The annual batch of Christmas cards has started to clog up my letter box. I know that I should be grateful and all, but having not dispatched a single one myself - again - it just reminds me that, like dinner parties and pension plans, this is another grown-up thing that I haven't quite mastered yet.

The intention really is there, but something inevitably goes wrong. E.g., the ones from 2002 are collecting dust, written but unmailed, because I ran out of stamps, and most from 2005 were returned due to "illegible address" because, after years of always using a keyboard, my handwriting's now worse than a doctor's.

That's where Touchnote.com comes in so handy. Upload a photo, add a message, and enter the recipient's details. They then turn it into a greeting card and take care of the printing, envelope stuffing, stamp licking and mailing, and three days later it'll be delivered. Just in time for Christmas.