I love the holidays and so many things about it.  One thing I enjoy day is getting the mail to see what cards have arrived.  It’s a great time of the year to connect with family and friends from near and far away by sending cards.  I don’t have the time to call everyone to wish them Happy Holidays but I do have the time to send them each a card.   I love both picture cards and regular cards.  And I read each one of them.

I have a wall in my living room that is designated for our Christmas cards.  I hang them all as they arrive and love watching it fill up.   We spread them out as far as we have to.  As the wall fills up, it’s a sign that Christmas is almost here.

The picture above is what my wall looked like in the middle of last week.  Below is a picture of what it looks like now.

The girls received several cards from their friends at school and they asked if they could hang them with ours.  Of course!  That’s what the wall is for.    My little one is in 1st grade now and is a very good reader.  But, to hear her read all her Christmas cards out loud is something that makes my heart sing.   Our neighbor who is in Kindergarten, is a beginning reader.  So my little one read her all the cards she could reach one day after school last week.  I sat and listened to her with a huge smile on my face.  It’s good practice for her to read.

We leave our cards up for about 2 weeks after the holiday then I take them down.  Each year I make a scrapbook of Christmas and I include all the picture cards we receive in the book.  I love looking through it year after year seeing how all our friends and family’s children have grown.  I also include a copy of our Christmas Card.  For all the other cards, I have a square hole punch which I use to cut one square from every card.  I then put those squares in the scrapbook so I have a piece of every card we receive.  I love making this album and the girls love looking through it over the years.