Christmas Card Ideas for Decking The Halls

'Tis the season of Christmas cards! You love getting them. You love reading them. 

But then what do you do with them? Throw them away? Stick them on the fridge? Decorate the Christmas tree with them?

Remember how our parents proudly posted their cards around every open doorway in their annual who-got-the-most competition with friends and family?

Read on for some innovative Christmas card ideas for displaying your season's greetings from friends and family.

Christmas Card Ideas for Display

• Bulletin board:  Cover a bulletin board with a festive Christmas tree fabric or pretty foil wrapping paper. Use as a backdrop for your favorite cards from friends and family.

• Under glass: Buy a piece of glass or plastic that fits a large flat surface such as a kitchen table, desk, or cabinet. Arrange your favorite cards underneath to keep them in place and in sight.
  

• Bookcases: Clear everything off one or two shelves and stand the cards there. They also look beautiful along the tops of kitchen cupboards. (If you have cats, skip this idea. Cats think their mission in life is to knock cards off shelves.)

• Blinds: If you have blinds that you rarely open, the slats make an excellent spot in which to tuck a few cards.

• Ceilings: In a family room or den, string cards on ribbons and drape them from the ceiling.
  

• Borders: If you get a lot of cards, use them to form a border around the family room or breakfast nook at the chair rail level.
  

• Beribboned: Fashion cards to ribbons and hang them in streamers down an empty wall.

• Basket case: Place all the cards in a big basket by the sofa where guests or family can thumb through them.

• Photo album: Fill a photo album full of cards and station it by the sofa for convenient perusal.

And one last word of caution when it comes to these Christmas card ideas: Less truly is more here. Pick one idea (two at the most). You don't want your home looking like a Hallmark store.