The postcard above, sent in 1877, was in the collection of my third cousin, (once removed), Janet, who made contact with me through the website http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/ - we went onto exchange family memorabilia. The verse reflects rather Victorian maudlin sentiment of the time, but it is still a lovely picture.
Christmas Card Scrapbooks
One of my favourite post Christmas occupations is to create a Christmas Scrapbook. It seems such a shame to bin so many lovely images that I have come up with my own way of retaining the cards for future pleasure. I began doing this years ago when my daughter was small, with "Gillian's Christmas Scrapb
ook" (right) a way of conveying the Christmas story, message and traditions in a strong visual way and displaying cards that had been spent especially sent to her. I hand-wrote the words as this was long before the days of computers. The scrapbook came out of the cupboard every Christmas to look through and reminiscence over and it became part of our family tradition which now inludes our little granddaughter. More years down the line, I had a growing collection of cards that I had refused to throw out, so I created something similar in a more adult version calling it "Christmas Kaleidoscope"- (above left) annotated this time by the computer, which of course made a huge difference to the style of presentation.
I do mean to stop - but already my mind is on a new theme - perhaps looking at the stories behind Christmas carols.
Since I began, scrapbooking has become a sophisticated hobby, but I have kept to a very simple style with the focus on the illustrations.
So to anyone who sends me a card, it continues to give pleasure long after the 12 days of Christmas have past.
Advent Calendar is a daily blogging prompt from www.geneabloggers.com to encourage writers to relate their family stories and memories.
Copyright © 2011 · Susan Donaldson. All Rights Reserved
You have created to a wonderful way to keep the Christmas cards you receive. It is great that you go back to look at them with your family.
ReplyDeleteAs I wrote my own entry for today I was bemoaning the fact that I haven't kept many Christmas cards over the years - yet birthday cards were always kept and put into a scrapbook. I'd never thought of just using the wonderful pictures to make a scrapbook (despite having cut and pasted card pictures when I was a child!) I love your ideas, and might just do domething similar this year.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! I'm more tan a little in awe of your card memory books...the ones I keep are just in a box. I love that it's part of your family's Xmas traditions.
ReplyDeleteLove that 1877 card. It is remarkable that it has survived. Your scrap books are wonderful! a super idea. I save photo Christmas cards and family cards. I scan them an include them in photo books I make for my children. Thanks for showing your scrap books.
ReplyDeletehttp://leavesnbranches.blogspot.com/
What an ambitious but interesting way to save your Christmas cards. Organizing them in a scrapbook based on a theme is such a clever and creative idea.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your Christmas Card Scrapbooks. As a Christmas Card collector I am inspired to take many years of collected cards and do the same. Mine are filed in envelopes..grouped by year. Special ones like the nativity ones I posted today are included in Scrapbooks with yearly Family Christmas Memories and Photos. I see also a scanned EChristmas Card File in the making. Thanks for so many good category ideas, too. Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteThank you to everyone who has found this post interesting and inspiring. I very much appreciate the comments.
ReplyDeletePerfect! I love it! Currently my Christmas cards are in a box but I did start one for my daughter's first cards, so this may be yet another project for me down the line. Thanks for the inspiration. xx
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