Our Bulletin Board

I like Christmas cards. I like sending them and I like receiving them. I especially enjoy the letters and pictures that people often send with the card. I really like catching up on the lives of everyone and seeing how their children have grown.

For the past 3 years, I have made our Christmas cards. In 2006, I did a red theme with a picture of the girls dressed in Cardinal attire. This was to celebrate the fact that they had won the World Series that year. In 2007, it was a blue theme with a picture of the 4 of us at Niagara Falls. I figured the blue paper would go well with the water.

Here is a picture of what this year's card looked like:
We are on the Disney Wonder cruise ship. We had spent the day on Castaway Cay, which is Disney's private island. This is why we look so tanned! I swear, Bruce is already that dark in April! And B1 tans just like him. B2 and I have some pretty decent color in this pic as well! This had been an awesome day and this picture was taken on our last night on the ship. I chose the red Minnie Mouse polka dot paper and black background to go with Mickey for this year's card.

So, after Christmas, I take all of the real picture we have received in our cards (I don't use the pictures that were printed on paper within a letter) and make a collage of them on our bulletin board. I take down the pictures from the previous year and put them away first. This bulletin board hangs right behind our front door in the kitchen. We see it every time we come in that door or the door from the garage. We also see it when we turn a light on or off. I love looking at these pictures. Some of them are of people and kids we see all the time. Some of them are of kids we have never even met (but we know their parents). And then there are all the people and kids in between. As it seems to grow all the time, we have more pictures on our board this year than ever. I have begun taping pictures around the wooden edge of the bulletin board too. I have to save some room at the bottom of the board for our grocery list, Wal-Mart list, and coupons!

I like it. I like it a lot!