Writing Christmas cards

Welcome to a new viewer from Algeria. Your flag has been added to "Hello World".

My cards are not done quickly.
They take days and days on end.
I think of the recipients:
Each one of them a friend.

For twelve long months, it's possible
I haven't seen them much.
But now it is December
And a chance to keep in touch.

There'll sometimes be a message
In the cards that I have sent.
"The wedding you were planning -
Please tell me how it went."

"I hope retirement suits you...
...your new job's to your liking...
Tom is doing well at school...
You're still enjoying hiking..."

The wording can be tricky.
Should I ask?- I can't decide -
"How's your mother keeping?"
For the old dear may have died.

Others do things differently,
Of that I am aware.
These folk don't have to agonize.
Don't have to take such care.

Their labels are all printed
(Updated every year).
And now there's a production line
For sending Christmas cheer.

They've stuck on the addresses,
The cards are all the same.
"Best wishes from..." they scribble,
But THEY DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME.

Stuff in any envelope.
These then are stamped and stacked.
No need for thought or effort:
They have got their system cracked!

The cards have now been "processed",
Are impersonal and bland,
And why on earth they bothered
I find hard to understand.

The printed words say everything,
They'd probably insist,
But the greeting merely tells me
That my name is on a list!