Perhaps it is only my imagination, but over the past couple of years, there has been a steady decrease in the number of printed holiday cards received by our family.

I previously have witnessed this trend within the corporate world. For several years a significant part of my company's fourth-quarter business involved the design of holiday cards for the legal industry.

Once the Web became involved, there was a quick transition away from printed pieces towards interactive online corporate greeting cards. Due to more sophisticated email filtering as well as the overabundance electronic messaging, these animated web-based greetings have metamorphosized into generic static emails.

Observing our current basket of printed cards that, it is quite evident that this same approach has worked its way into home-based holiday correspondence. In some cases, blanket emails and Facebook posts have replaced handwritten, and personalized greetings.

It is true that our free time is becoming more and more limited and from a financial standpoint, printed cards and postage are quite costly.

For me, the sad part of the matter is that we are losing interpersonal communications. Once a year we have been given a moment to pause and catch-up with those with whom we do not interact with on a regular basis.

There is a bright side. We no longer have to suffer through as many densely written annual accounts of a family's trials, tribulations, and exotic vacations (or as my Mom used to refer to them, a Brag Rag). –Doug.