When is it "too late" to send Christmas cards?

In the mail today we received two Christmas cards from some good friends of ours who have moved away from us in the past year.  I was super excited to see the pictures and (at least for one of the cards) read the enclosed "family updates" letter.  But it got me thinking ... when is it too late to send Christmas cards and/or Annual Update letters?

Many businesses work on calendars that are fiscally very different from the calendar most of us use.  Year-end reports are due for various companies in March or April.  Still others have to spend their budget "before the end of the year" which happens to be in August or September.

I am grateful that where I work (Progressive Insurance for those who don't know everything about me) we generally follow the standard calendar.  We do have a "Closing Calendar" which marks the beginning and end of our fiscal months.  These very rarely start on the 1st and/or end on the 30th or 31st, but usually it is only off by about a week.

But I digress.  I guess my point here is that I think it doesn't much matter when you send out your annual family update, but I do think you should pick a holiday card that more closely matches the time of year when it is being sent.  Let's say you're like Karen and I (which means you're absolutely awesome!) and you often don't get the letter written until the end of January.  I think it should be perfectly fine to send a Happy Valentine's Day family update letter.

I, for one, would probably rather space out the reading of these updates so that I might retain more of what I've read.  Having perused over a dozen different family update letters, I am positive I can remember none of my friend's kids' names, nor could I tell you who got: a) a new job, b) a new house, c) a new baby, or d) a new nose-ring.

So let me know your votes ... is there a "end date" for the annual family updates letters?  Do you think picking the closest holiday is a BAD idea or just a little silly?  I'm interested in the popular vote ... if only so I can feel a little better about having just sent two more letters out today.  :)

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