Old Christmas Cards

I opened the cedar chest to look for a gift I had stashed away for my friend Jane.  The gift was lying on top, but before I knew it, I found myself engrossed in examining all the items I had stashed away.  Piles began accumulating on the bed as I found a bag of old Christmas cards, Shirley Temple paper dolls, Victorian paper ladies with dress-up outfits, a new blue Snuggie wrap, a pair of baby shoes, 2 pair of small moccasins my mother had made as a hobby years ago, a round red velvet box of cast-off jewelry my granddaughters played with sometimes, lots of picture frames, old vacation catalogs for Nags Head, books, old family photos in big brown envelopes, and in the very bottom, two boxes of our love letters.

My betrothed made that cedar chest for me as an engagement gift in 1966, and someday I will take the time to read those old love letters.  But this day, my intention was to rearrange the items neatly and throw away what I didn't want to keep.  I put the paper dolls in the toy closet for the grandchildren, and threw out the old vacation catalogs.  I picked up the bag of old Christmas cards.  I hesitated.  Do I throw these away?  Do I keep them?  They were so pretty -- but of what use were they?

I remembered my grandmother Olive saved old Christmas cards, covered each card with plastic, cut it in a slight fan shape, punched holes around the edges, and crocheted them together to make pretty baskets.  She used them to display new Christmas cards she received, and made some baskets to give away.  I remember we had one in our house on the farm.

I decided to go online to see what to do with old Christmas cards.  I found lots of ideas!  I even found instructions for making Grandma Olive's crocheted baskets!  One idea was to make placemats and coasters with self-adhesive shelf papers for the back side, and a clear piece of Mac Tak for the top so the pretty Christmas cards can be seen.  Another was to make gift tags, using a hole punch and a bit of ribbon.  Some people cut the card in half and use the pretty side as a post card at Christmastime.  Cheaper postage.  Use them to decorate plain brown paper bags for gift-giving.  Other ideas were table place cards, tree ornaments, jewelry, donate them to schools for craft projects, use them in scrapbooking, make small gift boxes to fill with treats, or make book marks.

Perhaps I'll get even more mileage out of those old cards:  have a craft day with my daughter Deb and granddaughters Alissa and Nicole and make some of those items.  We have a tradition of making a gingerbread house from a kit before Christmas, and that's always a highlight.  Maybe this year we'll use something old to make something new, too!

Copyright © 2011 Elaine Beachy