I published this last year around the holidays, and thought it would be a great reminder for those looking to cherish their photo cards.  Works great on a coffee table or desk.

This time of year, I am reminded of how fortunate we are to have so many wonderful families in our lives.  We receive holiday cards with beautiful photos every day, and we love looking at the photos and seeing how everyone has changed, and how their kids are growing up.

Then the season ends, and we are left with a stack of beautiful photos, all too precious to throw away.  But I can’t bring myself to pack up any more bits of paper, so what’s a mom to do?

Well, a glass-covered coffee table in our family room is the perfect display spot!  About 5 years ago, when we first moved into the house we live in now, we purchased a new round coffee table to complement our 12-foot long sectional sofa (yes, we like our seating here at the Real OC House).  The coffee table is very pretty, but has a sleek, shiny finish on it, rather than the distressed finish of the coffee table we had before.  So I immediately made a template out of butcher paper and ordered up a piece of glass for it.

Then that year, when I was trying to figure out what to do with all the holiday photos cards, hubs had a fantastic idea – trim the photos and place them under the glass of our coffee table!  That way, we can enjoy the photos all year long.  Our daughter loves looking at family and friends every day, and when friends come over, the kids always enjoy finding their photo in the collage.  It’s a really neat way to be reminded of the many wonderful people in our lives who we might not have time to talk with as much as we’d like!

I have many friends who save their holiday photo cards creatively – by scrapbooking them each year, tying them together in a bundle by year and saving them with the holiday decorations, or scanning each photo and saving it digitally.  But for our family, we enjoy having them in a spot where we spend a lot of time.  It works for us, and might work for you, too!

Note:  I really, really wanted to include a photo of the table with the photos, but decided not to for privacy reasons.