Friends to get most SMS messages on Christmas Day: Telstra Forget the Christmas card ... Australians plan to send text messages to loved ones this Christmas. FORGET partridges in pear trees, or even traditional cardboard cards. This Christmas, the average Australian Christmas reveller will send eight SMS messages to close friends, four to extended family members, and three to close family members. The hi-tech greeting trend will see record SMS traffic this Christmas Day, according to a Telstra survey, with 136 million text messages sent between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day this year - a surge of 13 per cent over last year. But the humble phone call won't be completely forgotten. Mothers are likely to receive the first Yuletide phone chat from 31 per cent of Australians, while 22 per cent of partners will win the same honour. The findings, from a Pureprofile survey of 1500 adults, found the surge in calls and text messages was likely caused by separation over the Christmas period, with six in 10 Australians away from loved ones this year. Telstra consumer mobility director Scott McGibbony said mobile phones would be the technology of choice to connect with absent friends and family, as while Telstra customers were forecast to make 14.4 million mobile phone calls, they were only predicted to make 5.5 million calls from landlines. Picture messages would also be popular over Christmas, he said. "We are also tipping a 50 per cent increase in MMS messages, with more than eight million being traded with friends and family members over the three-day period," Mr McGibbony said. Of those separated from loved ones, 42 per cent said they lived too far away from friends and family, 32 per cent said their relatives and friends lived overseas, while 14 per cent blamed work commitments. Just 23 per cent said they would travel more than three hours to spend time with family and friends for Christmas. Natika Newing-Stern helps generate seasonal business for the Christmas Lights Warehouse on one of the coasts busiest roads the Central Coast Hwy.