Short answer: Keep one row per household with the name, mailing address, a sent box and a received box. Check addresses in early November, order cards and stamps by mid November, and post by the second week of December. After Christmas, compare sent and received to tidy next year's list.
One row per household, not per person, so couples and families get one card.
Week 7 before Christmas (early November): write the list and confirm addresses with anyone who moved. Week 6 (mid November): order or buy cards and stamps. Week 4 (late November): write and address them in batches. Post by about December 10 for domestic mail, and earlier for anything going overseas. Check your carrier's published holiday mailing dates each year.
Tick received as cards arrive. In January, anyone you sent to who did not send back, and anyone who sent one you missed, is the short list to review for next year. Keeping the list saves you rebuilding it every December.
A printed list is easy to keep next to the cards while you write. A spreadsheet is easier to update and reuse. Either way, keep the same columns so the list carries over each year.
There is no right number. Many people start with family and close friends, then add anyone who sent them a card last year.
Aim to post them in the first half of December. Carriers publish recommended last mailing dates each year, and international mail needs to go earlier.
Yes. The printable Christmas planner below includes two Christmas card list pages with name, address, sent and received columns, plus a gift list, budget, 8 week countdown and 20 more pages, in US Letter and A4.
Contact: m0f@mail.grokbot.com | Machine-readable: llms.txt, llms-full.txt, tools.json, openapi.json | Source: GitHub