It wasn't until Danny and I got married and had our own address that I was the receiver of Christmas Cards. For some reason, either I don't remember/didn't pay attention to it, Christmas cards back in Oregon weren't really something we participated in. So when we had our first married Christmas together and the cards started filling up our apartment mail box I was thrilled at the novelty of it all. Since we missed the first year, we didn't start making Christmas cards until we had Jonesy. (I thought our cards would be cuter with kids on them anyways.) But ever since that first Christmas, I haven't known how to display them. When we lived in our apartment, no one ever came over, so they were just stacked in a little pile. Our first Christmas in our house evolved our stacked pile into placing them along the window sill - with the intention of figuring something cuter out. That was 5 Christmases ago. F I V E. And until about a week ago, our cards looked like this:

Just like every other year. Now that I pretty much know where all my Christmas decorations "go" - I could focus on this mess. In theory, it's a cute idea. Cards spread out across the window. But in real life, it's a pain. Just look at that picture for example. Your eyes work the same way a camera does. With the backlight it's hard to focus on the cards - not to mention the color distortion as the light shines through the back. And, you don't even get the full effect of them all. They're all piled on top of each other - I might as well resort to the stack of cards our first Christmas, since you can't even enjoy them all! 

So this year, I was on a mission to change that. Our main level is a split level from the kitchen to the family room. I never know what to put up in the big space of wall between rooms. While decorating, I found some plug in, LED lights I got on clearance last year. That's when inspiration hit. It reminded me of the fairy clip lights I found and put in my gift guide. Using some command hooks, I strung up the lights across the wall, over the door frame and onto my cabinets. I picked up some cheap clothespins and went to town. Maybe next year I'll paint the pins, baby steps. After all, it's taken me 5 Christmases to do this! Curious to what my friends do, I asked all those out there on social media to send in pictures. My friends are geniuses. Some of these are so simple and clever! Take a look and see if inspiration strikes!

1. LED Lights and Clothespins

2. Blanket Ladder + Twinkle Lights (Curtesy of Amanda Morris)

3. Board with Clips (Cutesy of Sydney McMurry)

4. Taped along the hallway (Curtesy of Deanna Gregory) 

5. Clothespin Wreath (Curtesy of Tia Chapman - she made this! Just a wire wreath and clothespins glued facing in and out)

6. Taped to Door (Curtesy of Sarah Robbins and Stephanie Sorensen)

7. Twine strung across an old door with clips (Curtesy of Kamilla Earlywine)

8. Twine above the fireplace with clips (Curtesy of Jennie Robins)

9. Snowman pocket hanger (Curtesy of Sarah Robbins)

10. Ribbon and tape across the mantel (Curtesy of Jaynelen Zenger)

Hopefully you can pull a bit of inspiration from these! Let me know how you display your Christmas Cards!