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Deck the halls with boughs of cardstock

by Bonggamom -- Being Savvy San Jose

I used to think holiday cards were a waste of money.  Why buy something that you know the recipient is going to throw away? Instead of saying Merry Christmas with a card, why not say it with a phone call, or better yet, a hug?   That was before I left my home country, married a man from another country, and settled down with kids in a third.   No matter where we spend Christmas, we're always thousands of miles away from either Alfie's or my family, not to mention friends.  With the time difference, phone calls are too hit-and-miss.  Emails seem too impersonal; plane tickets, too expensive.  Nowawadays, cards have become the primary way to send and receive holiday greetings and love.

It never seems like the holidays have begun until we receive our first card in the mail.  Throughout December, the clatter of post going through our mailslot and hitting the floor generates a flurry of excitement as the kids rush to see what the postman has brought.  Every card is different and special.  Many of our relatives from England send cards with local scenery.  Every year we get a card with kangaroos on it from Alfie's Aunt Julia, who lives Down Under.  But my favorites are the photo cards.  I love looking at years' worth of photo cards (yes, I'm one of those people who keep boxes of old holiday cards in the attic) and seeing how the people in it have grown.  We get cards from all over the world and we display every single one.

With so many cards, there's just not enough mantel space to stand them all.  In the early years of our marriage, I fantasized about buying elegant Christmas card holders, shaped like Christmas trees or wreaths, from Frontgate or Pottery Barn.  But over the years I've come to appreciate the traditional English method of displaying holiday cards:  string them up across a wall, over a doorway or under a windowsill.  We use wooden clothespins, painted red and green, to secure the cards to the string.  Each one is displayed in all its holiday glory; they make great decorations and don't cost us a cent.

Instead of wreaths and garlands and boughs of holly, our halls are decked with strings of colorful holiday cards from all the people we love.  We love looking up at them and thinking about what they're doing for the holidays.   They are a cheerful, festive reminder that people all over the world are thinking of us during this special season.