Winter Tradition : Holiday Cards
Each holiday season, I look forward to creating our Christmas cards. It’s kind of a laborious process, but one that I know our family & friends appreciate… it’s also a tradition I really enjoy. Rather than choosing a photo from the previous year or from our recent travels, Emmett & I like to capture a new photo for our card each holiday. Our last winter adventure proved to be the perfect setting for this year’s card, and we were surprisingly able to wrangle the dogs for a decent photo. Call me crazy, but I really love the process of old school mail… writing notes, addressing envelopes, using stamps, applying a wax seal, and packaging each piece of mail while sipping coffee, tea, or cocoa. It’s kind of a romanticized concept. I usually put on some Christmas music and make an afternoon of it. Click through for a peek at my process and our fun holiday card tradition this year…
Honestly, getting the photo is the most difficult part. We always include our dogs and getting two high-energy pups to cooperate can be a challenge. We opted for a more candid looking photo this year.
I ordered our cards from Minted again this year… I just really like their selection, quality, and price point. I never order our envelopes with printed addresses, but that’s an option if you’re short on time or aren’t into the idea of addressing them yourself.
My favorite part of sending mail and holiday cards is applying our wax seal. I have multiple stamps with a variety of designs… check out this stationery blog post, if you’re into that sort of thing!
Emmett actually selected this year’s design. He wanted something more colorful than I usually go for, and I can’t argue with fun. Ha! It feels a bit more casual than past years, and I think it better captures our adventure & outdoor loving family.
You can apply the wax seal in a couple different ways… my preferred way is to melt wax in a vessel over a candle, pour it onto the envelope, and then press the seal. You can also melt the stick of wax directly over / onto the envelope using a lighter.
As far as addressing goes, I always use a permanent Sharpie brush pen. It won’t bleed if your mail gets wet, it shows up against most colored envelopes, and it’s fun to write with (without the fuss of full-on calligraphy pens).
I always write pretty large, taking up the majority of the negative space on the envelope. Over the years, Emmett has put together a big excel file of the individuals and addresses we send cards to- which has been a huge help.
I think there is something special about the holiday card tradition… sending and receiving beautiful & thoughtful photos or greetings from loved ones. Living very far away from our family, it’s something we always look forward to each holiday. We may not be able to spend Christmas together, but it still feels like we’re connected by this simple tradition.
Do you send holiday cards? What holiday traditions feel most meaningful to you? I’m hoping that our cards aren’t returned to sender, as I had no idea wax seals added extra postage. Whoops! Good to know, right? I hope you’re all having a great week! It has been a busy one with appointments over here, but it has certainly felt festive, nonetheless.