*PLEASE NOTE: If you are receiving this post via email, you will need to click on the title of the post to navigate to the website to leave your comment on the actual blog post. Thank you! :)
Welcome to the 11th Day of Christmas Giveaways!!!
Tweet This
Today my friend Whitney Capps is here to share a glimpse into the Capps’ household at Christmastime. (Or just after Halloween?) ;). She will be giving away a “Karen Ehman Prize Pack” which sounds a little funny for me to say, but Whitney chose 3 of her favorite books to give to one special reader! I love it!
To join in on the fun and be entered to win the various prizes, simply leave a comment on the post answering the question of the day. ALSO—one grand prize will be given to one person who comments on all 12 days.
The Grand Prize is a $50 gift certificate to Proverbs 31 Ministries store and a $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com!!!
Now, here is Whitney for today’s post…
Christmas in July
We love Christmas. Like really, really love Christmas. Our family decorates the day after Halloween. For real! All you Thanksgiving purists feel free to gasp and judge. I’m so sorry. I married a man who loves our home decorated for Christmas. So on November 1st, we start pulling out the red and green tubs of decor. We turn on the Christmas tunes and Christmas comes to town. (y
like some weird switch happens in my brain, and all the decor starts to make me all claustrophobic. And once it’s packed away, I cannot bear to see it, hear it or think about it again until the next year. I won’t let my boys watch seasonal Christmas movies in the spring. I absolutely can’t listen to Christmas music in the summer. Nope. No sir. Not gonna happen.
There is one tiny exception. Our Christmas cards. I hide my “”no-Christmas crazy in this one area. We love all the cards our family receives during the holiday season. It makes my heart swell to thumb through them, smiling at the faces and names that represent sweet friends and family. So I can’t bear to throw or pack them away. So here’s what we do. We keep our cards in a basket near our kitchen. At dinner we pull a card from the basket and pray for the family represented. It’s not big. It’s not profound. It’s just a sweet little tradition that let’s us enjoy Christmas year-round.
It’s our little bit of Christmas in July. And it makes me feel festive in the best kind of way.
We really do not get many Christmas cards any more, but the ones we get i stash them way with my christmas decorations. I have taken the fronts of the cards and made small gift boxes out of them ! The ones with the pictures on them I save and watch how the families have grown and changed over the year. What a great idea to leave them out and pray about each one throughout the year!
I love sending and receiving Christmas cards. I think it’s the one time of the year that you can get in touch with the ones you haven’t seen all year. I love getting those letters to see what the family has been up. We haven’t got to go anywhere or do anything so it’s kind of nice to see what others have done and get a picture of them enjoying their families. This
year someone gave me a good idea of making a bulletin board and putting all the cards and pictures on it. Then everytime we walk passed it we can pray for a different person(s) on it. It keeps Christmas alive in our hearts and minds of the ones we love. I ordered the movie War Room when the movie first came out. It’s been on hold. This week it’s supposed to be released and I can’t wait to get it. I’m looking forward to learning some valuable lessons on prayer.
I went many years without sending cards. It was more a chore than a joy. But I began sending them again last year. It was the first time we sent a photo card. We didn’t send a ton, just 50 or so to out of town family and a small handful of friends. This year we are slow on the prep so they will arrive the week between Christmas and New Year.
I have a friend that shares your tradition of keeping them in a basket and praying for the family during the dinner prayer time. I thought we’d try that last year but I wasn’t able to make it happen. This year we’ve decided to redo a room into a small office/prayer room. Its my Christmas vacation project, to clean out the storage area to prep the room for the remodel. A few days back, as part of Karen’s 12 days of Christmas an idea was shared about putting the cards on a bulletin board in the laundry room to pray for them as you passed by. I am going to incorporate this idea into our new room. I can’t wait to see how God uses this idea to bless us and the families on the board. Merry Christmas! !
Most of the picture cards I keep, the rest of them go in the round file. I don’t put decorations up until after thanksgiving but like you when Christmas is over I am ready for them to be put away.
We send photo Christmas cards because we have noticed people love it and save it. So we feel it’s not a waste of money. I love keeping the ones we have been given and put it in my Christmas memory book.
I send a newsletter every year with my cards, called Details from the Deniz’. I have been doing this for many years and actually have a copy of all of them in a binder.. It is filled with Austins adventures, Ashley’s Affairs, Brian’s business and Janet’s journeys., with a little extended family thrown in I love this pulling a card and praying for the family idea. Sounds like a great new tradition to start.
For years I hole punched the cards then put them on a key ring with the year as a title page. Somewhere along the line I stopped doing it. I like your idea of the basket and praying for the families.
That’s sweet! I give a limited number of cards. Unfortunately, I do throw most away…I’m trying to tame the clutter in my house. Sorry:(
I no longer send Christmas cards as my kids are grown and I used to send photo cards. I love receiving cards from family and friends. Especially the photos of their families.
I used to do cards, but the last couple of years I’ve been trying to cut down on holiday stress, so cards have to go lol! I still get a few, and I display them until Christmas is over, then keep the pics and throw away the cards.
We do not get many so they get packed away with the decorations. It is nice because I get to see them when I go to decorate the next year.
We do send Christmas cards but do not get very many at least the last few years anyway. I love Christmas cards so I like to display them and then I save them.
The picture cards I keep and some frame. I love the idea of praying over them. ? Making a pic collage this year.
Merry Christmas !
I wish I made more time to send Chritmas cards. Used to send them many years ago. If I could do it today I would send a picture card along with a letter of what has happened this year.
I love to receive Christmas card. It is like a a sweet visit from dear friends across the country. I often will follow up with a long distance phone call over the weekend season.
Definately, keep the picture ones and send the fronts of other cards to local schoos to be used as crafts.
Like your idea of praying for families.
Merry Christmas to Whitney, Karen and families.
I sent out a few cards this year. I don’t send as many, nor do we receive as many, as we used to. I don’t keep them. When Christmas decorations are taken down, they go away, too. No place to store them, and I’d probably never look at them again anyway.
We haven’t received many cards this year, but I like to hang them on the fridge or on the new picture rack we just installed. It’s fun to see how big all the kids have gotten over the past year. But eventually they are just tossed. I like all he ideas about praying for those families year round. I may start a new tradition for or family or even my quiet time.
I used to keep all my cards from birthdays and Christmas and I’d look back at them. But since I lost my sight I haven’t really been keeping them. I have someone read my cards and then I usually just get rid of them unles they have a picture I can feel. I know someone who makes boxes with the fronts of cards and then at Christmas she and her grandchildren fill them with cookies and candy to give out at nersing homes. This year I’ll be giving her the fronts of my cards.
I used to send cards every year. A few years ago we added our third child two weeks before Christmas. It was too crazy and hectic to get a card out. So I went with a Facebook picture/greeting. And so it has continued. I miss sending/receiving cards. Maybe this year is the year to start again?
This is the first year since we got married {3 yrs ago} that I have actually been organized enough to go beyond family and send cards to a few close friends. With our address changing 5 times in 3 years we’ve not shared it with many so we only receive cards from family and I keep them in a box. Once we settle I am loving Leah’s idea of the display in the laundry room and can’t wait to implement that as a prayer trigger throughout the year :)
I send Easter cards instead of Christmas. I’ve done this for a long time, because it worked better for me!
I save pictures and Christmas letters and usually toss out the cards after a while. I saw some cute craft ideas using Christmas cards this year, and I may try a couple!
I’ve send out approximately 40 Christmas cards every year, but for about the last 5 years or so we’ve only received 4 – 5. Cards that are photos I’ll keep and frame, but any others go in the recycle bin. Merry Christmas Everyone!!
We send cards every year and at the end of the season we take the cards we receive and put them in our memory box where we keep other mementos.
My grandma gave me the idea to laminate them and make placemats out of them.
I love sending and receiving Christmas cards! I do some handmade and some store bought (depending on how many I get done!) I keep all the handmade cards and I keep a scrapbook of them!
We sent Xmas pictures with our summer family vacation picture on them. Usually I put the cards on our coffee table but I am trying to find a unique way of displaying them. I donate the ones without pictures to groups that use them for crafts after Xmas.
We do send cards. At the end of the season, of the cards we receive, we put them in a basket and choose one to pray over at some point in the coming year. Once that is done, photo cards go on the refrigerator, and non-photo cards are repurposed as gift tags for the coming year. Sometimes that means cutting our elements from them to mount on cardstock, and sometimes it means just cutting off the hand-written note and using the front of the card as the tag.
No, sadly I don’t send out Christmas cards. In another post in this series, I stated that I’d like to start taking the time to do that. I don’t receive that many either (unless you count my State Governor and House of Representative member!). It just seems like people don’t send out cards anymore. Even family. Perhaps if I started, others in the family (or friends) may follow in return. In an earlier post in this series (I can’t remember who was the originator of the post), she placed all her cards on a corkboard in her laundry room. She chose her laundry room because she was in it daily and was reminded of the people who sent the cards. I liked this idea. I think she even prayed for those people as well. I really like your idea too of keeping the cards in a basket and then praying for a family during dinner. Thanks for the post.
We do send Christmas cards and love to receive them. But at the end of the year, I throw them all away.
I send cards to friends and family, and have a bulletin board to display them year-round
I love that idea! We put them on the tree and then pack them away with the tree and look at them again next year. The putting them out and praying for the family is a wonderful idea and it keepa people that you might not see very often on your mind. I think we might have to try that.
Have a Very Merry Christmas!
I love giving and receiving cards. We don’t get as many any more due to social media, yet it is fun to open the mailbox and see the changes a year makes in some families. I enjoy those that incluse a Christmas letter. I admit I should be better at that but that is one item I often let slip. After the season I cannot throw the cards away so I usually pack them with the decoration with intentions one year to place the families all together in succession and see the growth. Until then, praying is one thing I can do.
Usually we send Christmas cards. This year with layoffs affecting our family we didn’t yet. I keep saying that when this is resolved I will send them out. So it might be New Years cards this year. Hopefully. Once the season is over I post th on a display board in the Laundrey room so I can see them year round. Although this year I noticed we have received far less than usual.
What a great idea! I don’t receive any cards and this is my first year not sending any due to social networking……I miss opening up the cards. We used to cut the front of the card and use as tags the following Christmas.
I usually send Christmas cards, but I was involved in an auto accident this December. Among dealing with insurance, arranging for a rental car, rearranging appointments, something had to go. No cards this year. We keep those we receive year round to pray for the families.
I do send cards and keep the ones we receive through to the following year to see how everyone has changed, etc… It’s a tradition that seems to be fading away though as we don’t get nearly as many cards as we used to. I love the idea of praying for them!
We do send Christmas cards. After Christmas I usually keep the cards that have pictures or if they contained a special note. The rest I recycle
I love receiving Christmas cards as well as sending them out. The past five years I have composed a poem of thoughts about Christmas and Christ to enclose in my cards. I put all the cards received on my dining table and do pray for each person who sent them. It is a wonderful way to keep my friends and family close to me. Some special cards go into a basket by the chimney and they get attention from me especially when my kitties pull them out!
We receive a few cards and a drop them in our mantle decoration to share with others who visit.
Thank you for the blessings.
We used to send Christmas cards but we have not in the past few years. Time gets away from me. I need to start it back up again. I love your idea of what you do with your Christmas cards. I usually just make a collage of the ones we get, put it up with the Christmas stuff then for the next year when we pull out our decorations I see the collage and reminded of the previous year.
I love this idea! I was never very good at sending cards until the last several years. Some years I would send them and other years I was too busy. I always threw away cards at the end of the season. But I love that you pray for these families as a family. Great idea! Thanks!
I don’t send or receive cards like I used to, though really like to. Keep hearing about keeping cards and praying for the people. I tend to go through and save the ones with personal messages. The rest get recycled. Ones with pictures or messages I like that can be cut out get saved. The rest go to the recycling bin. Plan is to make my own cards. One of these years it will happen! Perhaps if didn’t wait until Dec. …
We have not sent Christmas cards for the past couple of years, but felt that we needed to this year. So I found a family pictures and has them printed. But I still have to get them sent out. I try to keep all of the photos we receive in an album, but love the idea of a basket and praying over them.
I still love to send and receive Christmas cards. This has been apart of my Christmas for over 40 years. Not near as many take the time to send them anymore which I miss. I write a verse on all of my cards. This year it is 2 Peter 1:2 – ” May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.” I do save my cards. This year for the first time I wrapped up a present in Christmas fabric and cut up an old card which I put on the fabric. i am going to do more of this. Jesus is the reason for the season.
We do send Christmas cards. For the last 4 to 5 years we have made cards with pictures to send. We mail some to family and friends near and far. Then our church does a Christmas card box each year. Instead of mailing them we use the postage we would need toward the Lottie Moon offering. In other words the total amount of postage for each card we give to our church family goes in the mission fund for Lottie Moon.
All the cards we receive each year we place into a basket and during the year we reread the cards.
We don’t get many cards. We get several photo cards. We put them on our the frig for the year so we can pray for them every time we see their faces.
We have sent cards for forty Christmas’. The ones we receive have decreased in number in the last 15 to 20 years, as older family members have passed away, and we moved closer to our extended family. I have many of the cards we have received, nice to revisit the cards from our parents and grandparents who have passed away. As a young girl we cut our old cards into ovals, circles, or squares with pinking shears to use as package tags. In the early 60’s my mother mounted card fronts to fill up rectangles of cardboard, covered them with clear plastic wrap (taped to the cardboard back) and used them as place mats when entertaining special guests at Christmas time.
We gave up sending out Christmas cards a few years ago. We still receive some and I bring them to my prayer closet after the season is done as well. I like your idea of praying as a family though. I love Christmas also but like you I am happy to put away and wait til next year to get out again.
I love mailing cards and reciving them i usually only keep the ones with pictures on them.
I love Christmas decorations. We don’t send Christmas cards and I only receive a couple a year. I am the same way. A lot of tme I will take the tree down and all the decorations the day after Christmas.
With some cards I have cut them and used them as gift cards. I have also saved a few really pretty ones and framed them to set around. I also save the cards and pray for the families.
Yes, I send holiday cards and then I recycle them at the end of the year
We, too, usually put our cards in a basket and pray for the senders throughout the following year.
I love your idea of praying for the families who send you cards. I dont send a lot of cards anymore. I recieve a few and usually save them with my Christmas decorations. Some times I frame a really pretty one and hang it up.
I don’t receive many Christmas cards anymore. But the ones I do I cherish and read over and over
I will have to read the comments! I save the cards and look at them the following Christmas!
The last two years I have not sent Christmas cards to soften the stress. I love receiving them. You have a great idea to pray for the families in the new year. I save my cards and use them for gift tags.
yes I send them….really touching ones I keep forever….really moving ones I turn into decorations or tape to my cabinet in my office….the rest get disassembled and saved (used to be for kids card making now for vbs or school or Sunday school for crafting)
What a lovely idea! I love that you pray for these families throughout the year! Merry Christmas!
I save them. Ones that are really pretty I have put in frames to use for decorating the next years. My Dad passed away a year ago so holidays are really hard for all of us especially my mom. But before dementia stole him from us she would have us all save them and she would make Christmas ornaments. Thanks for your encouragement everyday
My primary card sending is usually to immediate family & close friends & especially to our church family…at our church we have a mailbox where we can put our Christmas cards to the church family & save postage (we make a 25cent per card donation to the mission offering). Sorry to say due to caregiving obligations I have not been able to do it this year. We have loved all that have been received though & I can pray over them.
I love receiving Christmas cards but don’t send any myself.
I am starting to use cards I received in art projects of my own.
I do send Christmas cards. I love getting mail that is not bills and think that others feel the same. Plus I have family all over the world so it is a nice way to keep in touch. After Christmas I take some of the cards and turn them into boxes. They work great for small Christmas gifts the next year. Also, my grandma taught me how to make them so very long ago and it always makes me think of her.
I send a few cards to close friends & family. The ones I get are usually pictures of their family so I keep them on my bulletin board to enjoy all year! Thank you so much for the opportunity to win this awesome gift!
I love sending Christmas cards the old fashioned way (by mail) and I love getting cards. I display them by putting nice door paper on the front door inside and when cards come I display them by taping them to the door. When the season is over I pack them in a large baggie with the year date on them and put them in a plastic container to save. Yes, I have all the cards sent to us for the many years we have been married. If someone sends a picture I put those in a photo album.
I love photo cards. I love receiving cards too. I really like the idea of keeping the cards and paring for the families all year long! I think we’ll try this new tradition.
I do an annual letter and Christmas cards for extended family and friends who are not on Facebook. Saves money that way. I usually gather all the cards together and put them away with the Christmas stuff. Have heard of others pulling them out and praying over them before, though.
After Christmas I take all the Christmas cards I’ve received and cut out the pictures, sayings, etc. Then I hole punch them at the top and use them as present tags for the next year.
We send out picture Christmas cards every year. Without fail. I love receiving cards even more. But i must confess. I pack all the cards away at the end of Christmas. I have them in a tote along with my kids pictures of santa and my pets pictures of santa (yes i am one of those, or i used to be). And when the Christmas decorations come out every year, it allows me to take a break from decorating and reminisce about christmas’s past.
I still send and receive cards, although the list has become much smaller over the years. I leave them up a while and then they will be tucked neatly inside the last box packed up. I love your idea of praying for that family from a card basket, or at least adding them to a prayer list on your planner each month. I believe we need to go back to a more simpler time where we cN enjoy more of the small stuff.
?
I love all my cards!!! I display them all year long as I strategically tape them up on my china cabinet, and they help cover any clutter there. But I do love displaying them too.. it isn’t just to cover up the mess. I send a card every year with a family picture and a letter… a letter that reflects how our year went and I time into into a verse / devotional.
Using a cutter, so it will come it crisp and straight and sharp :) I cut off the back of the cARD (WITH THE WRITING ON IT) and then save the fronts to use as post cards, gifts tags, or have the kids write on the back for thank you notes from their christmas gifts! would love love love to bless a dear friend with the gift pack if I get it :)
I send out Christmas cards. I also keep mine in a basket. I keep the letters and photos, but after a couple of years I use the front to make gift tags and other craft projects.
I still get a few Christmas cards and Save the ones with family pictures
We send family photo cards every year. In the past I have scrapbooked them or put them together with a ring and cover. The last couple years I just put them in a ziplock meaning to get to it. I like the prayer basket idea.
We don’t do cards anymore. Doesn’t feel right since our son passed after a three year battle with cancer last year. We take the money we would have spent and provide a nice meal for cancer kids and their families at Motts Childrens Hospital in Michigan. Someone did that when we spent a Christmas there during our sons initial diagnosis. It was so nice! ? Merry Christmas!
We send Christmas cards out every year, even if they go out late. We do family pics, and if big things have happened (like weddings, births, moves, etc), then we send out a letter with them too. Since most of our family and friends do the same, I keep the cards and letters for scrapbooks. If it’s not a photo or letter card, then we use for crafting or toss.
I do keep cards… All cards… I have a bit of an obsession. I must say I keep mine usually with my decorations. I reread them because as a child I needed the words of affirmation.
I give them to the Sunday School teacher and they use them for the kids to make cards the next year for their parents, grandparents etc.
I love getting Christmas cards/letters/pictures so we do a variety, usually a Christmas photo, sometimes cards and occasionally a newsletter of the year in review. I repurposed an old window frame to hang in our hallway with the Christmas pictures. Last year was exceptional as my Mom died unexpectedly on Dec. 2. So there are sympathy cards mixed in with the Christmas cards. I plan to take the special ones from last year and this year, punch a hole in the corner and hang them all onto key chain ring so that I can keep them together and go over them occasionally, maybe on anniversaries. I love the prayer reminder idea!
Like so many others, I still send the old fashioned kind and usually put a personal note in them for the family. Many of my friends send holiday letters along with their cards and I used to wonder how they could remember what happened last January…then I realized that they must journal! Sometimes my brain just doesn’t comprehend some of the simplest things! One year, we decorated our tree entirely with the cards that had been sent and it was a pleasure to see them on it. The last 2 years, we have taped them to a large mirror that we have in the living room so we walk by it several times a day. This year, we did not get the decorations up until yesterday! I think our tree looks lovely with just the white lights on it and may not even put any ornaments on it. In years past, I collected Hallmark keepsake ornaments with the dates on them, usually picking one that symbolized an important event that had happened that particular year, and I usually picked out one for my daughter as well. After she married and claimed “her” ornaments, I really have not continued that tradition. My husband says that I have ‘hoarding tendencies’ and I am trying to work on that aspect of my personality, after all, God’s love is sufficient, right? Thank you for this opportunity to be a blessing to others!
I just don’t ever seem to be able to get my act together enough to send cards. I wish I did. But I also do collect the cards I receive and we likewise pray for them throughout the year. I actually like your idea of decorating so early. I may try that next year. It seems that may help it not feel so rushed. Merry Christmas!
We stopped sending cards when things got tight. And we get very few these days. We have saved them and cut them up to make other things with. The photo cards we save.
I love the idea of praying through the cards! We try to send out some type of letter or card but the past few years are mailing have been small and simple and are usually late.
I send out a picture card with (usually) unseen pictures of me and my daughters. I love getting all forms of cards in the mail but especially love the pictures. I keep them on my fridge. It’s a great reminder of the love and support that surrounds me. I keep all cards in a box in our Christmas tub.
I send out cards
I think praying over the cards is a great idea!! I keep my Christmas cards and cut them up and use as labels on my gifts for the next year, they look very pretty on the gift’s. My tree goes up the first week of December I used to put it up around Thanksgiving and it comes down on January 1st mostly. My daughter and son-in-law have 3 boys and 1 girl…….They keep a watchful eye on her, she is 7 the next boy is 11~~13~~15 It is a very busy household. They all have had a personal relationship with our God, and are very active in church. Love and Merry Christmas!!
I think praying over the cards is a great idea!! I keep my Christmas cards and cut them up and use as labels on my gifts for the next year, they look very pretty on the gift’s. My tree goes up the first week of December I used to put it up around Thanksgiving and it comes down on January 1st mostly. My daughter and son-in-law have 3 boys and 1 girl…….They keep a watchful eye on her, she is 7 the next boy is 11~~13~~15 It is a very busy household. They all have had a personal relationship with our God, and are very active in church. Love and Merry Christmas!!
We also have our cards in a basket and pray for the senders. Then after we have prayed over the card I will cut and trim the cards to become gift tags for the following Christmas.
What a great idea!!!! We don’t send cards per say we put them in the envelopes and stuff them in the church bulletin… We are a pastors family and this is the best way to make sure each church member gets a card? But we throw away the cards we get after Christmas is over?
My dream is to one day be so orgAnized that we get family photos done and send them out in time for Christmas but until then I enjoy the ones we receive in the mail.
I too have all boys. Only 3 but all boys so I understand the loud house issue and wanting to put things bAck in order right after Christmas. I think some of that mindset is also because I teach kindergarten and need to tidy up before returning to work.
That being said, I keep all photo cards in an album that comes out at ChristmAs time each year. It’s neat to see how much families change and grow thru the years. I cut off the fronts of regulAr cards and put them away to use with my kinders the next year for sorting or a writing center. The typed wording on the inside gets cut out with fancy craft scissors. I use those sayings on gift items thAt I make the following Christmas.
Basically I recycle everything but I love your idea of praying over them.
We do send out cards. I usually keep the ones I receive that are pictures so I can see how families change over the years. This year we plan to create a display for year round so we can pray over them all year.
I post the family picture cards on a kitchen cupboard and keep them there until the following year.
I read a Lot of the comments, gathered some great ideas. I also, due to clutter have had to throw cards way too. And I don’t mail out anymore, as it’s just me. But I used to send out & save, I do save all the photos tho! Sure enjoyed your post.
We pray over ours as well. I hope the tradition of cards never ends because I love seeing the photos of our friends and watching their children grow up through the years. It keeps us close over the miles!
I too love to get the tree, etc out right away! But I keep the cards in a cute box in my coffee table thru January at least. I love to get Christmad cards & re-read them over & over. They are like little presents from people I love .
We send a family picture Christmas card. I don’t know what to do with them at the end of the year – so I’m here for the other comments :)
We don’t send out cards, but we tend to save the ones we get. We file them away and bring them out a few years later to reminisce over them. Sometimes we have given them back to the sender years later for a laugh!
This is our 2nd Christmas in our home and the first year we have actually sent out Christmas cards, so we don’t really have a tradition yet. I absolutely love the tradition you and your family are doing to have a bit of Christmas cheer and kindness throughout the year by praying for the family whose card you draw! I am adding it to our list of ideas for when (or if) we receive any Christmas cards.
I usually put the cards with the decorations at the end of the season. Then the following year look through them and reminisce while decorating. Then they are thrown away to make room for the new ones.
I don’t send them out anymore. Homeschooling 4 boys has definitely caused me to reevaluate my priorities and only include the most important and necessary ones. I love the cards we receive and will save them this year to pray for those families throughout the year.
I love getting cards, and my favorites are the photo ones! I put them on my fridge and they stay there until I need the space for something else!
I love giving and getting Christmas cards. We keep the photo ones in our prayer basket until we get a new one. This year we didn’t send any out but our son was diagnosed with Leukemia in September so we have been more busy and money is a little tighter. I have noticed we haven’t gotten nearly as many this year though and that makes me sad.
We don’t get many cards anymore, but I can hardly bear to throw them away at the end of the season. We don’t send them out either. I always like to talk about sending out New Year cards in January….maybe I’ll do it this year. :-)
We do send Christmas cards, recently switching to photo cards. Although we file our cards away with the decorations, I love the idea of leaving them out as prayer prompts for the families. I think I’ll steal it from you. Thanks and Merry Christmas!
We also keep them out year round. At dinner, when we are not rushed we read the Christmas letter, talk about how we know the family, share memories and pray for them. On good days, week,years….we also write them and let them know we are thinking of and praying for them. It is so fun to get real mail!
Ours gets boxed away for “someday”. I love looking at “old” cards when we are out antiquing and flea marketing. Someday I’ll have my own beautiful batch of them!
The photo cards stay up all year, until the next years cards start coming in. I love the idea of praying for the family.
I send out cards. I wish I received more. It seems everyone send email cards now. The ones I do get, I will start putting out so we can see them and pray for them.
We have not sent Christmas cards out or a long time. The few I get I do pack away. I love the idea of keeping them out and praying for the families.
I usually have my Christmas cards done by Thanksgiving, but this year I still haven’t done them. Yikes! I need to get on that – like now!
Last year was the first in several years that I sent Christmas cards to people who sent to us. This year, we’re in the process of moving; not knowing where we ‘land’, I’ll send a note to those who sent cards and give them a family member’s address to send cards to next year and we can update them then! Love your idea of praying for the family.
I hang my cards around the arch between my living room and dining room. I usually throw the cards away but I keep the ones with pictures on them until the next year. I love your idea of saving the cards and praying for the people on the cards. Thanks to proverbs 31 for this great opportunity.
I usually hand deliver cards to people who I see often and live nearby. I mail cards out of state. I put cards away in a box at the end of the season. I love to go back through the years and see cards from long gone relatives and friends. Reading their words brings back wonderful memories.
I don’t send Christmas cards yet becuase I couldn’t afford them, but I do receive a few and do keep them. I place them in a storage container.
Goodness! What a simple sweet idea! We also don’t get many cards these days. I may have to come up with a list of people/ families to pray for regularly. Either way, it is a nice reminder to pray for all our friends and family in good times and bad. God bless!
I like to save my Christmas cards for scrapbooking!
I love sending and receiving Christmas cards, but some years I am not up for writing them due to health issues, or sometimes I just can’t afford them; like this year, which makes me kind of sad. But generally, I keep them when I receive them and look at them and smile. I couldn’t imagine not hearing Christmas music or not seeing Christmas movies or shows at different times throughout the year. They warm my heart and help me to reflect on wonderful memories. I’ve always been this way. :)
Nancy Ericsson – Massachusetts
I used to scrapbook the cards I received but now we do the same.. Save them and pray for each of them thru the year.. So nice to remember them frequently!
We didn’t do cards this year, but we will still enjoy the ones we received and pray fo those families regularly.
I arrange the Christmas cards I receive in different ways each year. When the season is over I recycle them.
We proudly display them during the season but sadly pack them up to b stored again til next year. So I like Whitney’s idea to keep Christmas all year round. Clever.
I try every year to send cards but some how it never happens. This year I decided that I would send them out even if the person doesn’t get it til after Christmas! We hang or stand out cards up throughout the house.
We do picture cards and a letter. Some years they are off by Christmas other years not so much. We hang our cards on the inside of our front door so we can see them all month. When January rolls around we take down the cards but leave up the photo cards we have gotten until cards start rolling in again the next year. I am guilty of saving them in a box every year too.
I love to receive Christmas cards and pictures and family letters! I have been much slower lately at getting my cards out but I love them!
I do the same thing: save Christmas cards in a bowl to pray for the families during the year. I wish we had thought of this when the kids were small and still at home!
We save the picture ones for the scrapbook and recycle the others……but I like the idea of keeping them and reflecting on them throughout the year.
I love Christmas cards but time some times slips away. I have written many Christmas cards after the first of the year. I can pause and enjoy writing the messages. When cards arrive I look at them and put them up…..but in early March I sit down again with those cards and spend quiet time with each, keeping them in my heart.
I punch a hole in the corner of ALL our Christmas cards, not just the photo ones, and put them on a metal ring. This then hangs from our bakers rack.
Yes, we do send Christmas cards, and we probably get 20 or so from friends and family. I put the pictures that we receive on the bulletin board in our kitchen, and a few overflow pictures go on the refrigerator. I do keep the rest of them though, and every once in awhile I go through them and decide if we still need to keep them! I feel that they are important as a sort of archive or history of our life, and the lives of our friends and family.
We do send out Christmas cards, but only include photos to close family and friends since I cannot bear the thought of my children’s pictures getting thrown away. I also love to decorate, but we don’t do that until the day after Thanksgiving. I am ready to put Christmas decorations away the day after Christmas, but my husband likes to have them up until January 1st. Our first Christmas married, I had our tree undressed, ornaments put away and the tree at the curb for pick up before my husband even woke up!
During the month of December, we keep cards received in a reindeer basket and look at them throughout the month, and then like many others, we pack them up with our Christmas decorations and we look at them again when we begin the Christmas decorating process again the next year. Then, the old cards with beautiful designs, my daughters and I have made into bookmarks, gift tags, etc. If there is a sweet personal note handwritten, I do save the card in a box of correspondence that is dear to me.
It seems each year we receive fewer and fewer cards, probably because everyone stays in touch with social media. Receiving cards in the mail, though, is so much more meaningful.
I love the idea of saving cards to use as a reminder to pray for other families.
I have a special table that all the cards go on. I enjoy sharing them so the whole family can see how people wish us good tidings. I used to save them all but now I try to save all the ones from close family like parents and brothers.
We have always sent a photo card and a letter. After Christmas I usually toss the cards that are just signed but tend to keep the pictures and letters. I usually find myself rereading them after the season and everything is put away and out of site. I try to contact the people who sent letters like by sending them an email and I make reference to some thing in their letter. It lets theme know you really read it and it meant something.
What a great tradition! We love Christmas (but we do wait until after thanksgiving to decorate *wink*). We don’t send cards. I never seem to get around to it!
I send cards with a photo inside or photo cards. Sometime the week of Christmas-ish…..or new years. I keep all the ones I get photo or not. I love seeing hand written notes. I have a grand plan to scrap book them, I love the prayer idea! Much more manageable than scrapbooking!
I usually send out a card with a short personal message to the person I’m sending it to and I typically write a letter telling about my year to put in the card. My letter usually includes a few pictures on the back that go along with what I wrote about. These go out to family and close friends. I really like the idea of keeping the cards out in an obvious place, a basket or bulletin board so you remember to pray for those people through the year!
I usually send a photo card. We have a lot of extended family that we don’t get to see very often. It is a great way for them to see how the kids are growing. I always save the cards I get but just put them in a box. I don’t really know what else to do with them.
We no longer send Christmas cards. This tradition got let go the year we were in dire financial straits. Fortunately we do still receive cards from some of our closer friends. Sometimes they are used to line the door frames of out living room. This year they are being displayed on our television stand. Once the season is over they will be tucked away in a box to keep as memories.
Love your idea of pulling the cards & praying for the sender. Definitely one I want to adopt. I save cards that have a message or saying that is m. The covers of meaningful. Some are saved for students to use the next year as writing prompts. This year I will be using some of the pictures/drawings as inspiration for Bible journaling.
We normally send out photo cards, but are not this year. The last couple of months have been crazy and I decided not to add any additional stressors. We usually put the photo Christmas cards into frames once the holidays are over. Regular cards get turned into gift tags for the following year.
I definitely send cards. There is something great and special about hand written notes. Then I keep the ones that have good messages or notes. You know some people just write their names while other put some thought into it.
I send cards. Any cards that have photos I keep, but the ones that do not I get rid of after Christmas.
YES :) We send Christmas cards & we make little “Memory books” of them at the end of each year and flip through them on occasion throughout the year after praying over each family! Hee hee- I begin listening to Bing Crosby Christmas on Pandora in September- my family is ready for that to end- :)
I love your post ! cause I am such a Christmas craze! I go all out inside in out on thanksgiving weekend and have two trees!
what I do at end of the season is put the ones I get in a special box and then we look at them before the next Christmas and see how our nephews n nieces have grown from one year to the next. you and your family have a Blessed Christmas!
I love to send out Christmas cards to my loved ones and friends to send them cheer. I do not get many in return….only 4 so far this year. I tend to throw the cards away every year. I like to collect the homemade cards. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I “usually” send out hope you had a Merry Christmas/Happy New Year cards because I can’t seem to get it all done on time I do save the cards I receive but I get fewer and fewer. I have used them on scrapbooking pages
I still haven’t mailed ours out- I am hoping to do that today! I do love to receive cards. This year I plan to hole punch them and attach them to a ring so I can enjoy them year after year!
My hubby & I tag-team our Christmas cards. He keeps the list updated throughout the year (with my help) and prints out the labels. I write the cards out, personalizing each of them. Then we have a production line as we decide who gets which card (we usually have several different types of cards). The whole thing only takes us an hour or so and we have over 100 names on our list! We LOVE sending out Christmas cards! ?????
I do not send Christmas cards every year, but try every other year. Sometimes, the time is just not there. I do LOVE the prayer ideas using the cards that are sent and hope to put up a cork board for those cards to see and pray throughout the year.
We stores ours in a big ziplock and glance back thru them at different times of the year to remember friends/family and pray for them.
I like to scrapbook the family photos sent to us. They are all in one album and its fun to see how the families have changed over the years. Since we’ve moved a lot, its a great way for the kids to remember friends and neighbors from over the years.
Hi all, we hang our cards around the doorway to our kitchen. Its the main room where everyone ends up this way as you walk through its like you have to stop and read a few and think of these families who took the time to wish us a merry Christmas. It’s really nice. And I am happy to remember them.
I put them all in a basket for family to read over Christmas break. Then after Christmas, I keep them all until the next Christmas, rereading the cards before beginning my card process.
I never know what to do with Christmas Cards. Love this idea! Thanks for sharing!
I love the idea of praying over them. I use mind the next year, cutting the fronts of cards into gift tags, the photos of friends and family…..I save.
I love to send photo cards to my family in India
I used to send Christmas cards every year when my children were young. Then I started sending after Christmas cards, then …..none. Life got so busy. I love sending and receiving cards. Every year, I say I will send next year. So, again, I hope to send cards next year. email and text and social media is not the same. Everyone loves receiving cards in the mail. :)
I usually throw the cards away after Christmas, but I like your idea!!!
I love the idea of praying for the cards we receive! I typically store them somewhere because I hate to throw them away. :)
We love to send and receive Christmas cards. We started putting them on a ring and putting them on the table. May start sending a letter recapping our year. We usually do pictures on our Christmas cards.
I don’t send Christmas cards. We don’t receive very many either. I like the idea of praying over the cards even after the Christmas season has ended.
We started sending photo cards when our children were born. I love sending a new photo each year so people can see how the kids have grown. I keep the photo cards in a treasured box. It is fun to look back and see how other families have grown and changed. I sometimes keep the other Christmas card in a craft box and in the past have used the front’s to make other cards. The kids seem to enjoy that a bit.
We often do the same thing – put them in a basket for prayer prompts throughout the year.
I love this idea for Christmas Cards!! Yes, I do send them-did so today in fact-but have not done anything with those I’ve received. I think I will start praying over them like this-I can’t think of a nice way to bless the senders :)
I do not send cards because it has become a chore to get pictures of the kids to put on a card. The ones that I receive I hang in our house until I take down Christmas decorations and then the cards get recycled.
The few Christmas cards w get stay on the fridge for the entire year. Mostly because they have pictures of family and friends that we just love!
We send out Christmas cards every year. The list has gotten shorter over the years, though. Our cards are saved and put with the box of cards so we have them next ueat.
I use the really beautiful ones as crafts!
I add the names on our Christmas cards to my calendar to prompt prayers all year long. I don’t seem to get Christmas cards out as early as I would like, but always try to send something!
We do Christmas cards sometimes. I love getting the ones that are a page long and give updates. We slip most of those into a binder with plastic sleeves. It makes an easy way to view God’s faithfulness.
First of all, I LOVE the First 5 app and so enjoy it when you’re on the weekend wrap-up Whitney! We used to send 100+ cards out but this year cut back to out-of-town friends only … It was a special photo card since one of our sons just got married! After Christmas, I punch a hole in the top corner of each card we receive and hook them on a binder ring for easy storage. I think praying for families over dinner is a wonderful tradition. Merry Christmas!