Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Especially because we receive so many wonderful Christmas cards and letters updating us on the lives of friends and family. The saddest time of the year is when I have to take down the Christmas cards. I have been known to leave them up until after Valentine's Day. We have a few friends who send their yearly card/letter for Valentine's Day, so I've justified leaving up the Christmas cards because their friends are still on the way. This year I had to take the cards down already. They are usually posted on the wall just below the railing to our stairs. My sweet little babies have learned to climb the stairs and wouldn't leave the cards alone. Thus, they had to be removed, lest they be destroyed. But now what do I do with them? I feel so sad thinking of throwing them in the trash. Think of all the beautiful pictures and thoughts in that stack of cards! Think of all the fond memories of family and friends! Think of how I cherished each card as I took it out of the mailbox, opened it, devoured the news, ooh-ed and aah-ed at the beautiful photos!
This is where I need your advice. Clearly you can see I have a problem. Right?!?! After the season, what do you do with the Christmas cards you received? Is there something to be done other than throwing them in the trash? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on this. Please! Even if your answer confirms my fears that there is nothing to be done but throw them out.
(By the way, I know exactly what my husband will say . . . . Throw them out! He doesn't seem to have sentimental attachments to such objects, like I do.)
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I admit mine get gathered in a Ziploc bag and put away with our decorations. However, I saw a lot of cute ideas on Pinterest this year about how to keep old cards. One that I really liked stacked all the cards, then punched them and held them together in a large "o" ring, which made them into kind of a book, which can be set out and displayed. Good luck!
Throw them out. My mother-in-law has kept most of the Christmas cards they have received over their life, (can you imagine how many she must have?) I mentioned that they are just sitting there collecting dust and will be thrown out when they die. She responded when they die they will go to someone else who things they are meaningful. My thought, "who on earth would think your Christmas cards were meaningful??" There may be a rare occasion where something is worth keeping, but I don't think that is the case very often. Keep in mind this principle I learned at an organization class. The more stuff you have the less valuable the stuff you have is.
I am a sap to.. I get a zip lock bag and put the year on it, stuff it with those cute cards and we have a family memory box aside from the kids, and ours as husband and wife so they go in the family box to someday when the kids are older and we all put the decorations up we could pull out those cards and share memories with our kids about how we knew these people... playmates my kids may have had, stories about adam and I.. stuff like that.
Lydia- Pinterest has some great ideas on collecting and keeping Christmas cards. This was really the first year we got enough to collect them so I will make a little book out of them that I can put on my table the next year when Christmas roles around. It seems pretty easy. I'll send some your way.
I would like to try it...i admit I haven't...but I read about someone putting together a photo album and putting the christmas cards in it and looking through them every year! Sounds fun!
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