Do you have a designated landing place for Christmas cards as you receive them? Or do they take up residence on any nearby flat surface? Do you have an easy way to display them?

I’m going to share a super-simple tip for those of you who like me from time to time forget the number one rule of organizing: A place for everything and everything in its place. Why do we ever forget it? The most wonderful busy time of year, coupled with stressors like… well, 2020. I’ll just leave it at that.

Skip to the bottom for steps of my simple hack (I’ll put them in bold) for managing the influx of Christmas cards.

Or keep reading for the blog post equivalent to that crazy sleigh ride song that ends with horses neighing that takes you on a dazzling journey through all the whys and wherefores that inquiring minds want to know!

Here’s the thing:

If you don’t have a designated spot for incoming items like Christmas cards, you’re going to end up with stacks.

Stacks are not your friends.

And we ALL know how insidious stacks can be. What starts as a random scribbled note or a flyer that comes in the mail or more to the point, a CHRISTMAS CARD (!) with its envelope, soon becomes a dreaded STACK. Those stacks then act as magnets for all miscellaneous papers, catalogs, receipts, children’s artwork, invitations, cards, forms to be filled out, important records, etc. that find their way into your home.

They get out of control quickly, and cost you sometimes hours searching for the important stuff in them, like your passport (don’t ask me how I know…). And because they are often full of unrelated items, they can be a real challenge for many of us to process. And they become a vortex of procrastination.

All that trouble, my friends, can start with a single Christmas card, meant to bring you holiday greetings and joy!!

Give ’em a home immediately.

So here’s a simple principle, which if you employ it in other areas of your life, will be a gift which keeps on giving all year long:

Set aside a spot just for Christmas cards. And preferably that “spot” is some sort of container. When the mail comes in, immediately pull out those coveted cards and place them in that spot. 

I told you it was simple.

But wait! There’s more!!

The problem: tape residue/peeled finishes

We have a long-standing tradition in our home of displaying Christmas cards. For SO many years I used clear tape to hang them up around a prominent doorway in our home, defaulting to how we did it in my home growing up.

The solution: tiny nails and twine

Then last year I had a minor epiphany involving some mini-clothespins we had used for some birthday decorations for one of my daughters. (After a quick search, I see that other people have shared this idea on Pinterest. But I didn’t consciously pick it up from there. I can’t rule out osmosis, however…)

I use a length of twine and twist it around wire nails that were already on the top corners of the doorway trim. It’s not hard to add them if you don’t have any. The idea is a card swag, so to speak. I start with a length of twine hanging down one side. I wrap it three times around the wire nail, and string it loosely across. to the other side. Then I leave a length hanging to match the first side. I make sure not to let the horizontal length hang so low that we have to duck to go through the doorway.

The procedure

Each time we receive a card, I drop the envelope in the container, which I station between the front door and the display doorway. All during the holiday season my container (tin*) serves as a receptacle for cards (if I don’t hang them immediately) and their envelopes, until I have the time to check all the addresses against my lists.

A bit of a rabbit trail…

*The container I use is an old tin in the shape of a gingerbread house that was given to me years ago by the dearest elderly neighbor who was our Avon lady, and who gave us Avon gifts each year for Christmas. I always looked forward to her visit and the fun gifts she so thoughtfully gave my brother and me, from the time we were small until we reached adulthood. 

{More digression: Please hear me! If you don’t send cards, don’t feel guilt or compulsion to send back to everyone that sends to you, unless you REALLY want to. I do it because I like receiving cards, and I want others to have that same feeling. But for goodness sake, if it’s not your thing, don’t add another empty ritual to a time of year that gets loaded down with them. If you’re stressed, PARE BACK, on this and other activities. And stick to the ones that really mean something to you.}

The rest of the procedure

I use the mini-clothespins to affix the cards to the twine. No muss! No fuss! I don’t have to worry about tape pulling off the finish from my trim. No more picking up cards that fall to the floor because they’re too heavy to be held with one piece of tape. And no more peeling leftover tape off the doorway when I spot it sometime in March…

It’s taken me a nearly thirty years or so to come up with this brilliant hack. So I thought I’d go ahead and share it with y’all as an early (okay, not really early) Christmas gift.

In summary…

So if you’re frugal like me, don’t go buy something NEW, but look around in what you already have. It could be a bowl, box, basket, or tin. As I explained in the tiny print above, the tin is sentimental. And after more than twenty-five years of marriage I’ve never been able to part with it. So I was thrilled when I thought of an actual useful purpose for it. As in my case, a sentimental vessel can be made useful and therefore even MORE valuable to you.

As an added bonus–when I pack the tin away with the rest of the Christmas decorations, it holds the mini-clothespins and the twine.

The steps

1) Get yourself a container to hold the incoming Christmas cards/envelopes.

2) Find some cute clips at a craft store or online, and cut a length of twine, ribbon, yarn, or rope (whatever goes with your style and fits with the clips).

3) String it around a focal doorway or across your mantel.

4) Then when you have a moment to open and read your cards, simply clip them onto the twine to continue viewing throughout the season and keep all those loved ones at the forefront of your mind.

5) Keep the envelope in the container as long as needed.

6) ENJOY all your lovely cards throughout the season and into the new year!

And at the same time enjoy not cluttering up all the flat surfaces in your home!

Blessings,

P.S. For all of you, who like me, struggle with getting rid of beautiful cards or paper of any kind, or even more so, PHOTO cards, I give you permission to throw them away at the end of the season. If they don’t have a home, and it’s likely you’ll never pull them out again to look at them.

It’s no crime.

They’ve served their purpose and are not made to be kept into perpetuity. It’s okay, I promise. 😉

P.P.S. Neigghhhh…