SPT
(the T means Thursday right?)

Photos in post are random photos from Cards I received last year

I must blog something this week and so I think I will do SPT on "where do you hang your Christmas cards."
I love where I hang my Christmas cards because it is where my sister in law, Julie, hangs hers. I love my sister in law Julie. I love doing things in my home because other family members do them too. The reason we call our kids blankets, "Soupies" is because my other sister in law, Lizzy, called her blanket as a child her soup. I love telling my kids that this is what your Aunt Lizzy called her blanket.

So, back to the cards. I hang them on all of our Kitchen cabinets. Every single one gets displayed flat so you can see them all. It is so fun to have friends come over and get excited to see the cards I get.
I have a strong passion about sending and receiving cards. I send a lot of cards because I love keeping in touch with people. I send cards to friends that both my husband and I went to High School with, people from my mission in North and South Dakota.

One of the funnest people I send a card to every year and have for many years is a lady I met when I worked at the GAP in college. Gap Customers Christmas card, it is so awesome!

yes a customer! I just loved this woman. We became friends and she even had me over for dinner after I was married and had me speak to her youth church group. I truly have never met a stranger and if I did I would still send them a Christmas card. I send a card to Annie Kate's preschool teacher from 6 years ago that I never saw after we moved from the school, but hope that by me sending her a card shares with her how much she meant to our family.

This card was one of my favorites last year

This is the inside of the Christmas Card

I thought I was super woman last year by ordering my Christmas cards at the end of December for cheap preprinted for this year. I have spent many hours making and stressing over getting my Christmas cards done and I promised myself that the next year I was going to just buy them. I really enjoy creating them but over the years executing them has been an issue. So may cards have sat on my shelf waiting to get sent out. I pulled them off the shelf a week ago to put my awesome photo on them (photo taken at the Jefferson Memorial by Anne!) I thought to myself, these cards are HUGE! I took them to the post office and you are not going to believe how much it is going to cost for me to send these out. 80 cents a piece. (to my husband if by chance you read this post, please don't be mad) I about flipped out of my skin when the lady told me that. I am not even going to document how many of these I have to send out. So, now i realize why they were so cheap and no one bought them last year, they had to take out a second loan to send them.

This year my cards are embarrassingly large. And I am embarrassed with how much postage will be on the front. I had planed to put a new Thomas Jefferson Nickel in each card to go along with our Jefferson themed card, but my postage money pretty much cut into that budget. Oh well, maybe I will just have to sell some ribbon sticks to make up the postage.

To sum up. I love sending Christmas cards. I LOVE, LOVE receiving them. I don't save them all but scan them and keep a file of them on SMUGMUG (the Smugmug president called me a few weeks ago and I was a little star struck - I kept pointing to the phone telling Jeff "I am talking to Smugmug!)

I can't believe i don't have a photo of my cards on my cupboards from any year. A must photo op this year for sure.

Every year we get one card that I can't wait to open. It is from someone that Jeff and I used to work with in Utah. We worked at a office with a Retinal surgeon in the operating room. Well, until I faitned on the floor and then stayed behind the desk. That has nothing to do with the card, but... he writes us a hand written letter each year. It is such an awesome gift. He tells us about some of the patients we might remember and tells us lots of funny jokes. If I saw him now 11 years later it would be like I still worked with him - all because of Christmas cards.

Also one more thing. I have always wanted to do and just may this year. Is to have a few catagories of cards. Best photo, best family summary, made us really miss you, made us laugh out loud. Then when we take them all down to have a family night where we choose one for each catagory and reward our winners with a prize in the mail. Would this not make the best family night! My friend told me of a family tradition her friend did every year. As they put their Christmas cards away they would then pick 12 cards, one for each month of the next year. At the beginning of that month they would send that family a card and tell them how much they loved them and appreciated keeping in touch with them. In the letter they told the family that they had selected them for their family of the month. They kept them in their prayers that month and spent time reflecting on how their friendship had blessed their lives. I thought this was also a great way to start your new year with a night set aside to do this with your family.

Since ya'll could not come and look at my kitchen cupboards last year here is a glimpse. Just looking back at the cards from last year are just awesome. Once again Lelly has blessed my life with her SPT challenges.
Also, don't forget to send a Christmas card to the White House addressed to George and Laura Bush. If you have kids or not your home will love the package they send you as a thank you for sending them one.

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Did you know that through this link here you can have a card sent to someone for their Anniversary, Birthday, Wedding etc from the White House. This is some Presidential Good Mail.