January is almost over, and we’ve finally packed away all our holiday decorations and stored them up in our attic. (Except for those few boxes we forgot that will hang around our dining room for a few more weeks...but I’m still counting it as a win.) I always feel a little sad taking down our Christmas tree, but this year taking down something else felt bittersweet too - all the cards we’d received throughout December from family and friends.
As they came in the mail, I had taped all the cards we received up on the wall between our kitchen and dining room. It was a meaningful action and the card display brought an extra sense of love and coziness to the house. It also became a fun activity for Daisy and I to look at all the cards that had photos on them and go through everyone’s names. There were so many from family and friends that we don’t get to see very often, and Daisy was starting to learn who's who by looking at their card photos. I didn’t want to lose that just because it was time to take down the decorations.
That’s when I came up with the simple idea to make an album out of our Christmas cards. It took just a few minutes, and now we have a safe place to store and view this year’s Christmas cards for a little while longer. It is super easy, affordable, and a fun activity your child can help you with. It’s so simple that other than giving you the idea I’m not even sure you need instructions.
All you need is your Christmas cards and an album with sticky pages. You can usually find these at craft stores and even CVS or Walgreens. I found a pretty one on clearance at Staples for $3 (score).
I chose to include only the cards that had photos since the point was to help Daisy learn names and to recognize people, but of course you can save whatever cards speak to you. Then pick out a sticky page album at the store or online, and go to town.
Daisy had fun placing the cards down on the sticky paper, and she's been looking through the album every day since we made it. I could have just taken the cards down and given them to her to play with, but I think she really likes flipping through her own book of pictures. Plus now she can keep enjoying the cards for as long as she likes and they won't get bent or torn.
I thought this was a great way to keep the spirit of Christmas alive well into the new year, and an easy way to create a simple “family photo book” for your baby or toddler.
What do you think? Are there any other fun crafts you like to make with your holiday cards?
xo,
Coralee
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