As far as mail goes these days, holiday cards have to be some of the best mail you receive all year.

I love to see how much friends and family have grown in the past year and I appreciate the lovely images and greetings each person takes the time to send.

It can be too easy to just pile these lovelies up and then toss them at the end of the season.  Here are some ideas for truly embracing holiday greetings sent by loved ones.

Ideas for How to Display Holiday Cards

We have these metal photo holders in our kitchen/dining room area.  Usually they hold pictures of our kids, friends and other relatives.  During the holidays, we rotate in Christmas greeting cards.  My kids love to come in and check out the new additions for the day.  You could so something similar with a bulletin board, a memo board or a mirror.

One year, we taped our greetings all along our wall.  I just used clear tape (like Scotch) and I did not have any problems with our paint coming off.  Don’t forget to put some down a bit lower for younger kids to view.

I usually put out a simple bowl or basket to put the overflow cards into.  Again, my kids sift through these daily and chat about this person or that bit of news on the  news letter.

What To Do With Holiday Cards After the Holidays

Choose one card per day and share the card during dinner.  Talk about the family, share a happy memory, say a prayer of prosperity and health for the family or wish them well in the new year.

If you scrapbook, you can cut down the cards to save on the space in the book, saving only the photos and your favorite images (pretty card images) for the book.  You might want to include the signature of the sender, particularly if it is an elderly relative.

Any remaining cards can be sent to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.  The children use the cards to make new cards and sell those as a fundraiser for the hospital and its programs. Note that they can use all sorts of cards – birthdays, thank you, and so on!  They can only use the fronts and there are some other mailing tips, so please check their website (scroll down to To Donate Cards section) for instructions and the current address.

I guess it is just the frugal in me – I love to see things used to their full potential – hopefully someone does that with the cards we send out.