What do you do with your Christmas cards? Here is our Christmas Card Tradition

Last week, I posted this on Instagram and Facebook. Thank you for your kind words and encouragement!

A few of you asked for more specifics, so here is the full story.

I used to open the cards we received in the car, after getting them from the mailbox. I’d hang them or display them somewhere in our home. Sometimes, Brian would ask if we received a card from so-and-so and I’d say – yes, didn’t you see the card? The kids would point to the cards and ask who was in the pictures. I realized that I was really the only one enjoying opening and reading them. So, a few years ago, we made a change.

As we get cards, we stack them near the dinner table. Each night, we open the next five in the stack.

We read the card aloud and pass it around so that everyone can see. We share how we know the family – are they relatives? are they old family friends? are they school friends? It is so fun to tell stories about how we know the families. It brings back a lot of memories and brings up some very funny childhood stories.

After we open those five, we stack them in the middle of the table.

We pray a version of the following over these cards: “Dear Father, thank you so much for the hands that prepared this card. Thank you for the people that remembered us this Christmas. Please be with them this Advent and give them peace. Please bless their year. Thank you for bringing them into our lives. Amen”

Ever so often, a random card from a business gets in there – and yes, we pray for them, too. So, Chris Taylor from that auto place in California… you are prayed for, too!