April 25 seems like a good time as any to take down last year’s Christmas cards. And an even better time to blog about them! (Come on – I know I’m not the only one who still has them hanging up somewhere in the house…)

If I can blog about Christmas on the fourth of July, why not on in April too? Ahhh, the glory of being master of my own little universe…

Before you either take your cards down (ahem) or finally tuck them away, I have three suggestions that can spark some new life into those lovely greetings of the season.

1. Prayer cards.

Simply take the cards and put them in a cute little basket near your dinner table. Grab one and pray for that family when you thank God for your meal.

Our friends who do this take it one step further and drop that family a note to let them know that they were prayed for that day because their card came up next in the pile. What a joy it has been to get those quick emails and notes in the mail over the years. A beautiful expression of love and thoughtfulness.

2. Gift tags.

This is a little harder to do with the picture Christmas cards, but I save the precious few traditional cards we still receive. I will cut out a part of the picture on the front – maybe of a single Christmas tree, or a wreath, snowman, etc. You can use fancy scissors if you like to make cool cuts, or just simply cut it out. Then punch a hole in the top and you can attach it to your gifts next year with ribbon as a gift tag. They are super cute.

3. Photo gallery.

My friend leaves her cards up all year. But before we label her as “one of those people…” (and you know who you are), you have to hear what she does.

She gets out her scissors and does some fancy carving of the pictures and removes most of the Christmas-y images, leaving just the family picture or a collage of the family images that she has re-assembled. Finally she pastes on the cut-out family name.

Then she hangs them from a rustic rope attached with mini clothespins and retro clips. She can then see the pics of the people she loves all year without being tempted to hum “Jingle Bells” every time she walks by it.

I can proudly say that not one of these ideas is my own. I am a world-renowned moocher of other people’s genius. I know a great idea when I see one – and I love to pass them along!

So don’t call the plagiarism police just yet. I always try to give credit where credit is due. But since I don’t know how they feel about having their names in cyber-space, I’ll just leave it as these ideas came from my friends – who will hopefully still call themselves that when they read their genius on the internet!

Merry Christmas!