eric hoover, senior writer for the chronicle of higher education joins me now and dean obeidallah.al litmus test is what? ink? you need to see ink on the card for it to be legitimate? >> sure. call me old fashioned, but i turn these cards over looking for a smidgen of ink and there's none. i guess i just feel like, you know, i've gone to a party, someone handed me a cup of eggnog. i can taste the eggs and milk and sugar, but someone forgot to put the essential ingredient in it. so yeah, ink. >> you're hammering my personal card. you're hammering the card that we sent out as a family this year. a lot of thought went into it. a lot of creativity went into it. but my wife works. i work. we're juggling all sorts of responsibilities. we don't have time to send you that personal note. >> yeah. i think about it. all the people we know in the universe and i ask myself how many of them aren't busy. i can't come up with a long list of folks that aren't busy in some way. i know retirees who are busy. and i think it's just a matter of what we choose to spend our time on. some of the busiest fo

eric hoover writes today's cards may appear more personalized with photos with kids and pets, but wheni find to trace of ink, no original message. these prefab indicated greetings seem as empty as a stocking someone forgot to stuff. joining me now, sirius xm's michael smerconish, also msnbc contributor and i have not received a holiday card from you. >> it's funny you say that, i have those i've received so far right here and you're not in this stack thus far, tamron. you're on my list. i don't know if i made your cut. >> you are going to make my cut. i'm sending mine out this weekend. what is your take on it? you see these pictures, some of them awkward and sensitive, but then you flip the card and open it, there's nothing. >> it's true, i have to tell you, i'm guilty as charged. our family, we're guilty as charged. we're busy, it's hard to get it all before the holidays. but it doesn't mean i love you any less because i have to tell you, this is one of the great pleasures of christmas for me. sometime close to christmas day, i'll look at this whole stack, one by one and i may not eve