Family Traditions: Our Holiday Card Tree

Our Guest Contributor is Elizabeth of Busy Mom.

The holidays are here, and like everyone else, we’re trying to get ready. We were decorating, and I thought I’d take advantage of that Hallmark moment, so I asked my kids (ages 16, 14 and eight) about their favorite family tradition.

After initially replying with a blank stare, an “All of them!”, and a, “What do you mean?” (hey, I have 2 teenagers), they thought about it a little while.

I thought for sure they’d say reading “The Night Before Christmas” as a family on Christmas Eve, decorating the tree, or enjoying our annual December 23rd chili dinner was among their favorite things, but their near unanimous agreement surprised me a little.

Their favorite family tradition is collecting and displaying the Christmas cards we receive in a little Christmas tree card holder I probably got at the dollar store. Apparently, it’s the one of the first things they look for when we get the decorations out for the season.

We love to get cards, and they go right in the holder which lives in the kitchen on the breakfast table, where they stay for much longer than the season. We keep them there so we can see them and enjoy them each day rather than relegating them to the mantel, away from all the action. The kids go through them often, and they anticipate certain ones each year as some people send newsletters and others send family pictures. Pictures of dogs dressed as Santa are always a big hit, we get one of those each year from a friend.

We keep the pictures, and have a great place to donate the cards (a group that makes new cards out of them) when we’re done with them, but little tree full of cards lives on the breakfast table for a while after the festivities are done, or until it becomes a St. Patrick’s Day tree.

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Elizabeth is funny and downright sensible. Follow her on Twitter at @busymom. She gives good Tweet.

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