I inherited my love of making greeting cards from my mom. From 1951 when my parents got married until 2015 she kept the tradition of making handmade Christmas cards to send to friends and loved ones alive. At times their mailing list exceeded 200 people so it was a massive undertaking.

The cards were usually quite simple with my mom doing the artwork with help from the four children and the verse was written by my Daddy. Each one was special and my mom spent hours working on them. It was one of the things that I remember about our Christmas time. Not only did she make the cards but there was an annual newsletter called the Brown Daze that accompanied the cards.

The following card was from 1962 and features our house in Hannibal, Ohio along with a picture of Daddy outside the church bulletin board. Pictures of Mark and myself and then Paula and Chris appeared in the following frames. It is one of my favorite pictures of my brother Mark and myself. We were always buddies even when we were little.

The following card features a verse on the front by Daddy and then the rest of the family contributed to the stunning artwork inside. “Smile”

Another card that featured artwork done by budding artists was done in an accordion style . Even though the ink has faded over the years it still makes me smile – especially Mark’s offering. You may have to enlarge the picture to be able to view the cute pictures.

I am so grateful my mom was so organized and saved all of these treasures in a binder. I am less than organized when it comes to this type of thing unfortunately. I know that these cards brought a lot of joy to many people over the years and I am so happy to have the collection. The following one was an apple print I believe.

I tried to help my mom in 2016 to get her letters and cards done but at the beginning stages of decline it was just too much for her to try to do. I hated to not be helpful but it was causing more stress at that point than good and I did not push. She did have a card in the binder for 2015 and the card was part of the newsletter so that was the last one that I think she was able to do.

One of her most complicated ones was this one that featured iris folding.

As I am realizing that this will most likely be her last earthly Christmas I am so very grateful for the treasures that she has documented. Many people loved her cards and the Norwalk Reflector ran an article about it in 1972.

I guess you can understand why I have the love of card making running through me. My sister and I got it from my mom. Tell me -what did you inherit from your parents? I would love to hear all about it in the comments. Remember that each comment this month means a 50 cent donation to our Comments for a Cause – Transylvania Christian Ministry – Sharing House.