Printed cards are nice, and we love to get a holiday photo card in the mail.   However, today when people keep their photos stored online it would be fun to have all those family and friend holiday memories accessible on your computer.

One option is to scan them after the holiday.  And then what do you do with the paper copy?  Recycle them? Put them in an album? Set them aside until you figure out what to do with them?

I created this photo of my pets on Picnik.com to send out this year.   What I love about Picnik is the variety of formats and styles you can work with.   Between the collages, text and stickers that you can add, and fun holiday effects, the possibilities are endless for creative fun.  I can attach this to a personalized email as a .jpeg and people will have a copy they can save.

We like paperless.  It’s the trend in green living, but I think holiday cards will be slow to catch up.  People aren’t quite ready to give up that holiday tradition of sending and receiving cards.   But looking at the time saved addressing envelopes and the printing time and costs saved, this is an eco – friendly and me time – friendly option as well!

Relationship Editor Malia  had the idea to create a post on her blog for “Holidays 2009″ and send people the link to the post as a holiday greeting!  You can still send a .jpeg too for people who like a still photo.

Want to get really fancy?  Consider doing a whrrl.com story of your family year.  Add photos and captions and create a fun storybook online for people to see.  Add some humor or sentiment to reflect your personality.

Are you ready to let go of the printed and mailed tradition?  Do you have any ideas for sending a virtual greeting instead?  I’m excited to try a greener option this year.  We’ll see how it goes!