My Christmas Card Scrapbooks: Genealogy Blog Party

 This month's Genealogy Blog Party  asks  us to share  our Christmas holiday traditions.  I am taking a look at one of my favourite post-Christmas activities - compiling a Christmas Card scrapbook.

Firstly vintage cards in my collection :  

The postcard above, sent in 1877, was in the collection of my third cousin, (once removed), Janet, who made contact with me through the genes reunited website - we went onto exchange family memorabilia. The verse on the card reflects the rather Victorian maudlin sentiment of the time, but it is still a lovely picture.

This lovely German Christmas card came from the my husband's family.   His uncle Mattie married a German girl in the 1950's.   

 Another charming card - this time from France, courtesy of cousin Stuart. 

My Scrapbook Project

 It seems  a shame to bin so many lovely images on Christmas Cards  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 Scrapbook"    as a way of conveying the Christmas story and traditions in a strong visual style and displaying  cards that had been 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.   

Many  years down the line, I had a growing  pile   of cards that I had refused to throw out, so I created something similar in a more adult version calling it "Christmas Kaleidoscope"- annotated this time by the computer, which of course made a huge difference to the style of presentatio. 

 

 

By then I had the bug, so the next year it was "A Christmas Anthology",  using the cards to illustrate poems, songs and literature relating to Christmas.     

My last  project, spread over two scrapbook,  was "A Christmas A-Z"   focusing on a  wide range of aspects of the Christmas story.  What would I do without the internet to help with history and definitions! 

 I  do mean to stop - but already my mind is on the next edition  - 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 sent me a card, it continues to give pleasure long after the 12 days of Christmas have past.  You never know, I might have created an heirloom  for my descendants. 

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