GodFamilyCrafts

Vintage Christmas Card Image

As you pick up those Christmas cards, lovingly sent to you by friends and relatives it is sometimes difficult to know what to do with them. They are so beautiful, so glistening, so cute or just so heartfelt.  I doubt there are many people who just carry them to the recycles or trash and toss them in.

Over the years I have re-used the fronts to either make into new folded cards by mounting on card stock, (Scotch double-stick tape is my best friend!) Or I have used the fronts of beautiful cards as postcards for Christmas mailing the following year. 

If you remake them into cards, a rubber stamped greeting on the inside or message side of the postcard works great.

Then, several years ago, I discovered an organization that re-uses the card fronts. The abused and abandoned children who reside at St. Jude’s Ranch for Children in Boulder City Nevada, remake the card fronts into saleable Christmas card with inside greeting and matching envelopes.  The sale of these cards provides spending money for the individual students.

So don’t toss, share instead.  Mail used Christmas card fronts to:

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children, PO Box 985, Boulder City, NV., 89005-0985

Happy New Year.

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I feel caught in a slump between two holidays.  The Christmas excitement and joy is dimmed, and the tree is no longer a fresh and beautiful sight.  The gifts are strewn around the living room in small piles, some partially picked up, others just lingering.  Yet we have moved into our ordinary lives, if only for a few days.

The meals need to be put on the table, the errands done, the chores kept up to date. But somehow, our bodies and our minds have the feeling that it is still a holiday. We know intuitively that things are not back to normal.

So here come’s New Year’s eve, a perfect opportunity to get overtired and make too much of the changing of the calendar. And New Year’s day, a day to really do nothing — how nice!

But at some point, we need to get back on track, look forward to the return to homeschool, the return to the regular schedule, and to a time of normalcy.  I enjoy the holidays, and this year tried very hard to keep from being overwhelmed.

So tonight, with no homework or festivities, (the two ends of the spectrum) we played a family game. But Teenage Daughter is dedicated to getting her room cleaned so she can enjoy New Year’s Eve with friends, and Active Daughter is still mending from the stomach bug. So tonight it was just Teenage Son with his Dad and Mom. A four hand game of Scattergories was enough to keep us all feeling in touch with each other.

Good night, and I’m looking forward to a new day tomorrow.

Ann