Your Best Sources for the 2006 Holiday Season's E-Cards

Tired of the Holiday stress and chaos already? Avoid long lines, trips to the post office and the disappointment of your good tidings not reaching their proper destination in time. The solution? E-cards! Their easy, reach their destination with the click of a button, and best of all, they're FREE! Here are several of the top E-cards sites to eliminate the worry of snail mail…

1. Better Homes and Gardens powered by Oddcast - This is really cute. You actually can 'build' your card! First, choose from a selection of 5 characters. Next, dress them in hats, glasses, shirts and other accessories. Then after choosing your card's background, add an audio greeting - a microphone recording or a 'text to speech' greeting! How cool is that?

2. Blue Mountain - You can choose holiday cards for Thanksgiving, Seasons Greetings, Advent, Hanukkah, Santa's List Day, St. Nicholas Day, Kwanzaa, Christmas Eve and Christmas. Some are postcards, others animated and some 'flash' cards. Happy Choosing!

3. Hallmark eCards - Choose from 42 Thanksgiving, and 99 Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa cards. Let your friend, family or loved one enjoy a special 'Hallmark Moment' when they receive your holiday eCard. You can opt for a 'Classic' or 'Traditional' appearance, or cards with a more modern, humorous twist.

4. Greeting-Cards - This is a really cute and fun site. These cards are all cartoons and really adorable. Choose from Thanksgiving cards, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa and Seasons Greeting cards.

5. Regards.com - Now these by far are some of the coolest cards. Great animation and Flash. Choose from Thanksgiving, Christmas, International Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa and Seasons Greetings. You must check this one out! These are definitely not your grandmother's holiday cards!

6. 123Greetings - Got an occasion? They've got a card for it. Yes, this is about the 'Holidays' right now, but they even have cards for Cranberry Day (November 23rd), Pickle Appreciation Day (November 14th) and Chocolate Pizza Day (December 19th)?!?!?! This site has a calendar for every month, and the 'event' or "holiday' links are listed for each day on which they fall.

7. Family Corner - These e- cards are nice. They are actual photographs instead of drawings. Not too much diversity of categories to choose from: Christmas, Hanukkah and Winter, but the images are truly beautiful. This site also has searchable categories for Parenting, What's New, Family & Kids, Newsletters, Home & Garden, Holidays, Forums and Funbook (activities). A great site for fun, age-appropriate activities for children.

8. Playtonium - Limited amount of cards, but they are really cute. Safe animation and subject matter for the whole family. These cards use flash animation and are very unique. The site also has downloadable games and puzzles.

9. The Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley - If you're looking for a more traditional card to celebrate Hanukkah, this site is for you. Simple and tasteful. This is a community center site and features center news, events, and info on the women's, young adults and professional group associations.

10. Sun-E-Cards - These cards are very sweet, but there aren't a whole lot of them. Choose from Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Winter season cards.

11. Super Laugh - Really liked the cards. Non-traditional, funny as hell - like, "Osama Got Run Over By A Reindeer," "Disco Santa," and "Super Bad... Santa's Grooviest Elves!" Some of these are like mini videos, while others have 'adult' humor and are just plain off the wall. Definitely NOT like any other e-cards you've ever seen - would NOT advise to let your kids on this site unsupervised.

Eliminate writer's cramp and the added stress of getting to the post office in time. FREE holiday e-cards are available to suite your tastes and sentiments, whether they be traditional or cynical, at a variety of different sites. Just choose, personalize and click to send your seasons greetings in an instant!