Holiday Card Exchange 2021 and SantaThing 2021

Are the greeting card exchange and SantaThing going to be happening this year?

SantaThing typically starts in the 3rd week of November and the greeting card exchange starts the first week of December.

>1 ILuvBookplates: SantaThing 2021 will be announced VERY SOON, so keep an eye out for profile messages/alerts!

Oh good! I was wondering about this as well. I was wondering it would be slightly earlier this year because the post is still running slow and playing catch up after the mess of the past two years.

We've been telling Tim for years that early December is too late for an international card exchange. It hasn't made any difference.

DeJoy's USPS has deliberately slowed first-class mail delivery across the country. Domestic letters and cards to my household are now taking twice as long as they were expected to in the past. I don't have international examples since the change of policy on October 1, but it's likely international mail has also been slowed coming and out of the USA.

Something to keep in mind for any holiday card exchange.

I'm happy to send cards anyway, but an earlier start might be a good thing to consider in the future. It's possible the slowdown might be a long term thing. I appreciate that LT does this either way though.

My last letters to the US from Austria took over two weeks. And it wasn't Christmas rush.

Last year, for the first time ever, we didn't get all the cards purportedly sent to us and (judging by the reactions we (never) got) not all ours reached their destination.

>9 anglemark: I don't think I've every got ALL the cards I expected. Last year I got 8 of the 10 I expected, and the last one arrived late February, but I don't get messages from all the recipients of my cards (I really appreciate the ones I do get, though!) and I can't tell if that means they didn't get the cards or they just didn't get around to telling me they did.

>10 tardis: We have always got all cards until last year.

>11 anglemark: Although I'm sure more cards got lost last year, unless you're specifically paying for tracking I don't see how to be 100% certain they never got delivered (and even then I don't think tracking is 100% accurate). I could also see a lot of recipients last year being overwhelmed with *gestures around* everything else, and just not having the mental space to get back to everyone. Personally, I like to just send some cards out and I don't mind if I get cards back in March (or ever).

>12 kristilabrie: I do in fact agree. This was more meant as a commentary on how the postal services declined under the pandemic and by political defunding. I don't expect recipients to get in touch, I just use it as an indication of how many cards are delivered by the postal system.

Excited as always for another year of SantaThing

I've never got all my cards back. I always sign up for 10 cards. Last year I got 3.

>13 anglemark: Gotcha, it's definitely one indicator.

It does feel frustrating that, even *knowing* postal services is screwed up because of pandemic stuff, the holiday card exchange isn't going to start earlier to compensate for that. Every year cards arrive weeks or even a month after Christmas, especially international cards, and every year we ask for it to start earlier. But *especially* now, knowing post will almost certainly take even longer, it feels more frustrating than usual that it'll start so late.
(Regarding the post, I've been having issues with my electric bills not arriving until a week or two *after* the due date (I pay on time anyways, but need the paper bill for my records) and those are coming from in-state. Can't imagine international post right now...)

There's another slowdown as well with all the flooding over here in BC and upper Washington right now. Almost all main highways are blocked so the part of BC I'm in can't even get to the rest of Canada.

That said, I'll still do it, thought it might take much extra time as I'm currently stuck at home on a short section of highway that is closed in both directions, and all the detours are on the other side.

>18 WeeTurtle: Sorry to hear that. It's also in Danish news at the moment. Sure looks like a lot of rain and flooding:

https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/udland/en-maaneds-regn-paa-et-doegn-canadiere-paa-vand...

>17 Heather19: I hear you. The trouble is that we simply can't have the Card Exchange step on SantaThing's toes in any way, and we can't run the Card Exchange in October...I don't see people jumping on board with that before Halloween has even happened (including @timspalding). SantaThing is, and will continue to be, our main holiday event at LibraryThing. We're doing the best we can with the time we're given and will continue to consider improving the timing of the events, so thanks for your patience.

I want to underscore our rationale here. SantaThing is our big event. It's the longer and stronger tradition, involving more than twice as many members--despite SantaThing not being free. It is the explicitly bookish event, drawing in members who aren't regular participants in LibraryThing's social side. We commit to it fully, and it costs us a lot of time and money.

I believe that having SantaThing sign-up and the Card Exchange overlap would present a somewhat complex and confused message to members, and discourage some from participating. I don't want to throw all that time and money at SantaThing and have it fail.

That's where I'm coming from. I hope members can understand this, even if you don't agree.

>21 timspalding: Completely! For me the Card Exchange is fun even if it is impossible for the cards to make it by Xmas.

>20 kristilabrie: >21 timspalding: I absolutely get it! I can't imagine the work that goes into SantaThing, even just looking at it as a nonparticipant. That said, I love the simplicity and sense of community that the card exchange invokes particularity in these fractious times. I look forward to it every year and thank you for doing it!

>22 bnielsen: ditto

I love the card exchange. Don't care when it starts or how late the cards arrive. None of my family or friends even do cards anymore, so I join in on exchanges with all my special interest groups. Thank you, LibraryThing, for continuing the tradition (and for SantaThing as well).

>21 timspalding: Understandable.

>25 seongeona: Me, too. Everyone around me knows I'm fond of letters and cards, but I rarely get any in return. I do keep at it though. I might have to re-use last years cards though, if my new package takes too long to get here.