I’m glad that you made this topic!
My current ritual goes like this:
Getting the mail–My mailbox is mounted on my house, so all I have to do is peek out the window to see if the mail carrier has come (lucky me ). I open the mailbox, see the card inside, make a little squeal of delight and/or a happy bounce, and bring the card inside to read.
Reading the card–Besides reading the message itself, I examine every little bit of the card: the stamps, the cancellation, the extra decorations, and any other text that is printed on the card (a description of the image, the artist’s information, where and when the card was printed, etc.). I always share with my husband where the card is from, and sometimes I share fun or exciting details from the message with him (e.g. if the sender has something in common with one of us, or shares a funny anecdote).
Registering the card–This takes me forever–often just as long as writing a card myself. First, I like to do a little online research about the card or the sender–about what is pictured on the card, about the sender’s city, about who or what is on the stamps, etc. I have learned a lot of cool things from doing this preliminary research. JP-1468931’s stamp introduced me to Maejima Hisoka, the father of Japan’s postal service and an all-around fascinating guy! HK-716554 had a really cool Bruce Lee stamp, and upon skimming his biography, I learned that Mr. Lee lived in Seattle, Washington () for much of his life, and was even laid to rest there. ID-346122 included a return address with what looked like a business name, so I looked up the business and found that the sender was the owner himself! Taking the time to investigate the details of the card often yields memorable results, for which I can thank the sender in the Hurray! message.
In my Hurray! message, I like to acknowledge all of the details of the card, especially the time and effort the sender has taken to personalize the card, which is often significant.