As the holidays seem to get busier every year, finding time to write holiday letters or send out cards with family portraits becomes somewhat of a struggle for some families.

In addition, knowing friends and family have been updated on you and your family's happenings all year long through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter may decrease the motivation or desire to send out letters sharing milestones of the year.

Do you think this is true in the St. Michael and Albertville area? Take our poll below.

A Time Ideas column by author Nina Burleigh titled, "Why I've stopped sending holiday photo cards" explains the dilemma:

Today, my 1,500 Facebook friends — 1,300 of whom I have never actually met—have already seen the best of the year's haul of pictures of my kids. They also know where I've gone on vacation and sometimes, what I cooked for dinner or what I thought of a movie on a Saturday night in May. There's little point to writing a Christmas update now, with boasts about grades and athletic prowess, hospitalizations and holidays, and the dog’s mishaps, when we have already posted these events and so much more of our minutiae all year long. The urge to share has already been well sated.

Likewise, as recipients, we already have real-time windows into the lives of people thousands of miles away. We already know exactly how they’ve fared in the past year, much more than could possibly be conveyed by any single Christmas card. If a child or grandchild has been born to a former colleague or high school chum living across the continent, not only did I see it within hours on Shutterfly or Instagram or Facebook, I might have seen him or her take his or her first steps on YouTube. If a job was gotten or lost, a marriage made or ended, we have already witnessed the woe and joy of it on Facebook, email and Twitter.

What do you think? Is this true for your family? Are you determined to send letters and cards anyway? Do you think social media can ever replace the excitement of opening a holiday card and letter from a friend? Leave your comments below.