One thing I do leave for December, though, is creating free personalized letters from Santa for the children in my family. These can’t be mailed until the beginning of December because they actually have to be sent to a post office located at the North Pole for a postmark. After that, they’re mailed to each child in stamped envelopes I provide. The process takes less than 2 weeks, so I don’t want to mail them too early. Kids get hyped up enough about Christmas; they do not need to get letters from St. Nick before they’ve even had Thanksgiving turkey! But it does bring me joy to watch them tear open those letters from Santa. Because I make them myself, I can insert personal details to promote the illusion that the letters really come from him. If they’ve toys they have been wanting, “Santa” lets them think that they’ll only get them if they behave well. If they have been fighting with their siblings around the time the letters are sent, I also state they must get along with everyone in the house if they want their Christmas presents. Nothing like aTiny pressure from St. Nick to get kids to behave!

And I still cannot rest even after I get my holiday cards and letters from Santa mailed. I like to make handmade New Year cards for achoose few friends and family, as well as an electronic greeting for everyone else. When I make those, I pick from my collection of vintage new years clip art. I get quite elaborate with the handmade versions, since I do not do that many. They’re fun to make and I always enjoy the process of creating them.

If you’d like to experiment with making your own handmade Christmas and New Year cards, try these tips:

• Use pre-cut, pre-folded cards from the stationary store, or on the heaviest regular card stock your printer will allow.
• If your printer will take photo paper, you can print the images on different stock from the cards, and trim them down and then paste them to the front of the cards.
• Lovely specialty and metallic papers are available that you can use to frame the images by cutting pieces slightlyBigger than the artwork. These can be found at discount stores like Walmart, or at craft stores.
• Glitter glue pens are great for adding sparkle to images. But don’t get carried away with it! If you do, the cards won’t only look cheesy, they will also warp.