The UK postal service reaches saturation point in December, delivering up to 150 million cards a day, that's an amazing 17 cards on average for every man, woman and child in the country. As far as waste is concerned, this could potentially result in up to a billion cards being discarded every year as the festivities draw to a close. Luckily our concern for the environment is growing, with more and more of us responding to invitations to take our old cards in for recycling in January. But in these days of minimalist living, when we'd all prefer to lead a clutter-free way of life, hasn't it all got a bit too much?

Tradition has ensured that the age-old British custom of sending Christmas cards has never lost its impetus. It all began back in 1840 with the introduction of the 'Penny Post' public postal service and the popularity of cards soared with the introduction of irresistible new designs over the years, beginning with nativity scenes and continuing with endearing images of winter, Father Christmas and warm and cosy settings around the Christmas tree. These days, anything goes, whether it's scantily clad young men in festive hats or Santa and Rudy causing mischief and mayhem across the winter skies.

But times have moved on. We now live in the digital age, a time when funky graphics and cool animations are the name of the game. So maybe it's time to grab your mouse, embrace the world of online greetings cards and give your postman a well-deserved rest over the festive season? We've certainly been dabbling with the idea of electronic cards for years, particularly as they've grown more interactive. There are hundreds of e-card companies offering many thousands of exciting designs and nifty features. The greetings arrive instantly, they're just as bright and bold as your paper cards and many of them can be personalised. The best thing is, many of them are free and we seem to blissfully forget the millions of pounds we squander every Christmas on greetings cards. Surely sending your cards for free and donating your annual Christmas card budget to charity would be an appropriate gesture for the season of goodwill?

It may seem strange at first to fire off all your Christmas greetings at once with a click of the mouse, but like everything new in life, we're sure to get used to the idea. There is of course the consolation that at least you'll save precious time and you can guarantee never to be a victim of postal strikes. We all seem to want to de-clutter and cut back on commercialism, so has the time really come to shun the high street card shop and vie to the whims of the digital age? Just how many people would be willing to sacrifice the pleasure of licking those good old Christmas stamps, only time will tell, but the idea certainly has more than its fair share of appeal.