Christmas envelope tradition...

16 years ago

We started the Christmas "envelopes" several years ago. It just keeps getting more involved! Even the kids get in on it now.

DH makes up a message with some meaning for our family. He writes one letter on a scrap of paper and puts it in an envelope, repeating until each and every letter in the message...and each piece of punctuation...is used. Actually, last year, the message had gotten so long, he put 2 letters in each envelope. With every gift Santa's Elves (A couple of the grandkids in Santa hats. DH is Santa...wearing my brother's Santa hat.) pass out to someone old enough to read, that person also gets an envelope.

The letters are taped to the glass on the china cabinet as they are received. Then, as the message grows, the letters are moved around...and around...and around...and around until words start to appear...and the race is on to see who figures the message out first!

This was the message last Christmas Eve.

I have to tell you...some of the funniest...and sometimes off-color things come out of this! It's hysterical at times! Everyone loves it...even non-family member guests!

I can hardly wait to see what DH comes up with this year!

~Sandy~

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Comments (9)

cait1
16 years ago
That is such a wonderful idea! And a lovely tradition. Sounds like everyone has a great time. You'll have to let us know what this year's message is.

And I love your Delft plate. My DH is originally from the Nederlands and we went to Holland and to the Delft factory... AWESOME things there. Have you ever been?
Cait
garden2garden
16 years ago
That sounds like fun. A great way to get everyone involved.
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since we've had kids we always stay home for christmas day. my mom and mil were big on this. mil- always had to travel across Ma. to her grandparents for the day. they got to be there for about 2-3 hrs and then return home. no presents from her grand parents and no chance to open them at home before they left. no turkey dinner either. pretty sad tale of woe, she didn't wish that sort of xmas on any one. my mom said it was important for us to have our own traditions. so we stay home. usually our family gets together sometime over the holidays, but no matter whose house we're at everyone has a 300-400 mile drive-- so we usually have to commit to a weekend of guests. my wife and i have always giving everyone in both our families an ornament for christmas. we try to stay under $5. for these, but are on the look-out whenever we travel during the year or pay attention to what people are interested in, or some significant event in their life that year. for the kids, it gives them a collection so when they leave home they have something for their own tree. for the adults it avoids having to buy a fan-tab-u-lous present. since we live the farthest away from all our relatives, ornaments are easy to ship. when kids were little we usually send their moms & dads a check so they could do the shopping for us, now we send the ornament and a gift card. we've tried a gift exchange where we draw names, but my youngest brother whose kids are 10-15 years younger than the rest of our kids thinks that his kids get gypted (everyone still gets his all kids presents, because they still get a big thrill out of opening them, and no one else has kids under 10 anymore)with this method--so we all get everyone a present-- an ornament works nicely there too. at home because my kids are autistic and don't deal with their routines being changed, we eat xmas dinner at dinnertime. so we have plenty of time in the morning to get up and open, play, watch tv, before we have to cook. we usually let the boys open their stocking(usually all the goodies are consumed for breakfast) as soon as they get up, but they wait until we get up to open presents under the tree. We we join the land of the living-- about 8am, we get out the cranberry bread, stollen and panetone the coffee and hot chocolate and start unwrapping: kids first, then mom and dad. about 11, we'll make 'brunch'-- eggs and sausage, toast and juice. then we get started at dinner. about 4pm we put out a relish tray and cheese and crackers so we can make it until dinner time. since my wife and i arew both in food service, and the week before christmas is the busiest time of the year. we usually have a tradition of doing laundry all day long every holiday while watching football games. on christmas eve we usually have seafood for dinner about 10:30 PM after finishing wrapping and then go to service at the church, so that when we get home we can go to bed!!!! sometimes we'll exchange a special present when we get home from church. diggerb
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I wish we had the luxury at our house to spend the evening reading, but alas, we host Christmas Eve for my parents, then head off to 9pm Mass b/c it's the most beautiful of all the Masses at our church. By the time we get home, the kids are exhausted and headed to bed, while dh and I (well, ME) stay up wrapping gifts and putting out those and the Santa gifts under the tree. But, the idea of spending the evening quietly reading sounds amazing to me as I am a voracious reader. I used to give all of my kids books in their stockings each year, but sadly, my boys do not like reading (one has a learning disability) so I rarely do it for them anymore. Last year, I did give them both books, but my older son never even read the one I gave him but *I* read it just a couple of months ago (The Outsiders). Thankfully my girls like to read, so I still give them books. Bothell, that is a lovely idea. My kids each get an ornament every year. This was a tradition MIL had with her kids. She carefully labeled each one with their name and the year (she has five kids). When dh and I got married, she sent us his box of ornaments. Many of them adorn our tree every year - we don't have room for all of them b/c now my kids' ornaments have taken over. I do the same thing, label them with name and year, and they each have their own storage bins. I love your idea to pair ornaments with books. How fun!
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luna_llena_feliz
16 years ago
What a lovely tradition! I just haven't gotten into the Christmas spirit yet. I think it is all the talk of "Black Friday" (who came up with that ominous and macrabre name?) and the commercialization of Christmas. It seems to have become more about who can get the best gift and gimme, gimme, gimme. People are rude or at least unfriendly. I'm amazed at the number of retail people who don't say Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas or even thanks for shopping here. But this is a Christmas tradition that is cheap, meaningful and makes everyone remember what the holiday is really all about. Thanks so much for sharing, Sandy!
use2bcapecodr
Original Author
16 years ago
Cait, you are so lucky to have had the opportunity to go to the Delft factory...to say nothing of visiting other countries!

The plate to the right of the china cabinet is from the Fairbanks House in Dedham, MA and has a picture of the house on it. (My maternal grandmother was a Fairbanks.) I have blue & white porcelain and pottery all over my house (some antique and some not), along with an extensive collection of cobalt blue glass (some antiue and some not). I also have the blue glass in my gardens. Can't get enough of it!!

Luna, I too am sick of the way people have taken the meaning right out of Chrismas! I try to keep my family on the right track. Can't do much about the people outside...except keep wishing them a Merry Christmas!! chuckle

~Sandy~
use2bcapecodr
Original Author
16 years ago
This was the 2007 message. The whole family gets in to this. It's great...and some really funny things end up on the cabinet doors before we arrive at the solution. This year...again...the kids came up with some off-color things! Anything for a laugh!

{{gwi:128248}}

Dang...I wish I had noticed DH gave them masking tape to hang the letters!!

~Sandy~
kirkus
16 years ago
Sandy, What a GREAT family activity and tradition! I was hoping you would post this year's message! Thank you! I love it! Bear Hugs! Kirk
susiesunshine
16 years ago
Sandy:
I was just getting around to telling you and Jim! (The Elf!)
ho ho!
How truly great I think this Idea is !!!! I just love it!
Thanks for the truly great IDEA!
AND thanks for sharing the WONDERFUL ~~ MEssages !!!!
God Bless !
H A P P Y NEW YEAR 2008 !!!
keep up the good work and 'Keep us informed of the
NEW MESSAGE NEXT YEAR !!!!
Susie
sistersunnie
16 years ago
May I borrow your tradition? It sounds wonderful!

Thanks!
use2bcapecodr
Original Author
16 years ago
I'm tickled that you like our tradition. It seems so many people are getting away from traditional things these days. I think it's important to do things for our children to remember and hopefully care enough about to do them for their own children. At any rate, it's something that gets everyone involved, working together and having fun.

I have many fond memories of Christmas. I was raised by my grandparents (After my mother died when I was three and a half and my brother was two, and our dad was too sick to care for us by himself.) and we spent several Christmases at my aunt's home in Vermont. We would do a "Man On The Street" skit, where my oldest cousin (of 5) would interview people. He and my uncle were very funny, and the whole thing was absolutely hilarious! I sure would like to get my hands on one of those tapes.

However, my brother and his friends did it a couple of years with our grandmother (after I had moved away) and I DO have those tapes. Very, very funny stuff! They impersonated famous people being interviewed. One year, the girls and I listened to the tapes while we were baking Christmas cookies. We were so busy laughing, crying and trying to keep the very little grandkids from dropping cookie dough on the floor and putting it back in the bowl...we ruined most of the cookies! It sure was fun though!

Boy...I sure am long-winded!

~Sandy~

Christmas envelope tradition...

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cait1

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Christmas envelope tradition...

Comments (9)

cait1

garden2garden

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luna_llena_feliz

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