An Old-Fashioned Christmas Card

Want to know one of my very favorite things to read over the holidays? Christmas cards. (Sorry, cheesy opening line, but since this is a book blog I have to tie in reading somehow!)

And when I say I like reading Christmas cards, I don't mean on facebook or in my email or as an e-card.* I mean a real, honest-to-goodness, tangible card that I find in the mailbox with a stamp on it. I mean a card that I can rip open at the front door and hold in my hands. I mean a card that can become as much a part of our decorations as our Christmas tree or advent calendar.

If I'm being completely honest, the real reason I send out loads of Christmas cards is because I'm hoping to get loads of Christmas cards back. This is probably the only time of the year when I check my mailbox multiple times a day in the hopes that we've received something besides junk mail.

When I was growing up, my mom always had a little sled that she kept the Christmas cards in. (And, to this day, when we go home over the holidays, I always spend the first hour or so going through all of their cards and reading up on the lives of family, friends, and random people . . . I'm not picky when it comes to Christmas cards.)

Last year, I decided I wanted to be able to see all of our cards at a glance. We have incredibly tall cabinets in our kitchen, so I attached a long ribbon to the front of them and just used clothespins to secure the cards. (This was not my own idea. I saw it somewhere on the vast space of the internet, but I don't remember where. So, thank you, whoever thought this up first and shared it!)

 This is my kind of decorating: cheap, fast set-up, quick clean-up, and I can see and enjoy all of our cards.

And when I say easy, I really do mean easy. I just attached the ribbon to the back of the cabinet with masking tape, like so (as if you really need a picture of this):



My kids love looking at the cards, too. This is by far their favorite one:

They laugh every time they look at it and seek it out among all the other cards.

So this year, my Christmas card craving has been more than satisfied. All I have to do is look at this mass of cards, and I feel overwhelmingly blessed to know so many good people.

 *But if sending your Christmas good wishes via the internet makes your life less stressful, I'll take it! I like hearing from family and friends in any form!