Repurpose Holiday Card Phots and Display Them Year-Round
By Jodie Utter
I simply adore holiday photo cards. It’s a treat to see how families we love evolve as their kids grow up, and I just don’t have the heart to throw cards away or shove them into a shoebox, never to be seen again.
So, an idea formed years ago when I sat down at a friend’s dining room table. She had begun displaying her kids’ school artwork underneath her glass table topper. I thought it was a fun, clever way to showcase those tempera-paint treasures traditionally relegated to the fridge. This got me thinking about what a great use a glass topper would be for all the holiday photos we receive.
When the excitement of the season fades away, I sit down with my scissors—snipping and clipping away until only the photo portions of the cards remain. I slide each one under the glass (easily custom ordered from a local glass company) on our kitchen table. The glass will not only preserve the integrity of your table’s surface; it’ll also do the same for your photos.
Now when we sit down to a meal or have folks over to dine, the table serves as a conversation piece. Joyous memories abound when friends and family find their own photos in the haphazard collage of faces, especially old ones from years past.
What’s more, you don’t have to limit your display to holiday-card photos. Preserve and showcase wedding, graduation and other special-occasion photos this way, too. Instead of just keeping all your photos on your phone or in dusty old albums, save some (or make extra prints) for your fun, new dining room conversation piece!
This article originally appeared in Relax & Radiate Crate's mini magazine, The Girlfriend From AARP mini magazine (Volume 2, Winter 2021).