all my cards out. I received 6 cards so far. Thanks to all who sent me cards.

Nothing yet, but I'll be going to my brother's place soon so might miss any deliveries until I get back after boxing day.

Thanks to Johan and Linnea (anglemark) for a cute little card with a skating scene!

Do you get as many cards as you sent?

Card from London today! Was trying guess by looking at the stamps but wasn't sure outside of "someplace Commonwealth." You'd think the pound and pence symbols would have clued me in but the card certainly did! Thanks Keith!

>106 dianeham: Yes.

I got 2 more today. One from someone I sent a card to! Thank you @edutechteacher

And one from @yervant with a wonderful bookmark from the Bodleian Library at Oxford. I've never been to Oxford but if I ever went to England - that's where I'd go (looking for Inspector Morse!).

So far we've netted cards from Birger Nielsen @bnielsen, a nice picture of the Århus open air museum of old houses, @camelama, who discovered a fellow Sluggy Freelance fan in Linnéa, and from Dana (?), who sent a colourful picture by Woodleigh Marx Hubbard.

I thank everyone I could on their profile page but thanks to the ones I couldn’t find— Heidi, Valerie & Greg, S. Gray, and jonnijones.

>11 bnielsen: >12 anglemark: >105 bnielsen: >110 anglemark: :-)

>112 bnielsen: I know!

Thank you Nicole in NJ, Stephanie in TN, Orlando in TX and Richard in ID for the terrific cards! I would have thanked you on your profile pages, but I don't know your usernames. Thanks also to iamadruid and DoctorFate. Your cards are so nice, I'm thanking you twice. :)

I've received six cards so far. Thank you for the lovely cards, Tenev Family from FL, Sandy M from VA, Irene in PA, Linda P from MI, and Monica in AZ. Thank you, too, to Cree from MN for your card and thoughtful note!

Just received my card today. Cannot thank my sender as I only have a name. Thank you Jeanette T from Indiana x

Got an adorable card today from someone I also sent a card too.

I received cards from @cbl_tn, @anglemark, and @peace2 today. Thank you all and thank you LT staff for organizing all of this!

Haven't checked the mail box since Friday. Not sure if the mail will arrive when head out tomorrow but hopefully there's something there. Late heading in to my brother's place for the holidays.

Two cards today - from Victoria and Jillian. No LibraryThing names for either but the cards are great, and thanks very much both of you!

Received a homemade card and a big handful of stars confetti from Sharon in AZ. Thank you, Sharon! Merry Christmas 🌟⭐🌟⭐

My mailbox was full today with some beautiful & wonderful cards that brought a huge smile to my face and happiness in my heart. Thank you to the following LibraryThing usernames for their beautiful cards: Aoife, astudyblrinblack, lady of the lodge, tanglewood. I also want to thank Michelle from Waterloo, IA, and Beth from Madison, MS for their so very cute cards too. I want to especially thank Karen from Santa Clarita, CA for her touching & beautiful message. I wish I knew her username but I hope she gets this message. Thank you Diana for your words of wisdom and wishing all of you a healthy and Happy 2020!

I'm not home, but USPS has been keeping me informed (when I check email), and I've received several cards which I'll enjoy after the first of the year.

Received 3 cards - Thank you to Lynn K in WI and Monica from TX for your beautiful cards. And thank you Terri L from MD for your fun card filled with great stickers!

I'm away from my mailbox for a few more days. I'll see if anything has arrived when I'm home.

No cards so far, except for one in return for one of mine. Maybe international postal service is particularly slow this year ;)

>126 Rotschopf: That's what I'm thinking, as well! In Canada, but nothing yet for me, either! I will keep checking my mailbox! (And it hasn't yet been delivered for me today.)

I received my first card today, from Japan. Dear sender, thank you for the lovely card! It was my first ever postcard from your country :)

I received two nice Christmas cards today, one from Monika in Austria (library_mistress) and one from Arjan Moraal & Family in The Netherlands. Thanks!

In addition to my card from Evy with lots of snow, I received one today from LT.

Thanks to all and a Happy New Year!

My 6th card today! This one from Becca in Lafayette! It has a fab Edward Gorey illustration. No LT name, but I have read her suggestion of Magic for Liars and agree that it was great :)

Received a holiday card, and a sticker, from LibraryThing today! Thank you. And yes, my card to you was truly carried by dogsled, through part of Chequomagon-Nicolet National Forest (northern WI) courtesy of BraverMountain Mushing of Mountain, Wisconsin. Blair Braverman and her dogs ran the Iditarod for the first time last spring! 🐾 Blair's book can be found here on LT.

I also received a delightful little card - "Snowflakes 101" - from Dory (I think?) in Richmond VA. No need to apologize for the glitter - I love it! ❄❄❄ Thank you. Is it weird that I love the brown envelope, too?

A third card arrived today too, from Stacy in AL, but I'm not sure if it's a LibraryThing exchange or one of the other exchanges I did. It says "letter coming after the holidays!" so, either way, yay! I guess I'll find out then. Thank you! 🐱

I received two more cards, one before and one after Christmas. The first is from Jillian from Winnipeg, I'm assuming it's part of the card exchange, but don't know who she is here. Thanks for the card Jillian!

The second has a beautiful picture of a robin (European variety) from Ruth & John in the UK. Robins have to be one of the cutest birds around! Thanks for the card, and I hope you like mine!

Two more LT cards in the mail today!

A very pretty green and white and red one with 3-d effects from Amanda from PA. Thanks Amanda!

And a gorgeous tiger card from Birgen from Denmark with some nice comments inside. Thanks!

This was my first year in the card exchange, and it was fun. I'd like to do more cards next year. Thanks to the hardworking elves at LT who set it up!

>134 NorthernStar: I'm glad that it reached you. I chose a Tiger rather than something Christmas related because I doubted that it would make it for Christmas :-)

Two more cards today! An adorable post card from Sugimasa in Japan and an elegant and beautiful hand-made card from @hailelib. Thank you both!

Has no one gotten my cards?

Posting here about cards received is not actually required, and I think most participants don’t know that some actually do so! I also have had a very busy holiday and never got my received cards sorted & on my wall so I lost track of which came from LT and which from my fiber group and which ... Etc.

So I apologize to the LTers who sent me cards - I enjoyed them all very much but somewhat anonymously enjoyed them!

>137 dianeham: If you had me, I haven't received anything yet!

>137 dianeham: Yes! - one arrived yesterday but I was so exhausted at the end of the day that I didn't get around to sending a message then - thank you I loved the card, the postcard and the bookmark. Thank you so much - from NJ to J as you say, what a surprise to find us matched. I wish you a fantastic year of reading and thank you again.

The letter carrier is supposed to deliver my accumulated mail today! Hoping for holiday cards and SantaThing books!

A funny Garfield postcard from Germany today, from @Kleo. Thanks!

I haven't been able to send any of my cards and I feel terrible. :( I am willing to still send them but I am worried everyone will be mad because they are so late. Dang flu went through my house hold.

>143 mellymel171328: Send Valentines? Hope you're feeling better.

Just write a note on the envelope explaining why they're late. Good people will understand and enjoy the cards anyway. ❤

>143 mellymel171328: I haven't received any cards yet. (I sent out two, so I assume I was supposed to receive two?) Personally, I'd be thrilled to still find mine in my mailbox. :-) I keep checking and hoping, in fact!

>146 LibraryCin: Same! I've only got one of five so far, but I've been away from home since Christmas so there might waiting be some when I get back.

My 10th card today! A gorgeous pic of Uluru from Angela Mary in Tasmania. Thank you so much!

I just heard from someone I was assigned to send a card to. They received their card yesterday, so it was approximately a 6 weeks journey from central Wisconsin USA to central Mexico. ❤💚

>149 seongeona: Wow! I was thinking about this yesterday. I am assuming I won't get either of mine at this point. :'(

I forgot to mention I think, when I got back from being stuck in town I got the other 4 cards! I wonder if there's a shortage of people that send overseas? I'm pretty sure I got cards from at least 3 to 4 of the people I sent to. One from Sweden, one from (non-American) Jersey (I think), and a couple from the USA, one being West Virginia I think. I have to look at them again to get the names but thanks!