Tag Archives: Christmas cards

Idea of the Day: What to do with the holiday cards now that you are thinking about taking down the Xmas tree…*

18 Replies

This is actually a re-post from last January. It deserves to be posted every year around the same time…

Send them to St. Jude’s Hospital St. Jude’s RANCH and help the children earn some college money!

I received this email about the Greeting Card recycling program at St. Jude’s.  Wish I have heard about it in the previous years…

“Friends and family,

Before you toss out all those Christmas cards, read this….

Over 30 years ago, wishing to show our donors our appreciation for making St. Jude’s Ranch for Children possible, the idea was conceived for turning the previous year’s Christmas cards into ‘new’ cards for the coming season. The recipients were so delighted with their unique ‘thank you,’ they requested the children sell them the special cards. And so, the St Jude’s Card Recycling Program was born.

Today we have expended the program to include ‘all occasion’ greeting cards…just about anything that starts with a used greeting card front.

People from all over the world send us their used card fronts. The children precision cut the card fronts and glue them to pre-printed card stock. The children receive 15 cents for each acceptable card made which is divided among their savings, a college fund, their cottage fund for special group outings, and to provide the kids with extra pocket money.

The children can make special orders for any occasion. Our most popular requests are for angel and teddy bear cards. Custom orders with special printing, etc. are also available.”

Please send your used all occasion greeting cards (front page only) to:

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children
Recycled Card Program
100 St. Jude’s Street
Boulder City, NV 89005

* I assume that many of you are doing exactly this: putting away the Christmas ornaments, cursing, wondering the futility of this whole thing. (Note: Alcohol helps!) My tree is staying up till February, along with all the Christmas decorations. Luckily I focus on the snowman-theme and the winter here lasts till March, so the decorations all make sense until spring comes. And seriously, you cannot complain about seeing Baby Jesus in the manger if you ARE a good Christian. At least THAT’s my story and I am sticking to it.

Stolen Day

25 Replies

I feel that we have got an extra day out of this insane holiday season…

The original plan was for me to be away for 3 days this past week on a business trip. I would come back late on Friday night and start cleaning, doing laundry, packing, addressing holiday cards, and finishing up holiday shopping ALL on Saturday, and then we would fly out to my in-law’s this morning.

Thank goodness for the snow storm in the DC area. Reportedly the highest amount of snowfall that DC has seen in at least seven years:  at Dulles airport snow accumulation reached 16 inches on Saturday, and 13.3 inches was reported at Reagan. Instead of agonizing over the prospect of waiting in the airport for indefinite time today, we had decided to change our flight to Monday morning. As soon as we made that decision, I felt physically the lessening of the winding inside my head and my body. A collective sigh of relief felt in every corner of the house.

I worked through my check list at a leisurely pace yesterday:

Laundry detergent and gift cards at Costco. Check.

Gift cards & holiday cards for Catechists and gym coaches. Check. (And I assume it is safe to wish the Catechists a Merry Christmas without the possibility of offending them?)

Hold the Mail request at the Post Office. Check.

Newspaper hold. Check.

Neighborhood watch request at the police station. Check.

Kids’ haircut. Check.

Lip wax. Ooops. I forgot. I guess I will just have hairy lips with face powder dangling off the end of my upper lip throughout the holiday.

Laundry and the dreaded folding part. Started and ongoing. (“Predecessor task” in MS Project lingo)

The chaos of packing. Started and ongoing. (“Successor task” in MS Project lingo)

Addressing holiday cards, figuring out whether the cryptic emails from my friend with no mentioning of her husband means she is now divorced, deciding whether to say anything or what to say on the cards to distant cousins who are now divorced, coming up with proper words for our Jewish friends now that we have missed the entire 8-day window of Chanukah to show that we did not forget about Chanukah and we are not sending them the holiday cards now out of our callous Christian (+ 1 pagan) hearts (Thank goodness we can still wish them a “Happy New Year!”), stuffing, licking, stamping. Check. (With NO paper cuts to fingers or tongues. Success!)

In the evening we behaved as if it were any other Saturday evening: my husband went to the movie with my 11 year-old (AVATAR, in 3D); I took Mr. Monk, my 7-year-old, to the mall because he wanted Auntie Anne’s pretzels.

What? Was I crazy to hit the mall on the Saturday before Christmas? Yeah, I thought so as soon as I turned into the mall drive and saw all the cars, moving, squeezing, waiting, and parked.

Here’s a tip for you out there from a Mall Veteran. One word. SEARS. Go to Sears and I guarantee there is a spot for you. Probably not too close if it is the last weekend before C-day. BUT still closer than what you could find at the other parts of the mall. Trust me.

So here is the GOLDEN parking space Mr. Monk spotted. Good job, my lad! I was so excited I wanted to call everybody I know.

I never want to leave this spot again!

Seriously, this was no small feat. I did not want to leave that spot when we were done at the mall. I wanted to stay there, to stake my claim, to “Put a flag on it.”

In addition to getting the best parking space I have ever gotten on a crazy day like this, my stolen day ended up on a high note also because a light bulb went up after I’d had two drinks at the stupid Rain Forest Cafe (aka the worst tourist trap because it is located inside a goddamn MALL! Why is there a tourist trap inside a mall?), ok, a fuzzy light bulb nonetheless, and a thought bubble formed:

Idea of the Day: What to do with the holiday cards now that you are thinking about taking down the Xmas tree…

1 Reply
Send them to St. Jude’s Hospital and help the children earn some college money!
I received this email about the Greeting Card recycling program at St. Jude’s.  Wish I have heard about it in the previous years…
“Friends & family,

Before you toss out all those Christmas cards, read this….

“Over 30 years ago, wishing to show our donors our appreciation for making St. Jude’s Ranch for Children possible, the idea was conceived for turning the previous year’s Christmas cards into ‘new’ cards for the coming season. The recipients were so delighted with their unique ‘thank you,’ they requested the children sell them the special cards. And so, the St Jude’s Card Recycling Program was born.

Today we have expended the program to include ‘all occasion’ greeting cards…just about anything that starts with a used greeting card front.

People from all over the world send us their used card fronts. The children precision cut the card fronts and glue them to pre-printed card stock. The children receive 15 cents for each acceptable card made which is divided among their savings, a college fund, their cottage fund for special group outings, and to provide the kids with extra pocket money.

The children can make special orders for any occasion. Our most popular requests are for angel and teddy bear cards. Custom orders with special printing, etc. are also available.”

Please send your used all occasion greeting cards (front page only) to:

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children
100 St. Jude’s Street
Boulder City, NV  89005-1618