Christmas Cards {Traditions}

         Busy busy busy here in WeNdYs WiNtEr WoNdErLaNd!

Already day 6 and so much going on!  Today was my daughters 16th birthday and this had us out celebrating and taking pictures and this also had me thinking about Christmas cards!  Although for the past few years I have not sent a card out {due to lack of time and teens not wanting to pose} I love giving and receiving these little bits of joy from my friends and family!

The tradition of the Christmas card seems to have originated in England in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole {founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London}.  He had so many greeting cards to send out that he had no way to do it all by hand so he commissioned John Calcott Horsley to paint a card showing the feeding and caring of poor children.  He had wanted to make all of his friends aware of the great need to clothe and feed to poor.  Well the picture had a family embracing each other and sipping wine which others thought "fostered the moral corruption of children".  Didn't work out the way he had planned and the next year he didn't send any cards out!  His tradition did start and people have carried it on since then.

There are many ways to send out a holiday note to your friends!  There is always the boxed Christmas card that is nice to receive and even better if it has a photo enclosed with it!  Many boxed sets have a window for your own picture.  Scrapbook or paper stores have a million different ideas for making your own original card with or without a photo.  Today you can send a card electronically!  You can send a Christmas letter wrapping up the highlights of your year.  I have a few friends that do that and it is fun to read!  There are also many types of photo sites that let you do fabulous things with your own pictures and they print them for you!

 
Whatever you decide to do remember it's the thought that counts.  Not how perfect the card is!  When my children were young there weren't as many options as today when it came to types of cards to send out for Christmas.  So many of my cards were traditional and then inside I would glue a picture inside and hand write a note {eventually I went to photocopying a cute message on colored paper and cutting it with scalloped scissors and gluing it to the other side of the card}.

I was also busy with all 3 of my children having birthdays 2 weeks apart during November and December!  Do it simple but do something was my motto!  This picture is from the year Claire was born and I mixed a Christmas card with birth announcement that year!

These two cards I sent out after Christmas for New Years because we were busy and out of town!  Hey at least I sent them!  Friends and family don't really care!

My favorite was a photo we took that September while on vacation and had made into a card!

I try to think of something catchy to go with the photo!  And I always include of picture of my children for friends and family to see how they've grown.  This is hard at my house because we don't do photos!  {Only crazy mother does!}  Oh well, so much for dreaming!  We will never have that perfect card but that is us, we are not perfect!  I would rather have everyone see us in real life anyways!  So what do you have to lose?

The past few months have had our lives crazier and busier than ever but I just might be sending a card out this year!  What is your favorite type of card to receive?  What is your favorite card that you have sent out to others for the holidays?