This year’s crop of holiday cards has been absolutely gorgeous and heartwarming. I sincerely appreciate everyone who took the time to create the cards, track down addresses, and pay the postage to send these beauties off.

Earlier this year, I saw a tip from Isabelle Thornton at the La Chateau des Fleurs blog to display holiday cards on a bouquet of branches. I loved it because if there is one thing we have a huge, underutilized supply of it is tree branches. The cards look great and help remind you of all the great people supporting you in your life.

I plan to keep my card tree up until after Valentine’s Day to soothe my pining for the days when everyone sent Valentine’s cards and bouquets of flowers with secret meanings, (having recently watched the great “Return to Cranford” series on PBS). The annual holiday card exchange is about as close as we come to a “real” Valentine’s exchange.

The Juggle blog at The Wall Street Journal recently posted about the pains of sending out holiday cards, which ended up generating a discussion in the comments about who should be sending these cards (Single? Married? Married with young children? Empty nester?). While some people feel that only cute small children or animals should be featured on holiday photo cards, I am firmly in the opposite camp. I would love to get a holiday card (photo or otherwise) from any of my friends and family, regardless of age, marital or parental status. I hope everyone feels so happy and proud of their respective lives that they want to be featured on a holiday photo card. Please share your vacation, your family group shot, your occupational accomplishments or even your struggles or sadness. Some of the cards that meant the most this year came from friends who I know have been through some rough times but this year are proudly smiling in their own holiday photo card. And if you don’t send your own holiday cards but like receiving them from others just make sure at some point in the year you tell that person how great that card was or how much it meant to you. You’ll be sure to stay on the “send” list.

What to do with all those holiday cards after the holidays?

Martha Stewart gives 9 different ideas here

My grandmother used to cut traditional folded cards she received in half, creating a postcard. Other times if someone just wrote on the bottom of the inside of the card, she would just cut off the bottom personalized part. She would then re-use the cards the next year either as package tags or to send out her own greetings! There are a lot of hazards to this method (what if you accidentally sent the card back to the original sender?) but I give her points for a frugal-chic solution.

What to do with the card tree after the holidays?  This is a great multi-purpose display tool.  Here, I put balloons on it and used it as a “wild” centerpiece at my daughter’s birthday party.

Do you enjoy sending and receiving holiday cards? Please share in the comments.