Greeting cards are one of those traditions of the holiday season we were all raised with and take for granted. Yet, they have only been in existence since the mid-1800s, the result of one man replacing personal communication with mass production.

In Victorian England, it was common to write personal letters of good wishes and goodwill to one's friends and relatives at Christmas. In 1843 Sir Henry Cole commissioned John Calcott Horsley to design a single card expressing his holiday greetings that could be sent to his entire list, thereby relieving him of the stress of writing individual letters. Soon cards were being printed commercially and everyone in England was sending cards instead of letters.

Christmas cards became popular in the United States in 1880 when Louis Prang, a German immigrant lithographer, held a competition for card designs and began mass-producing beautiful cards. Since then, our Christmas greetings have become less and less personal to the point of having no handwriting at all if names are custom printed and the envelopes addressed by computer.

And, cards are now available for all other holidays of the winter season and the entire year. Americans now purchase 7 billion greeting cards every year. Though some are kept as keepsakes, most end up in the trash if they are not tossed into the recycling bin.

I don't want to sound as if I am against greeting cards. They certainly have their place and can be an excellent means of expressing one's feelings. But there is a difference between personally selecting a card with just the right message for a special someone and sending out mass mailings. It's time to reconsider how we are giving greeting cards so that the cards we do send cause minimum impact to the environment and bring maximum joy to the recipient.

Here are some suggestions for sending (and not sending!) holiday cards:

• Don't send cards at all. There is no rule that says you have to send holiday cards, so if you don't feel like sending them--for any reason--don't. Convey your holiday greetings through gifts, visits, telephone calls, and emails.

• Send an e-card. They are fun, fast, use only a fraction of a killowatt of energy, can be personalized, and colorful and entertaining with all their animation and music.

• Choose cards printed on recycled paper. There are many cards now available printed on recycled paper, usually with soy-based ink. Often these cards are produced by nonprofit organizations and their purchase benefits environmental or social causes.

• Make your own. Be creative. You can make cards using a computer card-making program, or make a piece of art with handmade paper. Reuse and recycle the cards you receive to make holiday cards, decorations, place cards, and gift tags.

• Send postcards. These are very easy to make at home on your computer, use less paper, and save on postage. Check out free font sites for holiday fonts or use your own original artwork. Write a holiday wish and lay out your postcards four-up horizontally on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. Go to your local copy shop and purchase as many sheets of recycled card stock as you need for your list (your list divided by 4 = number of sheets of card stock). Print your postcards on your color printer. Or, you can copy what you need at the copy shop. Most shops can run your copies in red or green. Before I got a color printer, I would print out my postcards in black, and then hand-color them with felt-tip pens and stickers such as gold stars. Kids love to help make these and would feel very proud if you sent out a postcard with their holiday artwork.

• Trim your list. Instead of sending the same impersonal boxed card to everyone ask yourself "Who do I want to send a card to, and why?" You may find that you see many of the people on your list around the holidays anyway, and the rest of the list may be short enough that you can send personal handwritten notes to those you want to keep in touch with, but don't regularly see.

• Use a small gift tag on gifts to identify the recipient. Cards are often paired with gifts, but, in my opinion, if you are giving a gift, you don't need to also give a card. A small gift card or tag saves resources while identifying "To" and "From".

• Send a holiday letter. Sending a holiday "news" letter can be a good way to keep distant family and friends up-to-date. And, it returns to the original purpose of the card--to send a letter. Sharing personal news builds relationships and opens an invitation for the recipient to respond in kind. Include holiday greetings and decorate the page with a holiday theme. Remember to add a handwritten note with the recipient's name at the bottom of your letter and sign it personally. It only takes a few moments and makes the difference between a personal greeting and a mass mailing. Instead of enclosing your letter inside a card that is then inserted into an envelope, fold the letter itself with a "letterfold" to eliminate the envelope. Ideas and instructions for over 30 interesting letterfolds can be found at the Envelope and Letterfolding website.

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