Christmas cards have been a hot debate among me and my friends lately. Do we send them out the "right" way? Do we email them out to some people? Do we just post them on the social sites for all to look if they want to? Before the internet, those cards and letters were really important. That is how you kept up with everyone in your life. Once a year-you found out who did what and saw how big the kids were. You waited for the mail to come with a lot of excitement. Who would it be today? The girl you taught with the first year teaching that left education to be in advertising? Your roommate from Spain that lives in D.C. ? The girls you went to summer camp with that now live in California? Advent wasn't just about the waiting, it was about the "catching up."
For example, one of my mom's best friends growing up sent one every year. They lived in Charlotte and her daughter "Cathy" was my age. I never met her, not once. I only saw her picture and read a letter about her once a year. UNTIL I went to college, and what a coincidence-Cathy was in my dorm room, helping her best friend, my roommate, unpack! How cool was that? Can that happen nowadays? Sure. Will it happen as often and with the same impact? Probably not because someone would put on a status update, "Going to help friend unpack," and someone else will read it, and pass it on, and so it will go.
What to do with all the cards you get before you chuck them? My grandmother has this cool thing in her house where she put them all around the doorways. She would also glue them into scrapbooks for each year. I did do that with all my wedding notes and cards and I do love getting that out and skimming it. But alas, I haven't done it with the Christmas cards.
If you need ideas for home therapy you can use the cards for this:
Speech:
Ask your kids questions about the card. Keep them talking. For your non-verbal child, give them one word choices. For your big mouth, go over the top with the "What ifs?"
Here is a list of possibilities, some are secular and some are religious, just keep talking:
What is in the picture? What color is the tree? Where is the star? Where is the baby? Is he asleep or awake? Where is his mommy? How many kings are there? Can you find the nose on the snowman? Is it a tomato or a carrot? Is it cold or hot?
Another thing you can do is mix up all the cards and spread them on the table. Have a scavenger hunt. "Who can bring me a card with Santa Claus on it? And they scramble to find it.
OT:
You can cut out pictures from the cards and make collages. You can also put them together and tell stories. Once I punched holes around a card and they practiced lacing with yarn.
This of course all takes place in January.
As for my own card habits, I have not put together a Christmas card since I became a mother of three and moved around the country twice.
My best two cards before I left the south:
My daughter at thirteen months and our dog Jeremy. She had on Santa Claus pajamas and he had a big red bow on. Everyone all over got a kick out of that.
My older two on the chick fila Santa cow. Neither of them would go near the actual Santa, but boy how they loved that cow. He was in a Santa suit, so there you go!
This blog is my card, it is my Christmas project. I am going to print it out for my grandmother and a couple of other friends that never turn computers on. Enjoy it as there will be no card in your mailbox with my horrible handwriting on it. :0)
Now, without further ado, my Christmas card picture:
We hope your holidays are "Super!"
Keep sending the cards, or posting them on your pages, or emailing them out. However you "Catch up," I love it!
We hope your holidays are "Super!"
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