Update your address book
Since my mother died (it’s been 5 months, can you believe it?), it’s up to me to figure out who I need to add to my Christmas card list. My dad prepared his Christmas cards on his own, but, well, he’s a boy and I have to figure out the fine details of who some of these people are, and, most importantly, who gets pictures of my kids in their cards.
I have her address book, and, I know who many of the people are, but, not all of them. Some of the entries are from when she had to do this when her mother (my grandmother) died, and, those are marked as such, but, I have no idea if these people are still alive. She made checkmarks in red, so, it looks like they got Christmas cards once upon a time, but, I’m not sure when.
Other entries are people I know nothing about, and, I don’t know their relationship to her. Actually, I might needed to have notified some of these people (was <== that even in English? I haven't had my coffee yet) when she died.
So, my advice to you is to not only keep your address book up to date (including phone numbers), but, take a few minutes, and, label the entries with your relationship to the contacts ("second cousin", "work", "high school", etc.). Even better, if you can tell someone coming along behind you who should get a Christmas card.
Since this is the digital age, and, everyone and their grandmother is likely to use e-mail, this applies to your electronic address book, too. Use that "description" field or whatever your e-mail address book has.
Though it wasn't something I experienced, I want to remind everyone that it's also good to think about what would happen to your electronic endeavors (your blog, your e-mail, online accounts) when you die.
There's a discussion at Lifehacker that addresses (heh, “addresses”, get it? Nevermind.) this, perhaps it will give you some ideas if you have information that needs to be passed on to your family in the event of your untimely reformatting.
Tags: Address-Book, Christmas-Cards, sandwich-generation
2 opinions for Update your address book
Melissa
Dec 23, 2006 at 12:45 am
This is a great reminder. Because when I send out
my Christmas cards in March, I might need to update.
Gawwww.
Embrace the organization Melissa. It’s out there.
Elizabeth
Dec 23, 2006 at 8:41 am
I have sent many a St.Patrick’s Day card in my life!
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