Gripped by a rising panic about the impossibility of achieving even a fraction of the things on the pre-Christmas "to do" list, I decided to fritter away some valuable time studying the Christmas cards received in the PrintWeek office instead.

Perhaps it's a little early to pass judgement, but it's my penultimate day in the office for 2009 so here goes: Manroland has impressed with its offering, which shows off the inline foiling capabilities of its Roland 700 HiPrint via a snazzy design that positively invites closer inspection. This, along with UPM's card with its deceptively simple design flowing across the opening half-fold, provide great examples of the tactile and engaging qualities of print previously expounded in this column.

Top marks, too, to ROI for practising what it preaches by producing cards that are personalised both by sender (the cards feature separate pictures of the relevant ROI account manager dressed up in a suitably silly Xmas outfit) and recipient, and also include a PURL to generate some print-to-internet action too.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without something suitably quirky from Andrew Moss at AM:PM, who has excelled himself this year with a card in the shape of two reindeer (available in both hand-cut and printed versions), thus providing him with the opportunity for a seasonal "you're two deer" pun.

This print-based cheer was tempered by the receipt this morning of a hated e-card, sent to me on behalf of someone who supplies digital printing equipment, and who should be ashamed of themselves.